Chief Seattle: What was he trying to say?

I chose to read the article from Chief Seattle. My first thoughts turned to how gloomy the chief had made it sound for his people, but at the same time, he was leaning towards accepting the offer of the Americans to receive payment for their lands. He almost seems to be using guilt trip tactics in order to get the whites to give him and his dwindling people the best possible scenario. In rhetoric, this is primarily an epideictic branch of oratory, which focuses mostly on the present and employs either praise, blame, or both. The chief primarily uses praise to describe the generosity of the "white man", but also shows that giving up their lands is very difficult to do. By describing the moment as a huge sacrifice, he calls for respect between the two nations. One of his specific desires was for an agreement that his people would still be able to visit the grave sites of their ancestors after giving up their land.

In context of 19th century ideas, I feel like there are two ideas that strongly apply to this situation. The first is going back to the idea of imperialism since America was trying to expand its borders and economy. Chief Seattle makes the point that America's growth is attributed to a blessing from God. He really appeals to the emotions or ethos as he expresses how God has been impartial between the "red man" and "white man". While the message does not seem to be belligerent, it does give us a sense of how imperialism affected America and gives us insight to the effect it had on others. The second idea I seemed to also draw out was the idea of utilitarianism. While I suppose that Western values were not strongly instilled into Native Americans, Chief Seattle does seem to refer to it when he talks about what is best for his people and the white people. He reasons that since his tribe has shrunk so much already, that there is no reason why his people should hold on to the land when it can be used by the Americans.