Foote, Kate.

The Indian Legislation of 1888. [Cover title].

Philadelphia: J.F. Dickson Printing Company, [1889]. 8” x 5 ¼”. Self wrappers. Pp. 8. Very good: lightly toned.

This is a short work regarding legislation affecting Native Americans. It was written by the president of Women's National Indian Association (WNIA), Kate Foote. Foote (later Kate Foote Coe) was an educator who taught at Hartford Female Seminary and also taught formerly enslaved persons in Florida and South Carolina at the end of the Civil War. In 1886 she went to Alaska to learn about the educational needs of indigenous peoples there and she was president of the WNIA from 1886 to 1895. The WNIA was founded in 1879 by a group of American women opposed to the encroachment of white settlers on land set aside for Native Americans in Indian Territory.

In the pamphlet, Foote shared that approximately 80 bills that could impact Native Americans went before Congress in its latest session. She discussed the impact of federal funds distributed to ensure the government complied with treaties and pointed out that the 1888 “Indian Bill” in Congress would cover Indian Affairs agents as well as allotments of land and cash given directly to tribal members. She briefly commented on numerous other bills including the one she considered the most important:

“The bill to divide the great Sioux reservation . . . and throwing the rest into the public domain is the greatest bill that has passed this session. It is in the interest both of the Indian and the white man. The Sioux on this reservation have been proud, restless, easily excited to war and have hated work. They have received rations from the government, and made war upon it with philosophic impartiality. If the day has at last come when this tribe is willing to acknowledge itself so far converted as to be willing to till the soil for a living it has taken a great step forward.”

OCLC locates nine copies. Very good. Item #2498

Price: $450.00