Chief Seattle’s Letter to the President
Letter written by Chief Seattle of the Seattle Indians Tribe in the North- West Territory (Washington State) to the President of the United States of America in 1855.

The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, but how can you buy or sell the sky the land, the idea is strange to us.

If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water how can you buy them.

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect all are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap that courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.

The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the heat of the pony and man; all belong to the same family. The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water it is the blood of our ancestors.

If we sell you our land you must remember that it is sacred.

Each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The waters murmur is the voice of my fathers’ father. The rivers are our brothers they quench our thirst they carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land remember the air is precious to us, the air shares it’s spirit with the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we give you our land you must keep it apart and safe as a place that a man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flower.

Will you teach your children what we teach our children that the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know, the earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth; all things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.

One thing we know, our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on the creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? When the wild horses are all tamed. What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires. Where will the thicket be, gone. Where will the eagle be, gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the pony and the swift hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival. When the last red-man has vanished with his wilderness and his memories only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here. Will there be any spirit of my people left.

We love this earth as a new born loves his mother’s heartbeat. So if we sell you this land. Love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it as God loves us all. As we are part of the land, you to are part of the land. This earth is precious to us; it is also precious to you. One thing we know there is only one God. No man be he red-man or white can be apart, we are brothers after all.