ion was apparently under control when the attempted
arrest of Sitting Bull in his cabin by Indian police led to his death
and the stampeding of his people. Several of the stampeded bands came
down to Pine Ridge, where they were met by United States troops,
disarmed, and shot down after one man had resisted disarmament by firing
off his weapon. This was the massacre of Wounded Knee, where about 300
Indians, two thirds of them women and children, were mown down with
machine-guns within a few minutes. For some days there was danger of a
reprisal, but the crisis passed, and those Indians who had fled to the
"Bad Lands" were induced to come in and surrender. From that time on the
Indian tribes of the United States have been on a peace footing.

CHAPTER III

THE AGENCY SYSTEM: ITS USES AND ABUSES

The early colonists, accustomed to European usages, undertook to deal
with a native chief as if he were a king, with the power to enforce his
rule over his people. As a matter of fact, he was merely their
spokesman, without authority except as it was given him by the council
of his clan, which was called together in any important event. Each clan
or band was responsible only for its own members, and had nothing to do
with the conduct of any other band. This difference of viewpoint has led
to serious trouble.

TREATIES AND TRUST FUNDS

Most of the early agreements were merely declarations of peace and
friendship, allowing freedom of trade, but having nothing to do with any
cession of land. In New England small tracts of land were purchased by
the settlers of individual Indians who happened to sojourn there for the
time being, and purchased for a nominal price, according to their own
history and records. The natives had no conception of ownership in the
soil, and would barter away a princely estate for a few strings of beads
or a gallon of rum, not realizing that they conveyed the absolute and
exclusive title that they themselves, as individuals, had not pretended
to possess.

The status of the Indians within the United States has been repeatedly
changed since colonial times. When this Government was founded, while
claiming the right of eminent domain over the whole country, it never
denied the "right of occupancy" of the aborigines. In the articles of
confederation Congress was given sole power to deal with them, but by
the constitution this power was transferred in part to the executive
branch. Formal treaties were