A Martian Van Buren peace medal. The front has the bust of President Van Buren and the words, “Martin Van Buren, President of the United States. AD 1837.” The back shows two hand shaking, a crossed pipe and tomahawk pipe and the words, “Peace and Friendship.”

Silver peace medals were given to influential Native Americans as a symbol of friendship and allegiance with the United States government or foreign power. Medals were given on important occasions, like the signing of a treaty, and then only to very influential members of the tribe. The medals held even greater importance than normal during times of war or tension, particularly between the US and Great Britain. The countries would compete for the loyalty and friendship of the tribes, and a chief trading in British medal for a US one signified a change in loyalty (Prucha 2000, xiv). Gradually, the medals original meaning diminished, and they were given as rewards for good behavior. The practice was discontinued in the late 1800s.

Native Americans placed great significance on the peace medals and viewed them not only as a sign of friendship, but of power. A suggested reason for this is the connection they saw between these medals and the shell gorgets worn and decorated to represent power. The gorgets, which typically only chiefs and the elite would wear, held a supernatural power source. Images on a gorget gave the wearer the power of what the image represented. Similarly, to the Native Americans, the image displayed on the medal, the head of the president or king, gave the wearer the leader’s power (Reilly III 2011).

Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) was President of the United States from 1827-1841, succeeding Andrew Jackson. He was a political ally of Jackson. Although Van Buren did not take part in the congressional debates, he supported Indian removal policy, calling the Indian Removal Act “most generous.” As president, Van Buren carried out Jackson’s removal policies, using the military to enforce Cherokee removal and continuing the war against the Seminole people in Florida.

From the exhibition: After Removal: Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation, August 25, 2017 - January 21, 2018.
Curated by Dr. Duane King & Dr. Natalie Panther, 2017.