An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: Chapters 4–5

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
This award-winning book traces the history of indigenous peoples before, during, and after the founding of the United States of America.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Chapter 1, Chapters 2–3, Chapters 4–5, Chapters 6–7, Chapters 8–9, Chapter 10–Conclusion
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. integral
    existing as an essential constituent or characteristic
    Harm to civilians is an integral part of irregular warfare.
  2. separatist
    an advocate of secession or independence from a larger group
    Later, during their war for independence from Britain, the separatists relied on militias to fight the British and their Indigenous allies.
  3. idealize
    consider or render as the best or most appropriate type
    The Texas Rangers are now a law enforcement agency, but their predecessors of the 1800s have long been romanticized (idealized and treated as unrealistically heroic)—for example, in Hollywood films and television shows such as The Lone Ranger.
  4. quash
    put down by force or intimidation
    Colonial governments, and later the United States, frequently deployed rangers to quash Indigenous resistance and displace Indigenous nations.
  5. lucrative
    producing a sizeable profit
    Historian John Grenier reports that it could be quite lucrative to be a scalp hunter.
  6. contrive
    make or work out a plan for; devise
    “Could it not be contrived,” Amherst wrote to a subordinate officer, “to Send the Small Pox among those Disaffected Tribes of Indians? We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to Reduce them.”
  7. disaffected
    discontented as toward authority
    “Could it not be contrived,” Amherst wrote to a subordinate officer, “to Send the Small Pox among those Disaffected Tribes of Indians? We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to Reduce them.”
  8. stratagem
    an elaborate or deceitful scheme to deceive or evade
    “Could it not be contrived,” Amherst wrote to a subordinate officer, “to Send the Small Pox among those Disaffected Tribes of Indians? We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to Reduce them.”
  9. mercenary
    a person hired to fight for another country than their own
    Percy was a mercenary who fought in the Dutch war for independence from Spain.
  10. encroachment
    entry to another's property without right or permission
    Despite these brutal acts, the Powhatans continued to resist encroachment.
  11. incense
    make furious
    Shortly afterward, the Pequots, incensed by the assaults on their towns and their food supplies, attacked Fort Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
  12. ensue
    take place or happen afterward or as a result
    In one fort were mainly Pequot men. In the other were primarily women, children, and elders. Mason targeted the latter. Slaughter ensued.
  13. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    The British then moved on, razing fifteen more towns and burning fourteen hundred acres of corn.
  14. cede
    give over
    When the French and Indian War ended, the French left the region, ceding to the British all the land they had claimed east of the Mississippi River.
  15. squatter
    someone who lives on a property without right or title
    A few Cherokee towns that had been hit hardest by rangers responded by attacking squatter settlements, destroying several in 1776.
  16. inalienable
    incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another
    Though most people associate Thomas Jefferson with the phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” his words and actions with respect to Cherokees show that he was selective in who was deserving of those “inalienable rights.”
  17. speculator
    one who makes risky investments in the hopes of high profits
    This action angered both settlers who wanted to move into that region and the land speculators who sought to profit from selling land there.
  18. surveyor
    an engineer who determines boundaries and elevations of land
    In 1774 the Shawnee responded to these encroachments by raiding squatter settlements and expelling land surveyors.
  19. faction
    a dissenting clique
    Fearful that ongoing war would mean utter destruction of their nation, a faction of Shawnee accepted a peace agreement that meant giving up some of their autonomy and the territory they used as hunting grounds.
  20. autonomy
    political independence
    Fearful that ongoing war would mean utter destruction of their nation, a faction of Shawnee accepted a peace agreement that meant giving up some of their autonomy and the territory they used as hunting grounds.
  21. staunch
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    Though their directive was to destroy the Shawnee Nation, they fell on the staunchly neutral towns of the Delaware Nation, torturing and killing women and children.
  22. pacifism
    the doctrine that all violence is unjustifiable
    Interactions with Moravian Protestant missionaries had shown the Delawares that Moravian ways of religion were similar to their own, including the ideal of pacifism.
  23. bludgeon
    strike with a club
    One killer bragged that he personally had bludgeoned fourteen victims with a cooper’s mallet, which he had then handed to an accomplice.
  24. vie
    compete for something
    When the war between the British and separatists began, both sides vied to win the Haudenosaunee as allies.
  25. intractable
    difficult to manage or mold
    The Seneca Nation had early on considered the British to be an intractable enemy, but with the separatist war looming they were more afraid of the settlers, and so the Senecas followed the Mohawks’ lead into a British alliance.
  26. preemptive
    designed to prevent an anticipated situation or occurrence
    By 1779 General George Washington ordered preemptive action against the Haudenosaunee.
  27. overture
    a tentative suggestion to elicit the reactions of others
    You will not by any means, listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected....Our future security will be in their inability to injure us...and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.
  28. muster
    call to duty, such as military service
    With the approval of the Continental Congress, three armies were mustered to launch an offensive against the Seneca and any other Indigenous nation that opposed the separatists.
  29. infringe
    go against, as of rules and laws
    It reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
  30. extirpate
    destroy completely, as if down to the roots
    The only solution he said, was to “extirpate, utterly, if possible” the Indigenous peoples who pushed back against settlements.
  31. unconditional
    not subject to any restrictions or limitations
    They destroyed the Miamis’ two largest towns and took forty-one women and children captive, then sent warnings to the other towns that the same would happen to them unless they surrendered unconditionally.
  32. ultimatum
    a final peremptory demand
    Wayne issued an ultimatum to the alliance, threatening harm to women and children if the men did not stop fighting.
  33. destitute
    poor enough to need help from others
    In 1809 Indiana’s territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, badgered and bribed a few destitute Delaware, Miami, and Potawatomi individuals to sign the Treaty of Fort Wayne.
  34. codex
    a written manuscript, typically from ancient times
    Those who could read and write kept records
 of religious, scientific, and cultural information, 
as well as stories, in bark cloth books now
 called codexes.
  35. annuity
    income from capital investment paid regularly
    In July 1791 they reluctantly signed the Treaty of Holston, agreeing to abandon any claims to land on which the Franklin settlements sat in return for an annual annuity of $1,000 from the federal government.
  36. egalitarian
    favoring social equality
    Such class divisions internally damaged the traditional, relatively egalitarian Indigenous societies.
  37. contingent
    a temporary military unit
    In fall of 1792, under the leadership of Dragging Canoe and Cheeseekau (a brother of Tecumseh), a contingent of Chickamauga, Muscogee, and Shawnee fighters set out to attack frontier settlements in what is now Tennessee.
  38. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
    You have seen that two secession movements have taken place, and in neither of those
 were the settlers who seceded killed or punished by the government.
  39. circumvent
    avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing
    In July 1793 Sevier circumvented Blount’s authority and convinced the War Department to let him conduct reconnaissance in Chickamauga territory.
  40. reconnaissance
    the act of scouting, especially to gain information
    In July 1793 Sevier circumvented Blount’s authority and convinced the War Department to let him conduct reconnaissance in Chickamauga territory.
Created on Tue Oct 20 21:27:15 EDT 2020 (updated Fri Nov 06 08:48:42 EST 2020)

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