Killing Over Land: Murder and Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier

In early America, interracial homicide-whites killing Native Americans, Native Americans killing whites-might result in a massive war on the frontier; or, if properly mediated, it might actually facilitate diplomatic relations, at least for a time.In Killing over Land, Robert M. Owens explores why and how such murders once played a key role in Indian affairs and how this role changed over time. Though sometimes clearly committed to stoke racial animus and incite war, interracial murder also gave both Native and white leaders an opportunity to improve relations, or at least profit from conflict resolution.In the seventeenth century, most Indigenous people held and used enough leverage to dictate the terms on which such conflicts were resolved; but after the mid-eighteenth century, population and material advantages gave white settlers the upper hand.Owens describes the ways settler colonialism, as practiced by Anglo-Americans, put tremendous pressure on Native peoples, culturally, socia