168 An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
The burgeoning of the corporation brought about a new era of
attacks on Indigenous governments, lands, and resources. After the
military power and resistance of Indigenous nations and communi
ties were stifled by the growing US military machine following the
Civil War, compliance on the part of Indigenous leaders became
necessary for survival. Miner argues that "industrial civilization"
diminishes the relevance of persons or communities in its way and
also notes that industrial civilization is not exactly the same as "in
dustrialization," that it is something quite different and more per
vasive. Industrial civilization justified exploitation and destruction
of whole societies and expansion without regard for the sovereignty
of peoples; it promoted individualism, competition, and selfishness
as righteous character traits.1 2 The means by which the US govern
ment assured corporate freedom to intrude in Indigenous territories
was federal trusteeship, the very instrument that was mandated to
protect them.
Beginning at the end of the Civil War, government funds from
Indigenous land sales or royalties were not distributed to reservation
citizens or held by their governments; rather they were held in trust
and managed in Washington. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, without
Indigenous peoples' consent, invested Indigenous funds in railroad
companies and various municipal and state bonds. For instance,
the Cherokee national fund and the Muskogee Creek Orphan Fund
were so invested. Indigenous leaders were well aware of these prac
tices but were powerless to stop them. They certainly did protest, as
evidenced by a petition filed by the Chickasaw Nation: "The Indians
did not lend this money; the United States lent it, to increase the
value of its multiple states .... But now the attempt is made to force
the Indian to contribute his pittance to the growth of all this pros
perity and power; and this, too, when the United States, triumphant
over the perils that once surrounded it, is more than ever able to be
liberal, although nothing more is asked of it than to be just." 13
Cherokee official Lewis Downing, writing in 1869 that rules
would have to be agreed on and adhered to, noted the differences
between Indigenous values and those of American businessmen, "in
that industry, habit, and energy of character which is the result of the
development of the idea of accumulation." Free development with-