Federal Indian policy establishes the relationship between the United States Government and the
Indian Tribes within its borders. The Constitution gives the federal government primary responsibility for dealing with tribes. Some scholars divide the federal policy toward Indians in six phases: coexistence (1789–1828), removal and reservations (1829–1886), assimilation (1887–1932), reorganization (1932–1945), termination (1946–1960), and self-determination (1961–1985).
The Trade and Industrial era
![Joseph Ferdinand Keppler01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Joseph_Ferdinand_Keppler01.jpg)
The Nonintercourse Act of 1790 marked the beginning of the Trade and Industrial era. This act established that no sales of Indian lands were to be made between any persons or states unless the sale was authorized by the United States. The United States federal government was then granted management of trade and diplomatic relations that involved Indians and their lands. The main goal of establishing the Trade and Industrial Act was to keep peace on the frontier and avoid war with the Natives.
During the Trade and Industrial Era, the Natives were also included within the United States government, to some degree, by the establishment of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within the
War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
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in 1824. However, land disputes and law jurisdiction cases began to appear frequently in the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. It was concluded that "discovery also gave the discoverer the exclusive right to extinguish Indian title either by 'purchase or by conquest'." Natives were recognized only as occupants of the land, and not owners.
Treaties
![Indiana Indian treaties](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Indiana_Indian_treaties.svg)
The federal government was in charge of relations with the Indians, and the procedure was to use the treaty making power of the president and the Senate to make formal arrangements. Over 200 treaties were agreed upon by 1840. Gatlin argues that treaties established a procedure that benefited both parties. The federal government was primarily interested in guaranteeing that Indian lands did not fall into private hands, and that it handled all negotiations with the tribes. These negotiations, says Gatlin, strengthened the tribes sense of unity and leadership. The land sales gave the Indians a steady flow of income, and guarantees of federal financial, medical, and educational aid.
Many of the treaties remain in effect and are of special importance regarding federal recognition of tribal status, hunting and fishing rights, rights to protection of sacred properties, rights to water and minerals, and land claims. The federal courts have a long, continuous history of litigation on these issues. The Supreme Court endorsed the procedure, with over 300 decisions making reference to Indian treaties after 1799.
Westward expansion and Indian relocation
During the early 19th century, as the eastern settlers of the United States felt the desire to explore westward, the natives were caught in the middle of things. Eastern Indian tribes were forced out of their homelands to barren areas that contained fruitless soils, though they had a prosperous relationship beforehand. The reason given to justify the Indian removal stated by
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
was to, "give them a space to live undisturbed by white people as they gradually adjust to civilized ways". Though a problem occurred where westward expansion was on the rise and areas in the west were becoming full with settlers and the lands that Natives resided on (Nebraska and Kansas territories) ended up being taken from them by the government and given to settlers. Treaties were signed by the natives of the area, stating they accepted the downsized reservations or allotments, although their allotments were usually sold to the white settlers by force. The outcome of this removal devastated the Natives, and cost them their tribal identity and independence.
Allotment and assimilation era (1887–1943)
In 1887, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passed the
General Allotment Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pre ...
, which is considered one of the earliest attempts aimed toward
assimilation of Native tribes. This act intended to give Natives a sense of land ownership as well as integrate an agricultural lifestyle with the tribes, much like that of the
Americans
Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...
and
Europeans. Under the General Allotment Act, tribal lands were no longer under the control of tribal governments; instead, the land was under the control of individual land owners.
This period of allotment over tribal lands became known as the "allotment and assimilation era", mainly because the main goal of allotting tribal land was to Americanize Native peoples into mainstream society. The notion that Native peoples could live their lives according to traditional practices and teachings on the reservation was forbidden; thus, assimilation became the
epitome of federal Indian policy.
The BIA was used during this time to keep a commanding hold of all aspects of Native life, thus upholding the goal of "civilizing" natives.
The Allotment era resulted in the loss of over two thirds of tribally entrusted lands from 138 million
acres
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...
(558,000 km²) in 1871 to 48 million acres (190,000 km²) in 1934. This was mainly due to leasing, and eventually selling, tribal lands to white settlers. Allotment did not work, because it was not something Indians were used to. They did not view the land as something to own. Instead, they viewed it as their home.
Termination and relocation (1945–1960)
Between the end of the
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
era and the beginning of the
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
administration, less traditional Native Americans, congressional leaders, and government administrators, developed a policy that they hoped would integrate the Indian population with mainstream America. To this end, they enacted laws to terminate the government's trusteeship of Indian lands and relocate Indians to the nation's cities. They believed that once Indians left the reservation, they would have opportunities for education, employment and assimilation. As part of the policy, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) established services in target cities, such as the Chicago Field Office, to recruit Native Americans living on reservations to move to those cities and to assist them in finding employment.
Tribal self-determination era
In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy wanted the Indian tribes to be recognized as independent nations governing themselves. He promised the Indian tribes that treaties made prior to 1960 would be recognized by the federal government and that their rights as Indian people would be protected.
This was realized when the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing ...
(ANCSA) was passed in 1971. The ANCSA allowed for the Alaskan Natives to be given of land, federal payments of 462.5 million dollars over eleven years, and another 500 million dollars to help with mineral development in Alaska. All this was in exchange for the Alaskans giving up their claim to the land. The act also allowed the Alaskan tribe to have freedom from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In the 1960s, there were many acts passed, geared to helping the Indian tribes. Indian tribes benefited greatly from these because it gave them rights within both the tribal and federal government. In 1968, the
Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed. It recognized the Indian tribes as sovereign nations with the federal government.
In the 1970s, one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed through Congress. The
allowed tribes to have more tribal control over federally subsidized programs for Indians. Another important act passed by Congress was the
Indian Child Welfare Act
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) ((), codified at Indian Child Welfare Act, (, )) is a United States federal law that governs jurisdiction over the removal of American Indian children from their families in custody, foster care and ...
, passed in 1978, which granted tribal government jurisdiction over child custody and adoption on the reservation.
See also
*
Cultural assimilation of Native Americans
The cultural assimilation of Native Americans refers to a series of efforts by the United States to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream European–American culture between the years of 1790 and 1920.
George Washington and Henry Knox we ...
Notes
Further reading
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* DeJong, David H. (2015) American Indian Treaties: A Guide to Ratified and Unratified Colonial, United States, State, Foreign, and Intertribal Treaties and Agreements, 1607–1911. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
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* Prucha, Francis Paul, ed. ''Documents of United States Indian Policy'' (3rd ed. 2000)
* Prucha, Francis Paul. ''American Indian Treaties: The History of a Political Anomaly'' (1997
excerpt and text search* Prucha, Francis Paul. ''The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians'' (abridged edition, 1986)
* McCarthy, Robert J. "The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Trust Obligation to American Indians," 19 BYU J. PUB. L. 1 (December, 2004).
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