DON'T BLAME THE TREATIES; NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS AND THE MICHIGAN INDIAN TREATIES; SIGNED

Recent confrontations have occurred between sportsmen and tribal and white fishermen over allocation of the waters and the resources of the Great Lakes. This controversy stems from a succession of federal court cases and interpretations of Indian rights in the Old Northwest and Michigan. In 1986 Ted Williams, contributing editor to Audubon Magazine and Gray’s Sporting Journal, published a book entitled Don’t Blame the Indians: Native Americans and the Mechanized Destruction of Fish and Wildlife, in which he pointed out that native American rights and federal programs are as sacred a cow as social security. The authors of Don’t Blame the Treaties contend that these native “rights” – rights to fishing, timber, minerals and water – were never specified in any Michigan treaty. Instead, they are the creation of well-intended judges, lawyers, and politicians who extended the original meaning of Indian treaties, giving rights that were never intended. Pittman and Covington assess the title, rights, history, and privileges accorded to Indians by all Michigan Indian treaties. Appended to their discussion are the documents themselves, the Northwest Ordinance, important Michigan treaties, and the most important judicial opinions written on the facet of Michigan law. By including these documents in their entirety, the authors urge the readers to peruse these documents and judge the truth for themselves. They contend that the version of history that has come from the courts is a distortion of the actual history. It is a version of history built upon what we might wish to have been, and like Dances With Wolves, in the context of our times is “politically correct,” but bad history.