Beyond the reservation

by Brad Asher

Beyond the Reservation is the first in-depth examination of the American Indian presence in local courts during the nineteenth century. Through examination of Washington Territory's district court records for 1853-1889, as well as other archival materials, Brad Asher provides a detailed portrait of Indian-white contact within this region. Overturning the conventional notion that Indians were confined to reservations during the latter half of the nineteenth century, Asher shows that most Indians in Washington Territory never moved to reservations or resided on them only seasonally. By focusing on contact between Indians and whites, this book challenges the emphasis of most histories on the exclusion and separation of Indians during the settlement period. In addition, by conceiving of law as a mode of governance, it sheds new light on the role of the state in the colonization of the American West.