The Broken Promises of Washington Territory
James G. Swan argues that federal mismanagement and bureaucratic neglect are the true causes of unrest, urging the government to honor its treaty obligations to Indigenous nations.
I submit for your special consideration whether our Indian system should not be remodelled. Senator Nesmith of Oregon said: 'If there is any one Department of our Government worse managed than another, it is that which relates to our Indian affairs. Mismanagement, bad faith, fraud, peculation, and downright robbery have been its distinguishing features.' Since the days of William Penn, the weak settlements of white men have grown to be a powerful nation, yet the policy of regarding Indians as independent nations—an idea born of our early weakness—persists, resulting in a farce of diplomacy. I am convinced our whole system of treaty-making is wrong. The Indians cannot understand why agents are not empowered to close bargains at once, contrasting this delay with the promptness of the Hudson's Bay Company. It is folly to treat with wild Indians with the formality adopted toward foreign nations. Furthermore, Congress has made liberal appropriations that never reach their destination. There is currently a balance of over $246,000 in the U.S. Treasury belonging to the Indian service in this Territory, lying useless while the country remains in excitement over Indian outrages caused by neglect. If this money were distributed, it would honor our plighted faith and settle demands long overdue.
“There is currently a balance of over $246,000 in the U.S. Treasury belonging to the Indian service in this Territory, lying useless while the country remains in excitement over Indian outrages caused by neglect.”
Writing from Neah Bay in 1863, James G. Swan identified a crisis of federal bureaucracy that resonates with the long history of the U.S. government's failure to fulfill treaty obligations in the Pacific Northwest. His critique of the 'dry bones and chronic imbecility' of the Indian Bureau reflects a systemic disregard that continues to shape the relationship between the federal government and Sovereign Tribal Nations today.
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