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  • From: "Bob Waldrop" <bwaldrop@cox.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] private property and forests
  • Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:26:37 -0700

Without getting into the various personality issues in this thread, I would like to mention one system of communal property that worked very well until destroyed by the US government in the late 1890s, and that was the communal land ownership of the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in the 19th century Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

I do not have the details, but all land was held in common by the tribe, and they had a system for developing "usage rights". During this period, by all accounts the tribes prospered greatly, and there was little if any deprivation in the area, and in the 19th century, deprivation in many areas elsewhere could be extreme.

The Dawes Commission was established by the US Congress to examine the "Indian Question", and after touring these nations, it reported that there was little crime, no hunger, operating hospitals and schools, but the Native Americans had no "ambition" and needed to be goaded into embracing capitalism. It recommended terminating the communal land tenure and alloting each individual in the tribe 160 acres. This was basically a way to steal their land for white settlement, and that is what happened. under extreme pressure, the tribes consented, and it was pretty much all downhill from then on.

Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
www.bobwaldrop.net
www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org







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