Frances Slocum - Avoiding Removal To Indian Territory

Avoiding Removal To Indian Territory

After it was public knowledge that Young Bear was white, her presence encouraged the community of Dead Man's village to construct itself as white and mask their Indian identity. This strategy combined with the politics of maneuvering, the tribal community (namely Miami chief Francis Godfroy), gained enough support to block forced removal. Young Bear had repeated opportunities to reveal her identity but never did until the 1830s when her Indian community was threatened with removal. To gain sympathy in Congress, Manaquana's lawyer, appointed by her white relatives, played to his audience portryaing Frances Slocum as an old woman who had enduring years of torture and captivity and only wished to remain near her family—both white and Indian. Pennsylvania Congressman Benjamin Bidlack, who introduced the bill, stressed the importance of Frances staying close to her newly found white relatives although they only ever met a few times. Frances Slocum petitioned to stay in Indiana and on March 3, 1845 Congress passed a joint resolution exempting Slocum and about twenty-one of her Indian relatives from removal to Kansas.