Kickingbird Associates

Quotes By & About American Indians
Through the years, famous leaders and thinkers have commented about the important qualities and values of American Indian community life and government. You may find the quotes listed hear both inspiring and at times surprising. Note that the statements made by some of the Founding Fathers point to the influence that native governments and leaders had on their thinking and ultimately on the development of the American form of democracy.

“The lords of the Confederacy of Five Nations shall be mentors of the people for all time. The thickness of their skins shall be seven spans, which is to say that they shall be proof against anger, offensive action and criticism. Their hearts shall be full of peace and goodwill and their minds filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the confederacy. With endless patience they shall carry out their duties and their firmness shall be tempered with a tenderness for their people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgment in their minds and all their words and actions shall be marked by calm deliberation.”

The Great Binding Law of the Iroquois

“Nor have I been able to learn whether they held personal property, for it seemed to me that whatever one had, they all took shares of…. They are so ingenuous and free with all they have, that no one would believe it who has not seen it, of anything that they possess, if it be asked of them, they never say no; on the contrary they invite you to share it and show as much love as if their hearts went with it….”

Christopher Columbus, after returning from his first voyage to the New World

“Each nation is an absolute Republick by itself, govern’d in all Publick affairs of War and Peace by the Sachems of Old Men, whose Authority and Power is gained by and consists wholly in the opinions of the rest of the Nation in their Wisdom and Integrity. They never execute their Resolutions by Compulsion or Force Upon any of their People. Honour and Esteem are their principal Rewards, as Shame and being Despised are their punishments.”

Cadwallader Colden, 1727, History of the Five Nations

“…No power ought to treat with the Indians except the United States. The Indians already know the value of confederation and were much impressed in previous years by the idea of colonial union.”

James Wilson to the Continental Congress, July 26, 1776

“The Indian men when young, are hunters and warriors; when old, counsellors; for all their government is by counsel of sages; there is no force, there are no prisons, no officers to compel obedience or inflict punishment. Hence they generally study oratory, the best speaker having the most influence. The Indian women till the ground, dress the food, nurse and bring up the children, and preserve and hand down to posterity the memory of public transactions. These employments of men and women are accounted natural and honourable. Having few artifical wants, they have abundance of leisure for improvement by conversation”.

Benjamin Franklin, Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America.

“During the course of a long life in which I have made observations of public affairs, it has appeared to me that almost every war between the Indians and whites has been occasioned by some injustice of the latter towards the former.”

Benjamin Franklin on the causes of Indian wars

“And it is further agreed…should it…be found conducive fore…both parties to invite any other tribes who have been friends to the interests of the United States, to join the present confederation, and to form a state whereof the Delaware Nation shall be the head, and have a representation in Congress….”

Article VI, Delaware Treaty, 1778

“The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty they never shall be invaded or disturbed unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws foundd on justice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for preventing wrongs done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.”

Northwest Ordinance, July 1787

“The Congress shall have Power To…regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”

Article I, Section 8, “The Commerce Clause”, the U.S. Constitution, 1789

“We rejoice much to learn that the great Congress have got new powers, and have become strong, we hope that whatever is done hereafter by the great council will no more be destroyed and made small by any State.”

Greetings to the United States from the Cherokee chiefs assembled at their town of Echota, May 19, 1789

“We are of the same opinion with the people of the United States; you consider yourselves as independent people; we, as the original inhabitants of this county, and sovereigns of the soil, look upon ourselves as equally independent, and free as any other nation or nations.”

Joseph Brant, Mohawk Chief, to the U.S. Treaty Commissioners, April 21, 1794.

“That the Indians may have full confidence in the justice of the United States. . .they shall have the right to send a deputy of their choice. . .to Congress.”

Article XII of the Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee, 1795

“Before the revolution, the Indians were in the habit of coming often and in great numbers to the seat of government [in Virginia], where I was very much with them. I knew much the great Outcité, the warrior and orator of the Cherokee; he was always the guest of my father on his journeys to Williamsburg."

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1812

"The treaties and the laws of the United States contemplate the Indian territory as completely separated from that of the states and provide that all intercourse with them shall be carried on exclusively by the government of the union."

Chief Justice John Marshall, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831.

“If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans; in my heart he put other and different desires.”

Sitting Bull, Teton Sioux

"I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy. I realized then that we could not hold our own with the white men. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears. We had a small country. Their country was large. We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not, and would change the rivers and mountains if they did not suit them."

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce, speaking of change

"Continue to contaminate your own bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.”

Chief Seattle, Suqwamish and Duwamish

"The most basic of all Indian rights, the right to self-government, is the Indians' last defense against administrative oppression, for, in a realm where the states are powerless to govern and where Congress, occupied with more pressing national affairs, cannot govern wisely and well, there remains a large no-man's-land in which government can emanate only from officials of the Interior Department or from the Indians themselves. Self-government is thus the Indians' only alternative to rule by a government department…."

Felix Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law, 1940

”When we forget great contributors to our American history-when we neglect the heroic post of the American Indian-we thereby weaken our own heritage. We need to remember the contributions our forefathers found here and from which they borrowed liberally.”

President John F. Kennedy, 1961

"...A treaty, including one between the United States and an Indian tribe, is essentially a contract between two sovereign nations...."

Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Association

“When European colonial powers began to explore and colonize this land, they entered into treaties with sovereign Indian nations. Our new nation continued to make treaties and to deal with Indian tribes on a government-to-government basis. Throughout our history, despite periods of conflict and shifting national policies in Indian affairs, the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes has endured. The Constitution, treaties, laws, and court decisions have consistently recognized the unique political relationship between Indian tribes and the United States which this Administration pledges to uphold."

President Ronald Reagan, January 24, 1983.

"We are survivors! We have survived federal policies designed to erase our culture, assimilate us, and take our lands and resources. And yet we are still here...fighting for our land, our honor, our governments, and the future of our children."

Chief Oren Lyons, Onondaga, 1999