Government Policy Toward Indians

While Spain, France, and England claimed that America was theirs by right of discovery, all made some effort to conciliate the Indians. Great Britain, for example, adopted a policy of buying land through treaties, assuming the tribes to be nations. The United States continued this policy.

There were few Indians compared to the amount of land, and they had no concept of land ownership. At first the Indians just moved on; they had vast areas in which to wander. As white settlement increased, it became customary for the whites to reserve part of the land within a given area for the Indians' use, or to move them into a new area, usually farther west.

Explorers and settlers commonly stated that one of their goals was Christianization of the Indians. Indian schools set up as part of missions were later supported by the United States government. The earliest missions were established by the Roman Catholics, chiefly French Jesuits and Spanish Franciscans. Later the Quakers, Moravians, and other Protestant sects established many Indian schools.

Congress began making appropriations for Indian education to missionary organizations in 1819. In 1824 it created the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the War Department. Removal of all Indians east of the Mississippi to western territories was advocated by President Andrew Jackson and authorized by act of Congress in 1830. The removals were poorly planned, and many Indians died on the way. Some Indians remained behind, as did bands of Cherokees in North Carolina. Others returned, as did many Winnebagos to Wisconsin.

The Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834 gave Congress broad powers over the tribes. It defined Indian landholdings and provided that the commissioner of Indian affairs appoint traders and regulate all their trade with the Indians. Administrative centers called agencies were set up. Officials called agents were appointed to deal with the Indians. Many agents proved incompetent, and some were corrupt.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs became part of the new Department of the Interior in 1849. In 1871, Congress declared that no more treaties would be made with the Indians as independent nations or tribes.

Supervision of Indian schools was gradually taken over from the missionaries by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and in 1873 the government began establishing its own Indian schools. These soon became boarding schools where attempts were made to stamp out Indian ways of life. The most notable was the Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Indian School (1879-1918). The school was called a failure by many because most of its graduates returned to Indian life. It became famous in later years as the school attended by Jim Thorpe, one of the greatest athletes of all time. Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University), another noted government school, was opened in 1884 at Lawrence, Kansas.

In 1887 Congress passed the General Allotment Act (Dawes Act). It was intended to break down tribal bonds and make farmers of the Indians. The act authorized the President to subdivide tribal land and allot family-sized plots to individuals. But many Indians were not used to farming, and their allotments were often in barren areas. Want and sometimes starvation resulted. Much tribal land was designated “surplus” and passed to white ownership.

Until late in the century, government policy continued to promote assimilation of Indians into non-Indian life. Congress granted citizenship to all native-born Indians in 1924, in acknowledgment of the service of Indians as volunteers in World War I. The wisdom of destroying tribal government began to be questioned. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ended allotment of tribal lands, encouraged a return to tribal organization, and created a federal loan system for the tribes. Payment for Indian lands taken illegally or at an unfair price began in 1946 with establishment of the Indian Claims Commission. (The commission was abolished in 1978, and its cases were transferred to the federal courts.)

After World War II, when about 25,000 Indians served in the armed forces, emphasis on assimilation was renewed. In 1953 Congress passed a resolution declaring its intention to terminate federal relations with the tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) launched a relocation program to help Indians find homes and jobs off the reservations. The Indians, however, were opposed, feeling that the government had not adequately prepared them for nonreservation life.

In the 1960's, provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act were reemphasized. Government programs stressed economic development of the reservations and improvement of Indian standards of living. The tribes were given a role in operating federal programs on the reservations, and funds and assistance were made available to tribal groups who wished to launch business enterprises. Commercial projects were started on a number of reservations.

A movement calling for a return to Indian culture and for self-government gained momentum, especially among younger Indians. Many became involved in political activism. Various groups claimed former tribal lands, seeking either the land or payment for its loss. Among notable settlements by the federal government were awards of more than 29 million dollars to an intertribal group in California, more than 12 million dollars to the Seminoles in Florida, and nearly one billion dollars to Indians, Eskimos (Inuit), and Aleuts in Alaska.

In the 1970's, younger Indians became increasingly militant. Under the leadership of the American Indian Movement (AIM), they occupied the Washington offices of the BIA for a week in 1972. In 1973 AIM led a 70-day occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, to force carrying out of old treaties. The incident was followed by a reorganization of the BIA, with an effort being made to allow Indians to become more involved in the management of BIA programs.

Two long-standing land claims were settled in 1980: the federal government reimbursed the Sioux for land in South Dakota and the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Penobscot tribes for land in Maine. Throughout the 1980's, Indians sought to regain lost land and to reclaim their culture. Tribal sovereignty was strengthened by several rulings, including a 1988 law approving gambling operations on Indian land. In 1990 Congress declared that museums and universities must surrender any Indian remains or relics they had to Indian groups with legitimate claim to them.