Often traded for animal skins or other domestic products, alcohol entered the daily lives of Native Americans without adequate restrictions and guidelines put in place. Immoderate drinking by local settlers also set a bad example for the natives. Immediate effects of this were incivility, medical issues, and increased violence. Villagers, especially hunters of the village, who drank excessively, failed to successfully fulfill their roles and directly damaged the economy. Benjamin Franklin commented on this lack of control by stating, "[They] are extremely apt to get drunk, and when so are very quarrelsome and disorderly." As we learned in class, many historians also attributed this behavior to be one of the factors to the series of defeat experienced by Native Americans throughout colonialism and after American westward expansion. Others blamed the colonists and Americans for purposefully selling alcohol in hopes of undermining the social cohesion in native tribes.
Starting in the eighteenth century, the problem of alcohol was formally addressed by individual state legislators, following the complaints of several tribe chiefs. Although several states prohibited the sale of alcohol to Indians, the mildness of the punishment and lack of enforcement ultimately rendered this action pointless. It wasn't until about a century later in March of 1802, under the demands of Chief Little Turtle (yes, the same Little Turtle from the documentary), did the federal government put more serious restrictions on the selling of alcohol into Native American communities. For the following years, however, several amendments were made on top of this foundation to adjust to the disobedience of many American citizens and the subsequent demands of Native Americans.
Even so, alcohol abuse is still a major problem in Native American communities today. The National Institutes of Health reports that "[Native American] youth have the highest rates of alcohol use disorders of any racial group in the country." One of the most serious results of this is high rates of "fetal alcohol syndrome" in the communities, in addition to the aforementioned consequences of excessive drinking. As long as people continue to open liquor stores near Native American communities in hopes of making money and a lack of public attention is brought upon this issue, such problems will only worsen.
Sources:
https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-4/253.pdf
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/18/south-dakota-indian-liquor-alcoholism-column/101484586/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans
Starting in the eighteenth century, the problem of alcohol was formally addressed by individual state legislators, following the complaints of several tribe chiefs. Although several states prohibited the sale of alcohol to Indians, the mildness of the punishment and lack of enforcement ultimately rendered this action pointless. It wasn't until about a century later in March of 1802, under the demands of Chief Little Turtle (yes, the same Little Turtle from the documentary), did the federal government put more serious restrictions on the selling of alcohol into Native American communities. For the following years, however, several amendments were made on top of this foundation to adjust to the disobedience of many American citizens and the subsequent demands of Native Americans.
Even so, alcohol abuse is still a major problem in Native American communities today. The National Institutes of Health reports that "[Native American] youth have the highest rates of alcohol use disorders of any racial group in the country." One of the most serious results of this is high rates of "fetal alcohol syndrome" in the communities, in addition to the aforementioned consequences of excessive drinking. As long as people continue to open liquor stores near Native American communities in hopes of making money and a lack of public attention is brought upon this issue, such problems will only worsen.
Sources:
https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-4/253.pdf
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/18/south-dakota-indian-liquor-alcoholism-column/101484586/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans
I really liked reading this blog as I now understand the significance of alcohol in Native American society. From being briefly mentioned in a documentary in class, I too was wondering what the significance was, and it turns out there are lots of them. Indeed, Native Americans who did drink were not able to function as leaders and could not provide for their village, such as hunting or trading. I found that the issue went unnoticed as Europeans saw the Native Americans as inferior, and anti social drunken behavior was particularly demonized. With the banning alcohol from Native American trade, it was not particularly effective for those groups who did drink, and the issue was never resolved.
ReplyDeletehttps://psmag.com/news/whats-behind-the-myth-of-native-american-alcoholism
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ReplyDeleteThis blog was very useful in adding info about the effects of alcohol on Native Americans. After doing some further research, I found it interesting to see what happened after the restrictions in 1802. While some restrictions were put in place after 1802, the law wasn't enforced heavily. Later, in 1847, there was a rule against selling any alcohol in Indian country, but people found a loophole. Instead of selling it in Indian Country, Native Americans would visit white communities and bring alcohol back. As time went on, there were more amendments but Indians eventually were living in Indian reservations, and laws were still not enforced. Some penalties for selling alcohol to Native Americans were as low as just $1 and one day in prison. These problems didn't stop - even recently there have been issues involving alcoholism and the Native American communities. In 2017 in the small town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, nearly 11,000 cans of beer a day were leaving stores and most of it was sold to the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe members in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for years. Luckily, the state liquor Commission stopped the liquor stores from further sales, but this is just one example of the devastating way Americans continue to try to profit off of introducing alcohol into Native American communities.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans#The_Indian_Nonintercourse_Act
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/29/pine-ridge-indian-reservation-south-dakota