American Mounties

bard32

Banned
What if, the United States, like Canada, had created a police force like the
North West Mounted Police, now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? What effect would this have had on the Indians?
 

CalBear

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The Canadians had, to put it mildly, a somewhat different approach to Native American populations on the NATIONAL POLICY level.

As far as the U.S. creating a uniformed quasi-military force, WHY would Washington have any desire to do so? The U.S., unlike Canada, had sufficient military forces to deal with the same role as the Mounties. In the end, however, the difference would have been nil. The Native Americans would, per National Policy, have been dispossessed.
 

bard32

Banned
The Canadians had, to put it mildly, a somewhat different approach to Native American populations on the NATIONAL POLICY level.

As far as the U.S. creating a uniformed quasi-military force, WHY would Washington have any desire to do so? The U.S., unlike Canada, had sufficient military forces to deal with the same role as the Mounties. In the end, however, the difference would have been nil. The Native Americans would, per National Policy, have been dispossessed.

The American west, unlike the East and Midwest, is sparsely populated. The
soldiers couldn't be everywhere. The North West Mounted Police was responsible for enforcing Canada's treaties with its Indian tribes like the Cree,
Assiniboine, and Ojibway. We made our treaties like pie crusts. Easily broken.
 
Umm Canadian Treaties were just as easily broken, witness the trouble we're having in Caledonia Ontario. The Canadian west was even more sparsely settled then the American west at the time the mounties were created. I would almost say (and this is personal opinion here) that the Mounties helped to open the west, as large scale settlement of the west only happened after the mounties were created (due in part to a fear of the Americans taking our west as well).
 
Well, there's a bit of cultural trouble to deal with; the whole point of the mounties wasn't so much to enforce treaties, it was to keep the Queen's law in general, something that led to some notable culture shock in, for instance, the Canadian Yukon during the goldrush. The US had a much more pioneering spirit. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness VS Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?
 
Yeah, I have a hard time seeing the need for a paramilitary force; the US Calvary does fine in protecting from or crushing Indians and can cover the same ground. A federal police force would be handy, but people really expected the west to be lawless, so why bother trying?
 

bard32

Banned
Umm Canadian Treaties were just as easily broken, witness the trouble we're having in Caledonia Ontario. The Canadian west was even more sparsely settled then the American west at the time the mounties were created. I would almost say (and this is personal opinion here) that the Mounties helped to open the west, as large scale settlement of the west only happened after the mounties were created (due in part to a fear of the Americans taking our west as well).

Are you familiar with the Donald Sutherland movie Alien Thunder? It's about
the 1885 North-West Rebellion.
 
Are you familiar with the Donald Sutherland movie Alien Thunder? It's about
the 1885 North-West Rebellion.

Please tell me that's not your only source of information on the Northwest Rebellion. Even this at least covers most of the causes...
 

CalBear

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Well, there's a bit of cultural trouble to deal with; the whole point of the mounties wasn't so much to enforce treaties, it was to keep the Queen's law in general, something that led to some notable culture shock in, for instance, the Canadian Yukon during the goldrush. The US had a much more pioneering spirit. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness VS Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?


Y'all got better beer though. :D
 
Are you familiar with the Donald Sutherland movie Alien Thunder? It's about
the 1885 North-West Rebellion.

Umm no, but judging from Zyzzva's response its probably not a credible source. My source tends to be a third year university course on canadian history and a life long fascination with the mounties during their pioneering days. However the point was made that the mounties weren't there to enforce treaties but rather to enforce the law. In other words they weren't soldiers but policemen which is a fine difference on the frontier but an important one, as it shows the difference approaches that Canada and the U.S. had towards settling the west. Plus I think the manifest destiny doctrine had a lot to do with shaping the American response to the natives in the west, meaning that they took a harder line to native nations, and supported the settlers above all else.
 
What if, the United States, like Canada, had created a police force like the
North West Mounted Police, now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? What effect would this have had on the Indians?
The guys who were in the forts on the west would have had a different title.

There's no noticable difference, except the American Mounties, if they aren't disbanded rather quickly, end up probably looking like (un)glorified US Marshals.
 

bard32

Banned
Umm no, but judging from Zyzzva's response its probably not a credible source. My source tends to be a third year university course on canadian history and a life long fascination with the mounties during their pioneering days. However the point was made that the mounties weren't there to enforce treaties but rather to enforce the law. In other words they weren't soldiers but policemen which is a fine difference on the frontier but an important one, as it shows the difference approaches that Canada and the U.S. had towards settling the west. Plus I think the manifest destiny doctrine had a lot to do with shaping the American response to the natives in the west, meaning that they took a harder line to native nations, and supported the settlers above all else.

All right. I've traveled to Canada many times in the past forty years. My first time in 1968. The best movie I've seen about the Mounties is a 1974 film called Alien Thunder. It stars Donald Sutherland as Constable Dan Candy. It's been released on DVD as Dan Candy's War. It's about the 1885 Cree Uprising. When Treaty Number 10 was signed between the Canadian government and the Indians, the government promised to help them in exchange for them giving their land to the railroad. It was also the
Mounties who'd kept order during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.
 
All right. I've traveled to Canada many times in the past forty years. My first time in 1968. The best movie I've seen about the Mounties is a 1974 film called Alien Thunder. It stars Donald Sutherland as Constable Dan Candy. It's been released on DVD as Dan Candy's War. It's about the 1885 Cree Uprising. When Treaty Number 10 was signed between the Canadian government and the Indians, the government promised to help them in exchange for them giving their land to the railroad. It was also the
Mounties who'd kept order during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.

1) Do you have a single historical resource that is not a movie; history channel documentary (other channels count for the most part); or unknown, often flawed, out of date book?

2) Can you please stay on topic, or at least give us a signal when you radically drop what you are talking about and go on a barely related subject?

Now, back to the subject on hand: Why would the US need mounties? The US was often content to use the army to keep the peace with Native Americans and to leave the towns relativly on their own.
 

HueyLong

Banned
My TL Liberty or Despair gave the US a tradition of gendarmes, and these were used extensively in the NW. (Which included Canada)
 
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