history question?

Question

Okay history buffs, what was the legal status of Native Americans in the Oregon Territoy around the time of the Whitman Massacre (mid-1800s).

Answer 1

The Oregon Treaty was the bilateral treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846 in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which had been jointly occupied by both Britain and the U.S. since the Treaty of 1818. This treaty lead to the greatly increased number of settlers arriving in the Oregon Territory via the "Oregon Trail" in 1847. Late that year, in November, the massacre at the Whitman mission occured. This started the conflicts with the Cayuse Indians and the Cayuse War lasted from 1847 thru 1855. In 1855, the Rouge River natives also started a conflict with the American Settlers in the southern section of Oregon which lasted until 1856. But since Oregon didn't become a state until 1859, I suspect that there was not "official" legal status for the Native Americans at this point. I believe they were treated as independent indigenous peoples and treaties were written (and frequently broken or misunderstood) with the leading chiefs of the various tribes. Freqnetly the end of these conflicts with the settlers lead to reservations being created and Native Americans were moved to them. In my area of the state, frequently the Natives married into the settlers families rather than being forced to move.

Answer 2

I would assume they didn't have a legal status...but that's just an assumption...They were regarded as inferior thus I don't believe they would have a legal status, since they were recognized as really 'human' by society at the time, why?