Abstract
In 1914 a small Alaska Tlingit village received permission from the United States Customs agent to form a local city government. One Tlingit man recorded his memories of the formal ceremony “to abolish the old customs of government and adopt the new government introduced by the Americans, a radical decision at that time” (Jackson 2002). He remembered the new mayor’s words, that Keex’ Kwaan (not its official name),
…has been like a small child. In the white man’s way of living, we can only crawl. We’re not prepared; we have no education. So it was like a little child that could crawl, but now with our self government (Keex’ Kwaan) is going to get on its feet, and we’ll begin to walk …. The white man’s law went beyond the authority of the Tlingit chiefs, so some of them see it that there was no necessity for chiefs anymore. (Jackson 2002)