"Major North has had for years complete power over these Indians and can do more with them than any man living"
About this Quote
Buffalo Bill isn’t praising Major North so much as selling him - and selling a whole idea of frontier management that made conquest look like competence. The line is built like a testimonial: “for years,” “complete power,” “more… than any man living.” That’s not casual admiration; it’s the language of a brand, the kind that turns a messy, violent history into a clean hierarchy with a single indispensable fixer at the top.
The specific intent is strategic. By elevating North as uniquely able to “do more with them,” Cody reassures white audiences and patrons that Native people are not political nations with demands, but a manageable population whose behavior can be optimized by the right intermediary. “Indians” becomes a single mass noun, flattened into a workforce or a problem set. The verb choice matters: not “negotiate,” not “understand,” not even “lead,” but “do more with” - a phrase that treats human beings like resources.
Subtext: control is framed as benevolence and mastery as destiny. “Complete power” is offered without apology, as if the only question worth asking is whether it’s wielded efficiently. That’s the rhetorical sleight-of-hand that let late-19th-century America cheer “peace” while policies of removal, confinement, and forced assimilation hardened into normal governance.
Context seals it. Buffalo Bill’s celebrity was built on turning the frontier into entertainment and ideology at once; his Wild West shows staged Native life for crowds hungry for spectacle and reassurance. In that world, Major North isn’t just a man - he’s proof that domination can be packaged as expertise, and that the era’s moral dilemma can be edited into a management success story.
The specific intent is strategic. By elevating North as uniquely able to “do more with them,” Cody reassures white audiences and patrons that Native people are not political nations with demands, but a manageable population whose behavior can be optimized by the right intermediary. “Indians” becomes a single mass noun, flattened into a workforce or a problem set. The verb choice matters: not “negotiate,” not “understand,” not even “lead,” but “do more with” - a phrase that treats human beings like resources.
Subtext: control is framed as benevolence and mastery as destiny. “Complete power” is offered without apology, as if the only question worth asking is whether it’s wielded efficiently. That’s the rhetorical sleight-of-hand that let late-19th-century America cheer “peace” while policies of removal, confinement, and forced assimilation hardened into normal governance.
Context seals it. Buffalo Bill’s celebrity was built on turning the frontier into entertainment and ideology at once; his Wild West shows staged Native life for crowds hungry for spectacle and reassurance. In that world, Major North isn’t just a man - he’s proof that domination can be packaged as expertise, and that the era’s moral dilemma can be edited into a management success story.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
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