Today, some tribal offices and federal government offices are closed to commemorate Presidents’ Day.
American Indians have a different worldview than do non-Indians of the federal government including American presidents. That is not to say, American Indians are anti-American or even anti-government. This is evidenced by the large percentage of American Indians who serve in the United States military.
However, given what American Indians have had to endure in the United States, understandably many view history through a different lens. This is true of even how the men who have been president of the United States are viewed by Native people.
The following quotes about American Indians are from various presidents since President George Washington and up to President Joe Biden. The quotes here do not include all presidents. However, there are quotes from every president since President Franklin Roosevelt.
Perhaps reading this will give you a sense of how the hostility towards American Indians has lessened during the past 200-plus years. Just as federal policies toward American Indians have changed, so too have attitudes by presidents.
Here’s a brief history of presidential remarks about Native Americans and here’s to hoping that someday soon we can add a quote from a president of American Indian, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian heritage.
«Indians and wolves are both beasts of prey, tho’ they differ in shape.»
George Washington
«If ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi… in war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy them all.»
Thomas Jefferson
«My original convictions upon this subject have been confirmed by the course of events for several years, and experience is every day adding to their strength. That those tribes cannot exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and a superior race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seeking to control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear.»
Andrew Jackson
«Ordered that of the Indians and Half-breeds sentenced to be hanged by the military commission, composed of Colonel Crooks, Lt. Colonel Marshall, Captain Grant, Captain Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin, and lately sitting in Minnesota, you cause to be executed on Friday the nineteenth day of December, instant, the following names, to wit… » — Text from order made by President Lincoln to General Sibley ordering the execution of American Indians in Minnesota.
Abraham Lincoln
«I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.»
Theodore Roosevelt
«All of our people all over the country — except the pure blooded Indians — are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, including even those who came over here on the Mayflower.»
Franklin Roosevelt
«The United States, which would live on Christian principles with all of the peoples of the world, cannot omit a fair deal for its own Indian citizens.»
Harry Truman
«There has been a vigorous acceleration of health, resource and education programs designed to advance the role of the American Indian in our society. Last Fall, for example, 91 percent of the Indian children between the ages of 6 and 18 on reservations were enrolled in school. This is a rise of 12 percent since 1953.»
Dwight Eisenhower
«For a subject worked and reworked so often in novels, motion pictures, and television, American Indians remain probably the least understood and most misunderstood Americans of us all.»
John Kennedy
«The American Indian, once proud and free, is torn now between White and tribal values; between the politics and language of the White man and his own historic culture. His problems, sharpened by years of defeat and exploitation, neglect and inadequate effort, will take many years to overcome.»