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Indian Chief History
Among the North American Indians a chief may be
generally defined as a political officer whose distinctive functions
are to execute the ascertained will of a definite group of persons
united by the possession of a common territory or range and of certain
exclusive rights, immunities, and obligations, and to conserve their
customs, traditions, and religion. He exercises legislative,
judicative, and executive powers delegated to him in accordance with
custom for the conservation and promotion of the common weal. The wandering band of men with their women and children
contains the simplest type of chieftaincy found among the American
Indians, for such a group has no permanently fixed territorial limits,
and no definite social and political relations exist between it and
any other body of persons. The clan or gens, the tribe, and the
confederation present more complex forms of social and political
organization. The clan or gens embraces several such chieftaincies,
and has a more highly developed internal political structure with
definite land boundaries. The tribe is constituted of several clans or
gentes and the confederation of several tribes. Among the different
Indian communities the social and political structure varied greatly.
Many stages of social progress lay between the small band under a
single chief and the intricate permanent confederation of highly
organized tribes, with several kinds of officers and varying grades of
councils of diverse but interrelated jurisdictions.
With the advance in political organization political
powers and functions were multiplied and diversified, and the
multiplicity and diversity of duties and functions required different
grades of officers to perform them; hence various kinds and grades of
chiefs are found.
There were in certain communities, as the
Iroquois and
Creeks, civil chiefs and sub-chiefs, chosen for personal merit, and
permanent and temporary war chiefs. These several grades of chiefs
hear distinctive titles, indicative of their diverse jurisdiction. The
title to the dignity belongs to the community, usually to its women,
not to the chief, who usually owes his nomination to the suffrages of
his female constituents, but in most communities he is installed by
some authority higher than that of his chieftaincy. Both in the lowest
and the highest form of government the chiefs are the creatures of
law, expressed in well-defined customs, rites, and traditions. Only
where agriculture is wholly absent may the simplest type of
chieftaincy be found. Where the civil structure is permanent there exist
permanent military chieftainships, as among the Iroquois. To reward
personal merit and statesmanship the Iroquois instituted a class of
chiefs whose office, upon the death of the holder, remained vacant.
This latter provision was made to obviate a large representation and
avoid a change in the established roll of chiefs. They were called
"the solitary pine trees," and were installed in the same manner as
the others. They could not be deposed, but merely ostracized, if they
committed crimes rendering them unworthy of giving counsel. Where the civil organization was of the simplest
character the authority, of the chiefs was most nearly despotic; even
in some instances where the civil structure was complex, as among the
Natchez, the rule of the chiefs at times became in a measure
tyrannical, but this was due largely to the recognition of social
castes and the domination of certain religious beliefs and
considerations. The chieftainship was usually hereditary in certain
families of the community, although in some communities any person by
virtue of the acquisition of wealth could proclaim himself a chief.
Descent of blood, property, and official titles were generally traced
through the mother. Early writers usually called the chief who acted
as the chairman of the federal council the " head chief " and
sometimes, when the tribe or confederation was powerful and important,
"king" or "emperor," as in the case of
Powhatan. In the Creek
confederation and in that of the Iroquois, the most complex aboriginal
government north of Mexico, there was, in fact, no head chief. The
first chief of the Onondaga federal roll acted as the chairman of the
federal council, and by virtue of his office he called the federal
council together. With this all preeminence over the other chiefs
ended, for the governing power of the confederation was lodged in the
federal council. The federal council was composed of the federal
chiefs of the several component tribes; the tribal council consisted
of the federal chiefs and sub-chiefs of the tribe. Communities are formed on the basis of a union of
interests and obligations. By the union of several rudimentary
communities for mutual aid and protection, in which each retained part
of its original freedom and delegated certain social and political
powers and jurisdiction to the united Community, was evolved an
assembly of representatives of the united hands in a tribal council
having a definite jurisdiction. To these chiefs were sometimes added
sub-chiefs, whose jurisdiction, though subordinate, was concurrent
with that of the chiefs. The enlarged community constitutes a tribe.
From tribes were organized confederations. There were therefore
several grades of councils constituted. In the council of the Iroquois
confederation the sub-chiefs had no voice or recognition. Among the Plains tribes the chieftaincy seems to have
been usually non-hereditary. Any ambitious and courageous warrior
could apparently, in strict accordance with custom, make himself a
chief by the acquisition of suitable property and through his own
force of character.
Additional Indian History
Resources:
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not
the opinions of the Webmasters of
the site.
Handbook of American Indians, 1906
Indian Tribal History
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