The federal government’s treatment towards native reservations is similar to that of an absentee parent: neglecting to attend to their needs yet refusing to give them the freedom and ability to grow on their own. Throughout history, natives have been given three dismal choices: assimilation, relocation, or genocide.
Full Answer
How are Native Americans treated by Caucasians?
Even today, the treatment of Native Americans by Caucasians is abysmal. Reservations, as an effect of many laws enacted by the U.S. government, have been relegated to poverty. According to the Atlantic, Native Americans have a rate of poverty of almost twice the national average, the highest of all racial groups in America.
Which aspect of the colonial era made the Native Americans vulnerable?
Another aspect of the colonial era that made the Native Americans vulnerable was the slave trade. As a result of the wars between the European nations, Native Americans allied with the losing side were often indentured or enslaved.
How did the Native Americans resist the European invasion of America?
They resisted the efforts of the Europeans to gain more of their land and control through both warfare and diplomacy. But problems arose for the Native Americans, which held them back from their goal, including new diseases, the slave trade, and the ever-growing European population in North America.
What held the Native Americans back from achieving their goals?
But problems arose for the Native Americans, which held them back from their goal, including new diseases, the slave trade, and the ever-growing European population in North America.
What was our government's policy towards Native Americans prior to the Civil war?
For most of the middle part of the 19th century, the U.S. government pursued a policy known as “allotment and assimilation.” Pursuant to treaties that were often forced upon tribes, common reservation land was allotted to individual families.
What did the U.S. government do with Native Americans during the Civil war?
Between 1830 and 1850, those groups had been forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeast and marched hundreds of miles west by the U.S. government. The relocation, later known as the Trail of Tears, killed thousands.
What is the relationship between the U.S. government and Native American tribes?
Indian tribes are distinct political entities whose inherent sovereignty predates the United States but has been limited in certain circumstances by treaty and federal law. This sovereignty is reflected in the government-to-government relationship between federally recognized tribes and the U.S. government.
How did the government restrict Native Americans?
With so many newcomers moving west, the federal government established a policy of restricting Native Americans to reservations, small areas of land within a group's territory that was reserved exclusively for their use, in order to provide more land for the non-Indian settlers.
How were Native Americans affected by the American Revolution?
It also affected Native Americans by opening up western settlement and creating governments hostile to their territorial claims. Even more broadly, the Revolution ended the mercantilist economy, opening new opportunities in trade and manufacturing.
Which is the best explanation for the treatment of Native Americans following the American Revolution?
Which is the best explanation for the treatment of Native Americans following the American Revolution? The new nation did not consider Native Americans to be citizens and moved forward in land expansion without considerations for them.
What do Native Americans want from U.S. government?
Native American demands for civil rights and access to quality housing, education and health care are founded not just in the moral duty to treat all people equally.
What is the overall relationship between the federal government and the Native American tribes Why?
Tribes are considered sovereign governments, which is the basis for the federal status that all tribes hold. ” relationship between the Federal government and Indian nations is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. This relationship is distinct from that which the Federal government has with states and foreign nations.
How did the Native Americans interact with the US in the early period?
By 1800 interaction between the Indian and white settlers had become quite common through trade. Many Indians traded for household goods, traps and tools. The US became concerned about the cultural differences and sought to improve the Indian station in life by providing education.
What did the US government do to weaken the Native American population?
Overview. The Dawes Act of 1887 authorized the federal government to break up tribal lands by partitioning them into individual plots. Only those Native Americans who accepted the individual allotments were allowed to become US citizens.
How were Native American treated in the late 1800s?
The act destroyed tribal tradition of communal land ownership. Many Native Americans were cheated out of their allotments or were forced to sell them. Ultimately, Native Americans lost millions of acres of Western native lands. Poverty among Native Americans became widespread.
What was one method used by the federal government to carry out the Native American policies adopted in the late 1800s?
The federal government aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream US society by encouraging them towards farming and agriculture, which meant dividing tribal lands into individual plots. Only the Native Americans who accepted the division of tribal lands were allowed to become US citizens.
How did cartoonists recognize the U.S. government’s fragile policies with Native Americans?
Editorial cartoonists recognized the U.S. government’s fragile policies with Native Americans by illustrating them as a house of cards. The government saw the Native Americans as a problem but did not know how to deal with them, even after trying several approaches.
What are some facts about the Trail of Tears?
policies concerning Native Americans in the Mid- and North-West United States are not covered by textbooks. Several Native American tribes were put on reservations together in locations that are not traveled by most Americans .
Why do history textbooks and classes highlight only these policies?
History textbooks and classes highlight only these policies because they show the United States’ great strength and will-power. They leave out the questionable policies of assimilation and boarding schools, reservations, and the general American dislike of Native Americans because they do not show the United States at its finest hour.
Why did the Dawes Act affect Native Americans?
Socially, the act encouraged individualism over traditional ideas of communalism. It upheld the sanctity of the family rather than emphasizing the importance of community.
When did racism begin against Native Americans?
Racism against Native Americans continued to shape government policy toward them during the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, just as it had since the early days of the republic. The Indian Appropriation Act of 1871 made all Native Americans wards of the federal government and nullified all treaties with them. By declaring that the government would no ...
How many whites were killed in the Nez Perc battle?
In the battle that followed on 17 June, some seventy Nez Perc é warriors armed with bows and arrows gave the ninety-nine cavalrymen one of the worst defeats of the Indian wars: thirty-four whites and not a single Nez Perc é were killed.
What were the Indian wars?
Indian Wars. With more and more whites moving west, Indians had little hope of stopping the invasion of their lands. Despite great odds, however, many tribes fought back. During the 1860s and 1870s, Indian wars were almost constant, and they continued intermittently in the 1880s. The deaths of Gen. George A. Custer and more than two hundred of his men in a battle with Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at Little Bighorn in 1876, the resistance and flight of the Nez Perc é in 1877, and the long fight with Chiricahua Apaches led by Geronimo, whose capture in 1886 brought the Indian wars to a virtual end, vividly demonstrated to white Americans that the subjugation of Native Americans would not be easy.
What did Chief Joseph symbolize?
Even in defeat Chief Joseph came to symbolize all that was brave and good in the Native American tradition. Heralded as the “ Indian Napoleon, ” he became a spokesman not only for the Nez Perc é but for all Native Americans who had been pushed off their lands.
Which state added more land to the reservation?
Yet many states believed that the Indians had more land than they needed, and Arizona was the only state that actually added to reservation lands during the period. The Dawes Act.
Where did Chief Joseph go to exile?
Chief Joseph believed that he and his people would be allowed to settle on the Lapwai Reservation in Idaho, but instead he and his people were sent into exile on reservations in Kansas and then Oklahoma, where many died in the unfamiliar and inhospitable climate.
What are the three choices that Native Americans have been given?
Throughout history, natives have been given three dismal choices: assimilation, relocation, or genocide. The harsh reality of America’s history is the fact that the treatment of Native Americans is now and always has been grotesque.
What was the first step in confining Indian tribes to small, impoverished reservations?
The events that followed contributed to the bleak future of the natives. In 1851, Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act , the first step in officially confining tribes to small, impoverished reservations. Forced assimilation permitted by the Dawes Act did not bode well for the tribes, either.
What is the history of ethnic genocide?
Our history is one of ethnic genocide towards natives, and it has transgressed with the glorification of murder. The presidency of Andrew Jackson saw hundreds of atrocities by the government of Native Americans. Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 legalized and glorified ethnic cleansing.
What happened to the Pequot Indians?
Celebrating the beginning of their yearly corn harvest with their four-day long Green Corn Ceremony, the Pequot Indians were unsuspecting victims of a massacre. Early in the morning, members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony arrived and brutally murdered 700 unarmed tribal members, as stated by Huffington Post.
Why is our nation born in genocide?
Print. “Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.” -Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait. The introduction of a vast new land to the conquistadors and the explorers of the European world marked the end of culture for the indigenous peoples of America.
Which department is responsible for the most serious crimes on reservations?
The Justice Department, which is responsible for attending to the most serious crimes on reservations, only files charges in about half of the murder investigations, according to the New York Times. In addition, they turn down nearly two-thirds of sexual assault cases, enabling a high rate of crime to continue.
Did Native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving?
Since colonialism, Native Americans have received the worst treatment history has to offer. While a feast between the colonists and the Indians did occur once in 1621, the diverse and grateful tradition did not truly start the national Thanksgiving holiday, according to The Day, a Connecticut based newspaper.
What is the American policy towards Native Americans?
American Policy Towards Native Americans. America's policies towards native Americans has been filled with broken promises and lies. It seems clear that for a good portion of our history the following words clearly did not apply to the native American: "All men are created free and equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights ...
Who ruled in favor of the Cherokee?
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee. The victory was short lived, however, as President Andrew Jackson in response to the Courts decision is reputed to have said, " John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it .". Instead the federal government removed the Indians to Oklahoma.
How many acres of land would an Indian family head be given?
Each Indian family head be allotted a 160 acre farm out of reservation lands. 2. Each new land owner who abandoned tribal practices and adopted the "habits of civilized life" would be granted American citizenship. 3. "Surplus" reservation lands would be made available to sell to white settlers.
How many Sioux and Cheyenne warriors were killed in the Battle of Little Bighorn?
The battles are highlighted by the Battle of Little Bighorn, where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his regiment of 250 where all killed by approximately 4500 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors and the battle at Wounded Knee where thousands of Cheyenne men, women and children were slaughtered by the American Calvary.
What did the termination policy end?
The Termination policy also ended federal responsibility and social services - education, health and welfare, to the Indians. 1970 - President Richard Milhouse Nixon recommends self determination for Indians.
What was the trail of tears?
The federal government removed thousands of Indians, some in chains, on a trip marked by hunger, disease and death. This became known as the " trail of tears .".
Who defeated Tecumseh in 1812?
In 1811 and 1812 Harrison fought and defeated Tecumseh at the battle of Tippecanoe. 1819 - The purchase of Florida - For years Indians had fled south to Florida to escape American authorities. There the Spanish were powerless to control the Indians where a new tribe was formed called the Seminoles.
Why did Native Americans resist the Europeans?
They resisted the efforts of the Europeans to gain more of their land and control through both warfare and diplomacy. But problems arose for the Native Americans, which held them back from their goal, including new diseases, the slave trade, and the ever-growing European population in North America. In the 17 th century, as European nations ...
Which two groups were allied in the French and Indian War?
Some famous alliances were formed during the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. The English allied with the Iroquois Confederacy, while the Algonquian-speaking tribes joined forces with the French and the Spanish. The English won the war, and claimed all of the land east of the Mississippi River.
What were the consequences of the wars between the European nations?
As a result of the wars between the European nations, Native Americans allied with the losing side were often indentured or enslaved. There were even Native Americans shipped out of colonies like South Carolina into slavery in other places, like Canada.
What is the term for the systematic destruction of peoples based on ethnicity, religion, nationality, or race
Source: Chris Parfitt, Creative Commons. Genocide is the systematic destruction of peoples based on ethnicity, religion, nationality, or race. It is the culmination of human rights violations. There are numerous examples of genocide throughout history, some being more infamous than others.
Which states did Jackson fight for?
Jackson, being a slave owner and a renowned Indian fighter of the Western frontier, sided with Georgia, supporting states’ rights to supersede treaty rights. The issue was brought before the Supreme Court twice, once in 1831 in Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia and again in 1832 in Worchester vs. Georgia.
What were the Puritans affected by?
The Puritans being affected by the New World microorganisms and the Indians suc cumbing to European microorganisms brought by the colonists fostered distrust, accusation, and death (Cave 15). The Puritan worldview consisted of two parties: God’s party being white; Satan’s party being dark, heathen and doomed.
How long did the Pequot War last?
The Pequot War lasted almost a year, from 1636 to 1637, with both parties being experienced warriors.
Why was there a failure in justice in the Puritans?
There was a failure in justice, as the Puritans saw it, as they wanted the Pequot responsible for Jones’ death to face English law , rather than allow the Pequot to administer justice themselves . Also, one must take into account how the Pequot were viewed by the Puritans as “savages”.
Why did the Puritans become overbearing?
As the population ratio between the English and the Native Americans in New England shifted in favor of the English, the Puritans authorities became increasingly overbearing in their dealings with their Native American counterparts.
What are the three foods that the Pilgrims ate on Thanksgiving?
Turkey, pumpkin and Indian corn are three traditional foods of Thanksgiving were actually introduced to the Pilgrims by the Algonquians. Initially, some of these foods were foreign to the struggling European colonists. However, over the course of several years, the colonists learned how to survive in their new environment with the help ...
What is the term for the US policies and actions related to indigenous peoples?
US policies and actions related to Indigenous peoples, though often termed “racist” or “discriminatory,” are rarely depicted as what they are: classic cases of imperialism and a particular form of colonialism — settler colonialism.
Who said we must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination
An example from 1873 is typical, with General William T. Sherman writing, “We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women and children . . . during an assault, the soldiers can not pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age.”.
What happened after the Indian Wars?
After the end of the Indian Wars, came allotment, another policy of genocide of Native nations as nations, as peoples, the dissolution of the group.
What is the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide?
The title of the Genocide convention is the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” so the law is about preventing genocide by identifying the elements of government policy, rather than only punishment after the fact.
Why do historians deny genocide?
Historians and others who deny genocide emphasize population attrition by disease, weakening Indigenous peoples ability to resist. In doing so they refuse to accept that the colonization of America was genocidal by plan, not simply the tragic fate of populations lacking immunity to disease.
What was the Monroe doctrine?
This vision of manifest destiny found form a few years later in the Monroe Doctrine, signaling the intention of annexing or dominating former Spanish colonial territories in the Americas and the Pacific, which would be put into practice during the rest of the century.
What was the first law of the incipient republic?
After the war for independence but preceding the writing of the US Constitution, the Continental Congress produced the Northwest Ordinance. This was the first law of the incipient republic, revealing the motive for those desiring independence.
What did the Treaty of 1861 promise the Cherokees?
In October of 1861, Ross relented to growing pressure and signed a treaty with the Confederate States of America, which promised the Cherokee nation protection, food and other resources in exchange for several regiments’ worth of soldiers and access into their territory for building roads and forts. Unpopular with most Cherokees, the treaty allowed Ross to maintain governmental stability—and stay in power.
Why did Indians fight in the White Man's War?
While Native American soldiers went to battle for a variety of reasons—to support or fight slavery, to defend tribal sovereignty and to protect family and community —the war did little to advance their needs and interests.
What was the effect of the Treaty of Watie on the Cherokee?
Several months earlier, Watie had worked surreptitiously with the Confederacy to form a regiment, the Cherokee Mounted Rifles, mustering several hundred supporters.
What did the Keetoowah Society do?
His supporters, organized as the Keetoowah Society, supported abolitionism but were motivated by national sovereignty and the desire for a self-determined Cherokee identity.
Why did the Cherokee suffer?
Through the end of the war, Cherokees and other Indians experienced tremendous suffering due to U.S. support failures, disease and continued guerilla warfare. By the time the Union won the war and the Indian Home Guard disbanded in May of 1865, the Cherokee Nation was barren and devastated, its people’s resilience infinitely tested.
What tribes were in Oklahoma during the Civil War?
Ancestral home to tribal nations including Osage, Quapaw, Seneca and Shawnee, it had also become the mandated home for the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations (known as the Five Civilized Tribes). Between 1830 and 1850, those groups had been forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeast and marched hundreds of miles west by the U.S. government. The relocation, later known as the Trail of Tears, killed thousands.
Where did the Indian Home Guard move to?
The war in and around Indian Territory raged through the fall and winter of 1862, with the Indian Home Guard regiments redeployed in Kansas and Missouri, then moving back into Indian Territory to serve as a crucial fighting force in at least four separate battles. The Battle of Newtonia saw Indian units on both sides of the conflict.
The Dawes Act
John Collier and The Indian New Deal
- The 1924 Citizenship Act granted US citizenship to all Native Americans who had not already acquired it. In theory, this recognised the success of the assimilation policy, but the reality was different. Indians were denied the vote in many Western states by much the same methods as African-Americans were disenfranchised in the South. The Meriam Report, published in 1928, sh…
The Impact of The Second World War
- The Second World War further damaged the Indian New Deal. The BIA office was moved from Washington to Chicago in 1942 and its budget was cut as federal resources were devoted to more urgent war-related activities. The reservations lost a further million acres of land, including 400,000 acres for a gunnery range and some for the housing of Japanese-American internees. T…
The Genesis of The Policy of Termination
- The Second World War profoundly changed the ideological climate in the United States. The nation had just fought a major war to destroy one collectivist ideology – Nazism – and the onset of the Cold War in the late 1940s made most Americans worried about the power and ambitions of another – Communism. Americans began stridently trumpeting the virtues of individual freed…
Relocation, 1948-61
- In 1948 William Brophy, Collier’s successor as Commissioner, began a policy of relocating Indians – initially from two tribes – to the cities where the job opportunities were better than on the reservations. This programme was gradually expanded and by 1960 nearly 30 per cent of Native Americans lived in cities, as opposed to just 8 per cent in 1940. Although the BIA provided som…
The Indian Claims Commission
- The first step towards terminating the reservations came in 1946 when Congress, in part to reward Native Americans for their contribution to the war effort, set up the Indian Claims Commission to hear Indian claims for any lands stolen from them since the creation of the USA in 1776. The Commission was initially supported by the National Congress of American Indians (N…
The Termination of The Reservations
- In August 1953, Congress endorsed House Concurrent Resolution 108 which is widely regarded as the principal statement of the termination policy: In the same month Congress passed Public Law 280 which, in California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin, transferred criminal jurisdiction from the Indians to the state authorities, except on certain specified reservations. Co…
Conclusion: The Impact of Termination
- Judged by numbers alone, the impact of termination was small. It affected just over 13,000 out of a total Indian population of 400,000. Only about 3 per cent of reservation land was lost. But it caused huge anxiety amongst Native Americans and had the ironic result of stimulating the formation of the ‘Red Power’ protest movement of the 1960s. It remains an emotive issue amon…
Issues to Debate
- How successful was the Indian New Deal?
- How important was the Second World War in transforming the lives and status of Native Americans?
- Was the Termination policy merely an excuse to plunder Native American land and resources?
- How similar was the Native American struggle for their rights to the African American civil rig…
- How successful was the Indian New Deal?
- How important was the Second World War in transforming the lives and status of Native Americans?
- Was the Termination policy merely an excuse to plunder Native American land and resources?
- How similar was the Native American struggle for their rights to the African American civil rights campaign?
Further Reading
- Angie Debo, History of the Indians of the United States(Norman, Oklahoma, 1970)
- Albert L. Hurtado and Peter Iverson (eds.), Major Problems in American Indian History(Lexington, Mass, 1994)
- Peter Iverson, ‘We Are Still Here’: American Indians in the Twentieth Century(Wheeling, Illinois, 1998)
- Angie Debo, History of the Indians of the United States(Norman, Oklahoma, 1970)
- Albert L. Hurtado and Peter Iverson (eds.), Major Problems in American Indian History(Lexington, Mass, 1994)
- Peter Iverson, ‘We Are Still Here’: American Indians in the Twentieth Century(Wheeling, Illinois, 1998)
- Jake Page, In the Hands of the Great Spirit:The 20,000-Year History of American Indians(NewYork, 2003)