Essay 4---His 375

Question 2

There is an element of truth in this statement that ‘Wounded Knee massacre had nothing to do with politics, parties, racism or even greed; this was a tragedy of Indian agent Daniel Royer’s incompetence’. Admittedly, the Indian agent Daniel Royer’s incompetence did exasperate the situation in Indian reservations. The oversensitive and incompetent agent eventually invited troops into the Pine Ridge reservation, which technically directly leaded to the Wounded Knee tragedy.

Ostensibly, agent Daniel Royer should be partially responsible to Wounded Knee massacre. But it would be arbitrary to conclude that the incompetence of Daniel Royer was the only factor that gave rise to the tragedy of massacre. Just like no one would contend now that the assassination of Hutu leader was the only factor that gave rise to the Rwanda genocide. The burst of tragedy always has more deep roots in comparison to one specific accidental event. Underlying the mask, there were three distinct reasons which resulted in the Wounded Knee massacre: the spoil system of Republican Party, the Republican’s protective economic policy and the ethnocentrism of American culture.

First, the bureaucratic system, to be more specific, the spoil system, was one of the significant roots which later played an important role in the Wounded Knee tragedy. Since 1829, President Andrew Jackson introduced the spoil system into American bureaucratic system, which meant that in order to keep party loyalty and assure election victory, the positions of federal government would be given to party members as an incentive for their support. ‘The spoil system thrived in nineteenth century in America’. (Richardson, 91) In United States presidential election of 1888, the spoil system which was implemented by Republican Party contributed a lot to the final victory. Admittedly, the spoil system is a pragmatic system which is very significant during presidential election, but it causes serious problems as well. The appointments of federal jobs in the west, such as Indian Agents, only focused on election consideration rather than ameliorating the suffering of Indian reservation. Moreover, one of the most serious problems was the incompetence of position candidate.

The Indian agent, Daniel Royer, was a typical epitome of this serious incompetence problem.  He was a pharmacist who knew very little about Indian issues. He also had drug addiction which inflicted him during 1890. “Royer might have been good at drumming up votes for the Republican Party, but he had few other skills”, “He was nonetheless a weak man who knew little of Indians”. (Richardson, 170) It did turn out that Daniel Royer was really not a smart choice for the Indian agent position. He was often oversensitive about the Indian Ghost Dance, which he insisted that it was a symbol of Indians’ cultural recalcitrance. He also suspected the Indians’ ammunition storage, which he thought was a conspiracy of belligerent Indians. But eventually it turned out that the purpose of ammunition storage was only for hunting, not killing. Actually, General Miles had noticed Daniel Royer’s miscalculation, “General Miles was still convinced that the political appointees, who had virtually no experience, were misleading the situation” (Richardson, 200).  So in conclusion, it was Republican Parties’ spoil system, rather than the incompetence of agent Daniel Royer, that indirectly, but critically gave rise to the Wounded Knee massacre.

Second, the Republicans’ economic policy, to be more specific, the protective tariff policy, was an important contributor to the Wounded Knee massacre. Nowadays the economic model of international trade has already showed that the protective tariff policy will increase the government’s tax income, but eventually it will hurt the consumers’ interest, especially for the farmers and ordinary workers. In 1861, one month before the American civil war, President James Buchanan signed the Morrill Tariff Act in order to protect the northern industrial development by raising the tariff.  After that, the Republican government gradually raised the protective tariff for the purpose of the support from industrial tycoons.  

The booming of industry and the protective tariff policy required the expansion of domestic market and sufficient labors. As a result, the massive railway construction was inevitable during that time. Moreover, the success of American economy attracted a large number of immigrants, and many of them were the main component of Westward Movement. The massive railway construction and the Westward Movement was not good news for the Indians, because it would endanger the Indians’ traditional lifestyle: hunting.  The decimation of bison forced the Indians’ to grudgingly transform their lifestyle from hunting to farming. This involuntary transformation of Indian lifestyle had gradually fermented the sense of resentment toward whites. This sense of resentment was a critical element which leaded to several American-Indian wars.

The protective tariff policy of Republican Party during eighteenth century triggered the burgeoning industry and the formation of trusts. But it caused pervasive complaints from farmers and ordinary people.  For example, the soaring price of binding wine due to high protective tariff chagrined the farmers. “Farmers resented the high costs they paid for all of their supplies, but nothing hit harder than the cost of this staple” (Richardson, 165) some trusts, like Jute Trust, monopolized the important twine. Prevailing dissatisfaction and poverty of farmers and workers propped up the hotbed of populist environment. Many history events had demonstrated that the massive poverty and economic discontent could trigger extremism and racism. Because of the populist environment, the editors of newspapers were willing to fan the tension between whites and non-whites. “The columns the reporter filed were electrifying, describing Indian murders and atrocities and predicting an imminent battle” (Richardson, 222) these irresponsible editors and reporters aggravated the misunderstanding between Indians and whites. 

Third, the ethnocentrism of American culture was another deep root of Wounded Knee massacre.  The ethnocentrism contained two aspects: lifestyle and religion.  The federal government contended that the only way to solve western Indian problems was to change their lifestyle. Whites were pushing the western Indians to accept American lifestyle after the Civil War, but because of the bad weather condition and the scarce federal supply, transformation of lifestyle didn’t turn out very well. This result irritated the Indian traditionalists, especially Sitting Bull----the Sioux traditional holy man. Moreover, American people’s intolerance of Indian new religions made the situation worse.  Indian had no Christian root and they didn’t believe in God. This baffled the English setters since the colonization era. Whites had made a lot of efforts proselytizing Indian’s religion, and separated the Indian kids from their parents in order to assimilate them. The Federal government sent teachers and doctors to the Indian reservations and built schools there, teaching the Indian kids of western culture and American lifestyle. Although progressive Indians welcomed the efforts, the traditionalists again regarded these efforts as a conspiracy.

At last, the appearance of the Ghost Dance terrified the whites. The Indian agents saw the Ghost Dance as cultural recalcitrance of Indian people, and thought this new religion was a signal of imminent battle.  This was a pronounced reflection of Indian agents’ ethnocentrism. ‘The agents were trying to stop the movement with commands, rather than addressing the desperate need of the Indians in ways that might offer them a future in this world’. (Richardson, 180) Although the Ghost Dance movement never endangered the Indian agents directly, they still saw the movement as a heresy. This racist mentality was an ominous signal which later leaded to the disaster. 

In conclusion, this essay argues that the Wounded Knee massacre was not a simple accidental event caused by the incompetent Indian agent. In the contrast, it was highly related with politics, parties, racism and greed.