The United States has a rich history filled with both heartwarming and heart wrenching stories. Some of those stories are based in fact, while others - simply legend and lore. In an attempt to discover and share a fuller picture of our history, ILTF is supporting an innovative project that examines the physical formation of the United States. Looking at U.S.-Indian treaties, the very documents that made the land upon which we stand part of America, we can begin to understand the whole picture of our country’s formation. In particular, we hope to bring to light how business interests in land speculation, the fur trade, mining, and the plantation system, which were represented by the government signers of Indian treaties, profoundly shaped U.S.-Indian relations.
The Treaty Signers Project examines - for the first time - how business and family interests connect U.S. treaty signers to one another, to U.S.-Indian relations, and to the institutions that shape our economy today. The “American Myth” presents “pioneers” as the driving force of America’s past. By contrast, the Treaty Signers Project presents the economic engines that actually drove U.S. expansion –- interests that saw both Indian land and pioneers as sources of personal profit. The 2,600 men who represented the U.S. in treaty negotiations secured hundreds of millions of acres of land for themselves, their families and their business partners – land that was sold to pioneers at a profit and includes the original sites for hundreds of cities and towns.
By supporting ILTF’s Treaty Signers Fund, you will be helping researchers make sense of the vast amount of scattered information on these critical events.
Your gift to this innovative project will foster real discussion about our history as it actually was, not the idealized legends of westward expansion America celebrates today.
Make a contribution to the Treaty Signers Fund
See all community funds
