Preparing to Read: Student Sample

To prepare you to read the sample essay "Letter to President Pierce, 1855" by Chief Seattle, read the headnote and glance at the text of the essay below. After the essay, you can examine the way one student answered questions as she prepared to read this text.

Letter to President Pierce, 1855

Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle (1786 - 1866) was the leader of the Dewamish and other Pacific Northwest tribes. The city of Seattle, Washington, bears his name. In 1854, Chief Seattle reluctantly agreed to sell tribal lands to the United States government and move to the government-established reservations. The authenticity of the following speech has been challenged by many scholars. However, most specialists agree it contains the substance and perspective of Chief Seattle's attitude toward nature and the white race.

We know that the while man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers' graves, and his children's birthright is forgotten. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand.

There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect's wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand, the clatter only seems to insult the ears The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a mid-day rain, or scented with the piñon pine. The air is precious to the red man. For all things share the same breath--the beasts, the trees, the man. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.

It matters little where we pass the rest of our days; they are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the children of the great tribes that once lived on this earth, or that roamed in small bands in the woods, will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours.

The whites, too, shall pass--perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires, where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival? We might understand if we knew what it was that the white man dreams, what he describes to his children on the long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. The white man's dreams are hidden from us.

• Who is the author? Chief Seattle
• What does the biographical note tell you about the author? He was chief of the Dewamish tribe and other tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and the city of Seattle was named after him. He agreed to sell his tribes' land and go live on a reservation. He might not have actually written this letter, or speech, but it reflects the way he felt.
• What does the title imply about the contents of this piece? It is a letter written to a president of the United States in the middle of the 19th century.
• How long is the essay? very short!
• When was the piece written? 1855
• Does it have any subheadings, section breaks, or footnotes? no
• Is the piece a fully contained work, or is it an excerpt from a larger text? It seems to be fully contained.
• Does it contain any visual or mathematical aids (graphs, charts, diagrams, lists)? no
• Does the author provide any typographical signals (quotation marks or italics) to highlight certain words? no
• Are other books and authors cited in the essay? no
• Does the essay contain organizational tools such as Arabic or Roman type? no

Write down any additional questions that you have before reading "Letter to President Pierce, 1855."

If Chief Seattle didn't write this, then who did? Is it a letter, as the title says, or a speech, as the headnote indicates? Why did he agree to sell his lands "reluctantly"? What kinds of pressure did he face?

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