WP 26-008: Native-Settler Violence and Weak Institutions on the American Frontier

We have built a comprehensive dataset of settler/Indigenous violent encounters covering more than 200 tribes in 21 western states over the nineteenth century. During this period, Native American and settler deaths were concentrated in the Southwest and California between 1840 and 1870. Exploiting exogenous mine discoveries as a proxy for early settler arrival shows that small groups of settlers in counties with virtually no state capacity drove most conflicts. Violent deaths ceased when state institutions arrived and fewer deaths occurred when the tribe involved had strong hierarchical organization and military strength. We develop and test a model of effective strength to explain this finding and underscore the role of strong institutions in reducing violence.

Keywords: Violence, Resource Curse, State Capacity, Settlement, Mining, Homesteading

JEL: N41 Q34 D74