"I Will Fight No More Forever"

Chief Joseph was the leader of the Nez Perce Native American tribe from 1871 after his father's death until Chief Joseph's death in 1885 (Chief Joseph 531). During this time, Native Americans were being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands and relocated to the west out of the way of the "civilized" white people (Divine). When the United States government tried to relocate the Nez Perce to Idaho from their native land of what is today known as Oregon because of the gold recently found the Nez Perce territory (Chief Joseph 531). After peacefully resisting for a number of years, the US government threatened forcible relocation (Chief Joseph 531). Chief Joseph did not want bloodshed or any time of physical conflict so he agreed to journey to Idaho with his tribe. After the government killed members of the tribe, Chief Joseph led his tribe north to Canada (Chief Joseph 531). After three months of evading the US troops, the Nez Perce tribe was captured and sent to Idaho (Chief Joseph 531). Many of the Nez Perce died of "white" diseases and from the long trek (Chief Joseph 531). That is what led to Chief Joseph to go to Washington D.C. and meet with the president to raise awareness to what was happening to his people (Divine). Chief Joseph was a well respected man, but as he was an Indian, he was not granted what he required. The racism in America during this time was not just against African Americans, but also Native Americans. Chief Joseph's story reminds us how many different types of people were mistreated in America and very little was done about it. In Chief Joseph's "I Will Fight No More Forever" speech, he said how his "heart is sick and sad" (Chief Joseph 533). That feeling was shared by many people in America during this time period, but not be enough to change the way things worked and make changes to American society.



Chief Joseph. "I Will Fight No More Forever." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 531-533. Print.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

Hawthorne, Julian. "Emerson as an American." In The Genius and Character of Emerson. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1885. Quoted as "Emerson as an American." in Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 01 Mar. 2012.