Chief seattle 1854. Chief Seattle's speech 2022-10-14
Chief seattle 1854
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Chief Seattle was a Native American leader and warrior of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes. He was born around 1780 and lived until 1866. Chief Seattle is best known for the speech he gave in 1854, in which he addressed the concerns and fears of his tribe as they faced the prospect of losing their land to white settlers.
The speech, which has become known as "Chief Seattle's Speech," was delivered at a meeting with the Governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens. At the time, the U.S. government was seeking to purchase land from the Native American tribes in the region in order to facilitate the expansion of white settlement. Chief Seattle and the other Native American leaders present at the meeting were concerned about the impact this would have on their way of life, as they relied on the land for their livelihoods and cultural practices.
In his speech, Chief Seattle emphasized the deep spiritual connection that the Native American tribes had to the land, and the importance of preserving their cultural traditions. He argued that the land was not something that could simply be bought and sold, but rather, it was a sacred gift from the Creator that had been entrusted to the Native American people. He also expressed his concern about the impact that white settlement would have on the natural environment, arguing that the land and the animals were all interconnected and that any harm done to one would have ripple effects throughout the entire ecosystem.
Despite the eloquence and wisdom of Chief Seattle's words, they were ultimately not enough to prevent the loss of Native American land to white settlers. The U.S. government continued to negotiate treaties with the Native American tribes in the region, and many of them were forced to give up their land and move to reservations. However, Chief Seattle's speech has endured as a powerful statement of the Native American perspective on land and the environment, and has been widely quoted and revered in the years since it was delivered.
Everything is Connected
Chief Seattle's speech went unnoted in the written record until October 29, 1887, when the Seattle Sunday Star published a text reconstructed from admittedly incomplete notes by Dr. If Doctor Smith was witness to Chief Seattle's epic speech, he was the sole translator. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench. . Nature has given them everything they need to live on this earth.
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Chief Seattle Writing to President Franklin Pierce in 1854
. Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. . There were fishing leaders, peacetime leaders, and leaders in times of crisis. Your destiny is a mystery to us.
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Chief Seattle
Retrieved February 12, 2012. The Indian's night promises to be dark. If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred blood of our ancestors. I will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. The idea is strange to us….
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Chief Seattle's speech
If we sell you our land, you must remember to teach your children that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness that you would give my brother. He also became known as an orator because of his articulate address regarding relations between the Native Americans and the Europeans. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. That I could put words into the mouth of someone I did not know, particularly a Native American, is pure hubris if not racist. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth.
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“Chief Seattle’s 1854 Oration”
The handsomest Indian I have ever seen, said Tolmie. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Thus it has ever been.
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CHIEF SEATTLE 1780
The whites too shall pass, perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Letter from Richard Crawford of the Natural Resources Branch of the Civil Archives Division, to E. Hence, it is safe to say that what Smith heard was a translation. They seem to be orphans who can look nowhere for help. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. They are like the grass that covers the vast prairies, while my people are few, and resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. Our good father in Washington—for I presume he is now our father as well as yours, since King George has moved his boundaries further north—our great and good father, I say, sends us word that if we do as he desires he will protect us.
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Chief Seattle's Speech 1854 Summary & Analysis
But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends and children. The movie itself sank without a trace, but this newest and most fictional version of Chief Seattle's speech became the most widely known, as it became disseminated within the environmentalist movement of the 1970s— now in the form of a "letter to the President" see below. Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. For the soundtrack for a documentary I had already proposed about the environment, I decided to write a new version, elaborating on and heightening what was hinted at in Arrowsmith's text. No, we are two distinct races with separate origins and separate destinies. Even the white man, whose God walked and talked with him, as friend to friend, is not exempt from the common destiny. Not a single star of hope hovers above his horizon.
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Chief Seattle
Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. On hand to take notes was Dr. Then, in the 1960s various articles around the growth of 'environmentalism' revived interest in the speech. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. So, it was certainly a speech and probably never a letter it certainly reads, sounds and feels like a speech.
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