Alaskan Natives

The American flag flew over Sitka, but that meant nothing to most of Alaska's estimated 30,000 Native people. No one had asked them about selling their traditional lands to the United States, and most remained unaware of the sale for a long time. There was no American presence in the interior region of Alaska for many years. Alaskan Natives governed themselves and their lands as they had for generations, and the change in ownership seemed to have nothing to do with day-to-day living.

The Treaty of Cession said that any Russians who chose to stay in Alaska "shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States." However, the agreement did not grant the same rights to Native Alaskans. It specifically excluded the "uncivilized native tribes" from any advantages. "The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such laws and regulations as the United States may, from time to time, adopt in regard to aboriginal tribes of that country," the treaty said. The Native peoples of Alaska were not second-class citizens. They were not citizens at all, at least the way most people understood the treaty. 

Creoles, generally a privileged and well-educated class in Russian-American society, were treated by American authorities as Natives. They were not given citizenship and merged into Native society and communities. 

In the largest Tlingit villages in Southeast, Natives knew about the sale of Alaska and disapproved of it. Writing two years after the sale, Maj. Gen. Jefferson Davis said the Indians "frequently take occasion to express their dislike at not having been consulted about the transfer of the territory. They do not like the idea of the whites settling in their midst without being subjected to their jurisdiction. In some instances, they have expressed a determination to exact tribute for the privilege of trading among them."

An 1869 report by an agent of the U.S. Treasury Department said the Tlingits argued against the legality of the sale of Alaska, claiming "that their fathers originally owned all the country, but allowed the Russians to occupy it for their mutual benefit, in that articles desired by them could be obtained from the Russians in exchange for furs."

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