There has been controversy over whether Chief Seattle really gave the infamous speech that was portrayed by Dr. Smith. As stated in the preface of the article, some people believe that Smith "crafted" this article to portray a popular sentiment of the time, the disappearance of Indians. The fact that- Smith didn't speak Chief Seattle's language, that there is only one piece of evidence documenting this speech (Smith's newspaper article 30 years after the speech), and the fact that there is another "speech" by Chief Seattle that surfaced to be fake, all suppose that Smith's documentation of Seattle's speech is fake as well.
In his article, "Chief Seattle's Speech Revisited", Arnold Krupat contends that Dr. Smith may have possibly heard Chief Seattle speak, but it is highly unlikely that Seattle spoke about settling into a reservation when Dr. Smith heard him speak on Seattle's Main Street. Chief Seattle didn't begin negotiations concerning reservations until months later at Point Elliot and it is documented by Dr. Smith that he did not attend this speech. Krupat states "Smith stated clearly that he produced Sealth’s speech from notes he took at the meeting in Seattle in front of Dr. Maynard’s office. But those notes cannot have included matters that Sealth could only have raised at a later time." (Krupat)
I believe Arnold Krupat's theory as to what most likely happened. He believes that Dr. Smith was impressed by Chief Seattle's oratorical powers (from when he heard him speak on main street, not at Point Elliot where they negotiated about reservations). During the 30 year period before he published his article, Dr. Smith most likely, whether on purpose or not, misconstrued the two speeches that Seattle gave into one . Smith had access to notes taken at Point Elliot and he could have combined Seattle's oratorical powers (he witnessed this at an earlier date) with the notes he read expressing Seattle's sentiments at Point Elliot.
http://www.chiefseattle.com/history/chiefseattle/speech/speech.htm
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v035/35.2.krupat.html
In his article, "Chief Seattle's Speech Revisited", Arnold Krupat contends that Dr. Smith may have possibly heard Chief Seattle speak, but it is highly unlikely that Seattle spoke about settling into a reservation when Dr. Smith heard him speak on Seattle's Main Street. Chief Seattle didn't begin negotiations concerning reservations until months later at Point Elliot and it is documented by Dr. Smith that he did not attend this speech. Krupat states "Smith stated clearly that he produced Sealth’s speech from notes he took at the meeting in Seattle in front of Dr. Maynard’s office. But those notes cannot have included matters that Sealth could only have raised at a later time." (Krupat)
I believe Arnold Krupat's theory as to what most likely happened. He believes that Dr. Smith was impressed by Chief Seattle's oratorical powers (from when he heard him speak on main street, not at Point Elliot where they negotiated about reservations). During the 30 year period before he published his article, Dr. Smith most likely, whether on purpose or not, misconstrued the two speeches that Seattle gave into one . Smith had access to notes taken at Point Elliot and he could have combined Seattle's oratorical powers (he witnessed this at an earlier date) with the notes he read expressing Seattle's sentiments at Point Elliot.
http://www.chiefseattle.com/history/chiefseattle/speech/speech.htm
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v035/35.2.krupat.html
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