By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Students in Marti Wegner's eighth-grade history classes at Ring Lardner Middle School recently were able to learn about the differences and similarities between the United States Constitution and that of the Pokagon band of Potawatomi Indians.
John Miller and Joseph Morseau, education assistant to the tribe, visited with students Monday and shared with them the history of their tribe and its Constitution.
When the settlers came here, they wanted to build a large city because the area was fertile, but the Potawatomi told them they didn't want a city built, Miller said.
Miller next explained to the students how there was a time when those who were traveling west to settle saw the Indians as a nuisance.
They wanted the Indians to all be moved out west to live on reservations, so they wouldn't have to deal with them, he explained.
Tribes could stay on the land which they currently had, if they made the decision to assimilate with those who were settling the area.
In the mid- to late 1800s, a federal government representative came to the area and found there to be no signs of the tribe left.
Morseau next talked with the students about some of the things they have learned about the United States Constitution.
The tribe also has an executive branch, which has a chairman, vice chairman, secretary and treasurer. The chairman doesn't have the right to veto like the President does, he said.
The Potawatomi Constitution also has age requirements, similar to those in the United States Constitution.