Asked by xochitl
In this discussion, you will discuss Chief Joseph’s speech. Post a detailed response to the discussion prompt. To understand how you will be graded for this assignment, read the Lesson Intro Page. Using your knowledge from the text and Chief Joseph’s speech, what can be said about the treatment of Native Americans during this time period? How might many Native Americans have felt? Do you think you would have agreed with Chief Joseph if you were one of the chiefs to whom he was speaking? Why or why not?
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Chief Joseph’s speech — most remembered for the lines “Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever” — is both a lament and a moral protest. Read in the context of the Nez Perce flight of 1877 and broader U.S. Indian policy, it makes clear how Native Americans were being treated and how they felt.
What the treatment of Native Americans looked like
- Forced removal from ancestral lands and broken treaties: The Nez Perce had been repeatedly pressured to cede land, and when some bands resisted, the government responded with orders to move onto much smaller reservations. This pattern repeated across tribes.
- Military coercion and violence: The U.S. Army was used to enforce removals and punish resistance, producing long campaigns, many deaths, and traumatic forced surrenders such as Chief Joseph’s.
- Humanitarian suffering: Joseph’s words about cold, lack of blankets, and the freezing and starving children highlight the immediate physical deprivation inflicted on families during removals and retreats.
- Cultural and political dispossession: Beyond loss of land, tribes lost autonomy, were confined to reservations, and later faced policies aimed at assimilation (boarding schools, outlawing certain cultural practices).
- Repeated betrayal and legal injustice: Treaties were often negotiated under pressure and then ignored or renegotiated in the government’s favor; promises made at surrender frequently went unkept.
How many Native Americans might have felt
- Deep grief and exhaustion: Joseph’s speech expresses fatigue — physical and moral — that many must have felt after the repeated losses of people, homes, and ways of life.
- Anger and resentment: Betrayal by treaty-makers and the brutality of military force inspired anger and a desire for justice or revenge in many communities.
- Fear and desperation: Facing encroachment, starvation, and the threat of annihilation, people felt desperate to protect children and elders.
- Determination and dignity: Even in surrender, Joseph’s speech asserts moral clarity and humanity; many Native people continued to resist in various ways and to hold on to identity and rights.
Would I have agreed with Chief Joseph?
If I put myself in the position of one of the chiefs he was addressing, I would likely have agreed with him — not as a surrender to injustice, but as a hard, humane judgment about immediate priorities. Chief Joseph argued that continued fighting would only bring more death, especially to children and elders, and that survival of the people should come first. Given the overwhelming military power arrayed against them, the pattern of broken promises, and the need to care for families in the short term, choosing to stop fighting to save lives is a defensible and compassionate choice.
That said, it’s important to understand why some chiefs might have disagreed. For many leaders, surrender meant giving up sovereignty, land, and honor; they might have believed that continued resistance — even if costly — was the only way to defend their people’s future or to make a stand that could shame or change American policy. Distrust of U.S. commitments also made negotiation seem meaningless to others.
In short: Chief Joseph’s speech exposes the cruelty and injustice of U.S. Indian policy and the human cost of forced removal and war. Many Native Americans felt grief, anger, fear, and exhausted resignation. If I had been one of the chiefs, I would likely have agreed with Joseph’s plea to stop fighting in order to preserve lives and care for the children — while still mourning the loss of land, freedom, and justice that the surrender symbolized.
What the treatment of Native Americans looked like
- Forced removal from ancestral lands and broken treaties: The Nez Perce had been repeatedly pressured to cede land, and when some bands resisted, the government responded with orders to move onto much smaller reservations. This pattern repeated across tribes.
- Military coercion and violence: The U.S. Army was used to enforce removals and punish resistance, producing long campaigns, many deaths, and traumatic forced surrenders such as Chief Joseph’s.
- Humanitarian suffering: Joseph’s words about cold, lack of blankets, and the freezing and starving children highlight the immediate physical deprivation inflicted on families during removals and retreats.
- Cultural and political dispossession: Beyond loss of land, tribes lost autonomy, were confined to reservations, and later faced policies aimed at assimilation (boarding schools, outlawing certain cultural practices).
- Repeated betrayal and legal injustice: Treaties were often negotiated under pressure and then ignored or renegotiated in the government’s favor; promises made at surrender frequently went unkept.
How many Native Americans might have felt
- Deep grief and exhaustion: Joseph’s speech expresses fatigue — physical and moral — that many must have felt after the repeated losses of people, homes, and ways of life.
- Anger and resentment: Betrayal by treaty-makers and the brutality of military force inspired anger and a desire for justice or revenge in many communities.
- Fear and desperation: Facing encroachment, starvation, and the threat of annihilation, people felt desperate to protect children and elders.
- Determination and dignity: Even in surrender, Joseph’s speech asserts moral clarity and humanity; many Native people continued to resist in various ways and to hold on to identity and rights.
Would I have agreed with Chief Joseph?
If I put myself in the position of one of the chiefs he was addressing, I would likely have agreed with him — not as a surrender to injustice, but as a hard, humane judgment about immediate priorities. Chief Joseph argued that continued fighting would only bring more death, especially to children and elders, and that survival of the people should come first. Given the overwhelming military power arrayed against them, the pattern of broken promises, and the need to care for families in the short term, choosing to stop fighting to save lives is a defensible and compassionate choice.
That said, it’s important to understand why some chiefs might have disagreed. For many leaders, surrender meant giving up sovereignty, land, and honor; they might have believed that continued resistance — even if costly — was the only way to defend their people’s future or to make a stand that could shame or change American policy. Distrust of U.S. commitments also made negotiation seem meaningless to others.
In short: Chief Joseph’s speech exposes the cruelty and injustice of U.S. Indian policy and the human cost of forced removal and war. Many Native Americans felt grief, anger, fear, and exhausted resignation. If I had been one of the chiefs, I would likely have agreed with Joseph’s plea to stop fighting in order to preserve lives and care for the children — while still mourning the loss of land, freedom, and justice that the surrender symbolized.
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