Then came war against the whites
and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked
and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first
shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great
region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches
are perhaps gaining in strength.
SOME FEATURES OF INDIAN SOCIOLOGY
As shown by Powell, there are two fundamentally distinct classes or stages
in human society--(1) tribal society and (2) national society. National
society characterizes civilization; primarily it is organized on a
territorial basis, but as enlightenment grows the bases are multiplied.
Tribal society is characteristic of savagery and barbarism; so far as
known, all tribal societies are organized on the basis of kinship. The
transfer from tribal society to national society is often, perhaps always,
through feudalism, in which the territorial motive takes root and in which
the kinship motive withers.
All of the American aborigines north of Mexico and most of those farther
southward were in the stage of tribal society when the continents were
discovered, though feudalism was apparently budding in South America,
Central America, and parts of Mexico. The partly developed transitional
stage may, for the present, be neglected, and American Indian sociology
may be considered as representing tribal society or kinship organization.
The fundamental principles of tribal organization through kinship have
been formulated by Powell; they are as follows:(55)
I.
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