The Historical Background of Seattle Chiefs' Declaration

/kloc-In the 1950s of 0/9, the influence of the United States had reached the northwest corner of the North American continent (now Washington State), and the state government wanted to buy 2 million acres of land originally belonging to Indian tribes with 15000 dollars. Indian Chief Seattle agreed and decided to move the group to an Indian reservation. Before leaving the land where he lived, it was 1854.

Chief Seattle is the chief of six Indian tribes in the northwest near the Pacific Ocean. 1854, 18 In February, he gave a speech to a gathering including the territorial governor, white immigrants and about 1000 Indians. His speech was directed at Governor Isaac Stevens. Governor Stevens has just arrived from Washington, D.C., with instructions to buy Indian land and establish Indian reservations. In what later became Seattle, the chief gave a speech called "Funeral Speech" or "The Last Song of Swan". He said that he accepted the proposal of the federal government not to go to war with the government with absolute superiority, because it was doomed to failure. Early history often repeats appalling wars between immigrants and Indians. However, when most Indian tribes were driven to the west, domesticated or destroyed, Indians became the objects of sympathy or sadness and the inevitable victims of "progress" or fate. Chief Seattle's speech has been reprinted again and again, not to see the people he defended sentimentally, but because he vividly described the difference between red people and white people. Chief Seattle's speech is reproduced below. This article was written by Dr. Henry A smith. He was the interpreter of Seattle Chief in the historic event 1854.

This is a speech intertwined with blood and tears. Although white people are fighting for it, we can still hear the wailing of a nation before its demise.