The Half Breed Tracts in Early National America: Changing Concepts of Land and Place

Description

In 1824 and 1830, over one hundred thousand acres across Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska were set aside as a home for descendants of Native American women and white traders and trappers. The treaties that established these so-called Half Breed Tracts left undefined exactly who held claim to the land, and by the end of the 1850s, settlers and speculators had appropriated virtually every acre for themselves. But in an era of ravenous westward expansion, why did the process of dispossession require three decades of debate and legal maneuvering? As David Ress argues, the fate of the Half Breed Tracts complicates longstanding ideas about land tenure and community in early national America. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction: A Caught-Between People and an Undefined Land (David Ress)....Pages 1-17 Blondeau’s Dilemma (David Ress)....Pages 19-35 Separation or Separate Property: The Unsettling Prospect of Ownership (David Ress)....Pages 37-52 Washington’s Dilemma (David Ress)....Pages 53-61 The Courthouse Coup in Iowa (David Ress)....Pages 63-76 Scrip and the Taking of the Minnesota Half Breed Tract (David Ress)....Pages 77-89 Taking the Nebraska Half Breed Tract (David Ress)....Pages 91-102 Charley’s Land (David Ress)....Pages 103-113 Conclusion (David Ress)....Pages 115-125 Back Matter ....Pages 127-130