Carlson L., Political Economy of American Indian and White Relations

Political Economy of American Indian and White Relations Economics

390J/History 385 
Professor Leonard Carlson 
Department of Economics 
Emory University 
Spring 1997


This course will consider a number of topics in the history of the
relationship between Native Americans and Europeans and Africans in the
United States. Topics include: Indian and white relations in the colonial
era; the origins of federal Indian policy under the Constitution; the
removal of Indians from the Southeast in the 1830's; the creation of
reservations in the 1850s; the economics of land allotment in the years
from 1887-1934; the creation of tribal governments after 1934; the
economics of tribal
 termination in the 1950's; and the role of tribal enterprises today.
Where possible we will use economic analysis to consider these issues.
Since the group is small, I plan to leave lots of time for class
discussion and presentations. 

Writing requirement may be satisfied in this course. Announcements: You
are responsible for any announcements or assignments made in class. In
particular, homework problem sets will be distributed periodically in
class.  Prerequisite: Economics 101. 

Textbooks Required: 
Francis Paul Prucha, The Great Father, Abridged Edition, 
Lincoln Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1984. (referred as Prucha) 
Anderson, Terry, Sovereign Nations or Reservations? An Economic
History of American Indians, Lanham Md., Distributed by National Book
Network, for Pacific Research. Institute, 1995. (referred to as Anderson) 
Optional (and too expensive --it's available on reserve): 
Carlson, Leonard
A., Indians, Bureaucrats, and Land: The Dawes Act and the Decline of
Indian Farming, The Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1981.. 

OFFICE, PHONE, AND E-MAIL:. 1635 N. Decatur Road, 727-6375,
econlac@emory.edu. 

OFFICE HOURS: Mondays, 1:40-2:40, Wednesdays, 9:30-10:30, Thursdays 10:00-
12:00, and by arrangement. 

LearnLink: A LearnLink conference has been set up for this class. You can
log into the conference for this class from most of the computers on
campus. Be sure to check this periodically for assignments and as a chance
to ask questions. This is part of class participation.

HONOR CODE: The honor code is taken seriously in this course. If you have a 
question concerning what is appropriate for an assignment or anything else, ask me.
In general, you are expected to behave such that your academic integrity
is beyond question. 

Examinations and Assignments

Assignment Weight

Class Attendance and Participation10%
Short paper 10% 
Paper and discussion 40% 
Final Exam 40%

This schedule of exams and assignments is subject to change. Any changes
will be announced in class. Students are responsible for all announcements
made in class.  

Research Paper
Each of you will be expected to do a grammatically sound term paper on a
topic of your choosing, after a discussion with me. The paper should be
typed and double-spaced and roughly 20 pages in length, exclusive of
tables and references. The bibliography must have at least eight entries.

A brief abstract and working bibliography will be due by March 1. 
The final version of the paper is due the last day of class. Prior to that
I would like each of you to present your work briefly in class in 20
minute presentations. One student will be asked to comment on the paper
during the class discussion.  An additional handout on the paper will be
given out soon. 

Course Assignments
Introduction
Axtell, 'Colonial America Without the Indians: A Counterfactual Scenario,'
in Hoxie, (ed.), Indians in American History, 47-66. 

Thinking of Institutions: Indian and European 
Anderson, ch. 1, 2 
Hardin, Garett, 'The Tragedy of the Commons,' Science, 162, 1243-1248.
Demsetz, Harold, 'Towards a Theory of Property Rights,' American Economic Review, vol. 57,
no. 2, 1967, pp. 347-359. 
Linton, 'Land Tenure in Aboriginal America,' in La Farge (ed.), 
The Changing Indian, Norman, the University of Oklahoma Press, 1943, pp.
42-54. 
Bailey, Martin, 'The Approximate Optimality of Aboriginal Property
Rights,' Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 35, April 1992, pp. 183-198. 
Carlson, "Learning to Farm: Indian Land Tenure and Farming Before the
Dawes Act," in Terry L. Anderson (Editor), Property Rights, Constitutions
and Indian Economies, Rowan and Littlefield, 1992, pp. 67-83.
Gwartney, 'Public Choice: Understanding Government and Government Failure,' ch. 19
in James Gwartney and Richard Stroup, Microeconomics: Private and Public
Choice, Seventh Edition, New York, Dryden/HBJ, 1994. 
David, Paul A.,(1992) "Why Are Institutions the "Carriers of History," working paper
presented to Stanford Institute for Theoretical Economics, July 1992, revised
version, October 1992. 
Underhill, Ruth, Red Man's America, ch. 3-5. 

First Contact: Why were the English different than the Spanish? 
Prucha, 'Prologue.' 
Yeager, Timothy J., 'Encomienda or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of 
Labor Organization in Sixteenth Century Spanish America",  Journal of Economic History, 
vol. 55, no. 4, Dec. 1995, pp. 842-859.
Washburn, Red Man's Land-White Man's Law, ch. 1. 

The Colonial Period and British Indian Policy
Prucha, ch. 1.  
Salisbury, 'The History of Native Americans From Before the 
Arrival of the Europeans and Africans Until the American Civil War,'
 in Engerman and Gallman (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of the
 United States, Vol. I, The Colonial Era, New York,
Cambr idge University Press, 1996, pp. 1-52.  
Spicer, A Short History of the Indians of the United States, ch. 1, 2. 
Washburn, Red Man's Land-White Man's Law, ch. 2. 

Indian Policy in the New Republic
Prucha, ch. 2,3.  
Spicer, A Short History of the Indians of the United States, ch. 3. 

Removal and the Westward Movement of the Frontier 
Prucha, ch. 4-6.  
Walton and Rockoff, History of the American Economy, ch. 8.
Atack and Passell, A New Economic View of American History 
Second Edition, ch. 9. 
 Kanazawa, Mark, 'Possession is Nine Points of the Law: The
Political Economy of Early Public Land Disposal,' Explorations in Economic
History, vol. 33, # 2 Apr. 1996, pp. 227-249. 
Wishart, 'Evidence of Surplus Production in the Cherokee
Nation Prior to Removal,' Journal of Economic History, vol. 55, 
no. 1, March. 1995, pp. 120-138. 

The Reservation System
Prucha, ch. 7-9

After The Civil War: The Peace Policy. 
Prucha, ch. 10-14 Anderson, ch. 4,5

Assimilation and Policy: Allotment of Indian Lands 
Prucha, ch. 15-20. 
Carlson, Indians, Bureaucrats and Land, ch. 1-3 (the political Economy of
allotment)  
Carlson, Carlson, Indians, Bureaucrats and Land, ch. 4-6, or,
Carlson, "Land Allotment and the Decline of American Indian Farming,"
Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 18, no. 2, April 1981, pp. 128-154.
(the impact of allotment on Indian farmers) Anderson, ch. 6 
Hurt, Indian Agriculture in America, ch. 9. 
Lewis, 'Farming and the Northern Ute Experience,' 
in Newberry Library, D'Arcy McNickle Center, 
Overcoming Dependency, working paper, pp. 142-156. 

Reform and Revision: The Indian New Deal 
Prucha, ch. 21, 22 
Libecap and Johnson, 'Legislating the Commons: The Navajo Tribal 
Council and the Navajo Range,' Economic Inquiry, 
January 1980. pp. 69-84. 
Carlson, "The Economics and Politics of Irrigation Projects On 
Indian Reservations, 1910-1940" in Linda Barrington ( ed.), The Other Side 
of the Frontier: Economic Explorations into Native American 
History, Westview Press, forthcoming. Xerox on reserve. 

Reform of Reform: Termination and Relocation 
Prucha, ch. 23

The Modern Era: Federalism and Tribal Economic Development 
Prucha, ch. 24, 25 
Novak, 'The Real Takeover of the BIA,' Journal of Economic History,
vol. 50, no. 3, Sept. 1990, pp. 639-654.  
Anderson, ch. 7,8. 
Haddock, 'Foreseeing Confiscation By the Sovereign,' In Anderson and Hill, The
Political Economy of the American West, Rowan and Littlefield, 1994, pp.129-146.  
Kalt and Cornell, 'The Redefinition of Property Rights on
American Indian Reservations: A Comparative Analysis of Native American
Economic Development,' in Legters and Lyden (eds.) American Indian Policy,
Westport, Greenwood Press, 1994, pp. 121-150. 
P. Carlson, 'Undone: Native Americans are the Country's 
Poorest Minority.' Washington Post Magazine, February 23, 1997. p. 6-22. 
Eckholm, 'The Apaches,' and Clines, 'The Pequots,' 
New York Times Magazine, February 27, 1994, pp. 45-52.  
LaCroix and Rose, 'The Hawaiian Home Lands Program: Return to the 
Land or Bureaucratic Cage?' in Linda Barrington (ed.), The Other Side 
of the Frontier: Economic Explorations into Native American History, Westview
Press, forthcoming. Xerox on reserve.