The Border Difference: The Anishinaabeg, Benevolence, and State Indigenous Policy in the Nineteenth-Century Great Lakes Basin

Post-War of 1812, British and American authorities sought to segregate the Anishinaabeg—comprising Ojibwes (Chippewas), Odawas (Ottawas), and Potawatomis—across the Canada-US border through distinct Indigenous policies. While the U.S. pursued land cessions and removals west of the Mississippi, British authorities in Upper Canada (Ontario) aimed to concentrate Anishinaabeg on Manitoulin Island and smaller Lake Huron islands, significantly impacting the Odawas whose homeland was divided by the border. This study highlights subtle but critical differences in Indigenous resistance strategies and alliances between Canada and the U.S., exemplified by the careers of two Odawa cousins who led cross-border colonies under missionary and government support. Their trajectories reveal divergent languages of resistance and networks of white allies, offering insights into the nuanced interactions between state policies and Indigenous agency during this period.

Gray, S. E. (2018). The Border Difference: The Anishinaabeg, Benevolence, and State Indigenous Policy in the Nineteenth-Century Great Lakes Basin. American Studies in Scandinavia, 50(1), 101–122. https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v50i1.5696