The relentless business of treaties : how indigenous land became US property

Case, Martin 1957- (author.).

Summary: The United States was the first country to be founded with private property as an organizing principle. The westward growth of the U.S. - the business of territory making -- was essentially the expansion of a system of property. This required supplanting any other relationships to the landscape, not on an individual level, but as an organizing principle. The U.S. enterprise was so successful that today it can be difficult for Americans to think of land as anything other than real estate. This book explores how making treaties for land cessions with Native American nations transformed human relationships to the land and became a profitable family business--for speculators, traders, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats, and journalists--Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781681340906
ISBN: 1681340909
ISBN: 9781681340913
ISBN: 1681340917
Physical Description: print
215 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Publisher: St. Paul, MN : Minnesota Historical Society Press, [2018]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Speculators -- Traders -- Men of industry -- Political and personal boundaries -- Bureaucrats -- Mythmakers.