Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle, "Letter to President Pierce"

Chief Seattle (c. 1786-1866) was born near Puget Sound, not far from what is now the city that bears his name. He became chief of both the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes of the Northwest, and worked toward peaceful coexistence with the white settlers of the area. What follows is a moving plea for both racial harmony and ecological responsibility, but the authorship of the piece is in question. No trace of the original letter can be found in any of these more than likely repositories: the collection of President Pierce's letters, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or the National Archives; at least one of these sources would certainly contain some evidence of such a document. The possibility remains that the text that has endured here over the years, and appears here, was transcribed from one of Seattle's speeches.

CONTENT

1. What are "talking wires"?
2. How does Seattle react to cities?
3. Discuss the author's view of the role of dreams in life.
4. How does the author describe the relationship between humans and other animals?
5. What is the author's general view of the "white man"?
6. Discuss Seattle's view of time within his own life.

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. Seattle refers to himself as a savage more than once. To what does he repeatedly link this? What evidence is there in the text that we shouldn't take him literally?
2. Discuss this piece as a cause and effect essay. What are the main causes the author describes? The main effects? Do any of the effects in turn become causes?
3. Explain the comparison the author makes in the first paragraph involving white men. How effective do you find this literary device in distinguishing them from Native Americans? What is the effect in paragraph five when he refers to white men as "tribes"?

1. Do you feel more comfortable in big cities, in the suburbs, or in rural areas? Does this type of demographic setting matter to you, or are you equally comfortable anywhere? How might your feelings in this regard have affected your reading here?
2. With which ethnic or cultural group do you most closely identify? How important are these connections in your daily life? How did this identification affect your reading?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Write a letter to the current U.S. President detailing the three most pressing problems concerning the environment and what action should be taken to address them.
2. Let's assume that this is a transcription of a speech given by Seattle. Let's further assume that it was transcribed years later by a white man. Do the content and meaning of what's in your textbook change given the present title? Explain. Does it matter whether the white man who did the transcription was sympathetic to Seattle's views?

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Do some research about the life and times of Chief Seattle. What did he look like? Where did you find images of him? What kind of a speaker was he? When was Seattle named after him? What were his major accomplishments?

WEB CONNECTION

The Washington State Library has put together an excellent site devoted to the controversy surrounding Chief Seattle's speech/letter. It provides a brief historical sketch of the debate, a photo of Seattle, and lots of related links.

LINKS

Biographical

Here's a comprehensive biography of Chief Seattle from Suite101.com. How reliable do you find this information? What are some of the ways you can go about determining the reliability of information you find online?

This Chief Seattle bibliography has a lot of biographical information and a photo of a sculpture of Seattle. If you had to pick either this source or the one above for a paper, which one would it be and why?

Bibliographical

This version of Seattle's work appeared in the Seattle Sunday Star in 1887, under the byline of Dr. Henry Smith. This page has what is often called the "Ted Perry" version. Which is the one that appears, excerpted, in your text? How are the two online works similar? How are they different?

Cultural

How about a concrete example of human behavior having a negative impact upon the natural world? Study this list of endangered species from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Does the number of endangered species surprise you? Explain.

Click here to read Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Nature" in etext. How can you link Emerson's ideas about the subject to Chief Seattle's?

Has reading Chief Seattle sparked your interest in nature writing? Want to do some research on the field? This page of nature links is a great place to start.