CIVILIZATION AND SOVERIGNTY: WHITE SETTLER PATERNALISM AND THE CIVILIZATION POLICY

Abstract

The civilization policy, or civilizing policy, defined the direction of the United States’ Indian policy. Even today, the echoes of the civilization policy can be seen in modern Indian law. George Washington, the architect of the policy, believed it to be “honorable conquest” — a method of taking Indigenous land while forcing Indigenous people to assimilate Euro-American culture and spirituality.1 In creating and applying the civilization policy, however, Washington and the other white statesmen ignored the realities of Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous ways of life. They relied on baseless assumptions about how Indigenous Nations functioned when applying the policy. Further, the white statesmen assumed that Indigenous Nations would happily adopt Euro-American ways of life and abandon their own cultures. Rather than being “victims” of the civilization policy, Indigenous Nations were, in many instances, able to use it to their benefit, whether that be for trade or for delaying removal. Despite the paternalism that coated the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations’ every interaction with the United States government, they were able to thrive in their homelands and ably manipulate the civilization policy.