The Effects of American Policies on Native Americans. The Progressive Era policies, such as the Dawes Act and Indian Boarding Schools, aimed to integrate Native Americans into mainstream American society.The Dawes Act, passed in 1887, sought to convert tribal land into individual parcels and force Native Americans to assimilate into American culture. The Indian Boarding Schools, established in the late 19th century, aimed to take Native American children away from their families and assimilate them into American culture by forbidding them from speaking their native language and practicing their culture.
During the Progressive Era, the U.S. government's policies towards Native Americans were motivated by a belief that they were "primitive" and in need of "civilizing." This perspective was shaped by a prevailing narrative of the time, which portrayed Native Americans as a "vanishing race" that needed to be assimilated into mainstream American society. Unfortunately, the policies that were implemented with this belief led to significant harm to Native American communities.
The Dawes Act, for example, was passed in 1887 with the aim of converting tribal land into individual parcels and forcing Native Americans to assimilate into American culture. This policy had disastrous consequences for Native American communities, leading to the loss of their
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government towards Native Americans during the Progressive Era were not implemented in the best interests of Native Americans, but rather in the interests of the U.S. government and white settlers. These policies were motivated by a belief that Native Americans were "primitive" and in need of "civilizing," which led to the loss of Native American land and resources, as well as cultural genocide and trauma for generations of Native Americans. It is important to acknowledge and address the harm caused by these policies in order to move towards a more just and equitable
Congress passed the Dawes Allotment Act in 1887, its purpose was to teach the Natives the farming methods and the American values of individualism as well as private property rather than collectively owned land in order to assimilate the Natives. This act is seen as the most assimilative and ruined tribal functions culturally and economically with the entire allotment process (O’Brien 77). The act divided reservation lands amongst individual people and families in order for them to farm and raise livestock. Each head of a household would obtain about 160 acres and individuals who were over the age of eighteen would get 80 acres, while all others would receive 40 acres of land, but any surplus land would go to settlers.
He considered the Indian culture as a natural practice of noble virtues of humanity which should be preserved and protected from western influence. The Indian Reorganization Act was passed in order to correct the mistakes made by the Dawes General Allotment Act, with new policies such as Federal scholarships
The depth of hostility felt by many white Americans toward the Indians was very aggressive in my opinion. I personally do not understand why they were so cruel to the Native Americans when the Indians were there first. I understand the concept that they needed to have sustainability and needs, but I think the white Americans did it the wrong way. Next, I think the main goal of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 was to compromise and share the land equally with the Indians.
The Dawes Act of 1887 started an era of forced assimilation which stripped Indian Children of their culture and heritage. Through boarding schools, the government “sought to give the Indian the schooling of the whites, teaching him to despise his old customs and habits as barbaric” (185). Leading up to the Great Depression, government policies reduced Indian-owned lands which meant many Indian families were unable to make a living or provide for themselves. The Wheeler-Howard Act of 1935 effectively ended these policies and introduced freedoms which has been previously denied to Indians. It “gave to the tribe the right to decide whether they would accept important privileges in education, self-determination and self-government” (184).
Most officials believed that the federal government should persuade or force the Plains Indians to surrender most of their land and to exchange their religion, communal property, nomadic way of life, and gender relations for Christian worship, private ownership, and small farming on reservations. in 1887the Dawes Act broke up the land of nearly all tribes into small parcels to be distributed to Indian families, with the remainder auctioned off to American buyers. Indians who accepted the farms and adopted the habits of civilized life would become full-fledged American citizens. The policy proved to be a disaster, leading to the loss of much tribal land and the erosion of Indian cultural traditions. Americans, however, benefited greatly.
Dawes Severalty Act De Juan Evans-Taylor Humboldt State University Abstract The Dawes Act of 1887, some of the time alluded to as the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 or the General Allotment Act, was marked into law on January 8, 1887, by US President Grover Cleveland. This was approved by the president to appropriate and redistribute tribal grounds in the American West. It expressly tried to crush the social union of Indian tribes and to along these lines dispose of the rest of the remnants of Indian culture and society. Just by repudiating their own customs, it was accepted, could the Indians at any point turn out to be genuinely "American."
The Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 shaped the Native American way of life into what it
More indians tribes were destroyed during war with the whites, and since the Native Americans did not have as much technology, food, and medicine as the whites, they lost a lot of warriors. Many Native Americans would leave their tribes in search for food only to be confronted and ambushed by white soldiers. Some Native Americans chose to surrender rather than to be moved to a different location. After the Indian and American War, the General Allotment Act was passed, also known as The Dawes Act of 1887. The Dawes Act granted Native Americans land allotments.
As a key leader and member of the group Carlos fought to address the problems facing Native Americans, such as ways to improve health, education, civil rights, and local government. Moreover the Society of American Indians was the first to spread the ideal of pan-Indian organization in the U.S. during the Progressive Era. Pan-Indianism is the philosophical and political approach promoting unity, and some cultural homogenization, among different Indigenous groups in the Americas regardless of tribal distinctions and cultural differences. This led to the Society publicizing Native Americans’ aspirations and urged their assimilation into society when the Dawes Act forced assimilation, which caused Native Americans to give up their tribal ownership of land, in favor of private ownership. The Indian Citizenship Law, signed on June 2, 1924, was the greatest achievement for the Society and Carlos himself.
The United States’ horrific actions towards the Native American population range from outright genocide to forced cultural assimilation. One such method of forced assimilation was through education. The American Indian education system was responsible for the abduction of Native American children who were then forcibly stripped and alienated of their own culture and forced to assimilate into White American culture. An education for extinction is an accurate term used to describe the American policies towards Native Americans and their culture. Native Americans were able to resist by engaging in political advocacy, fighting for their rights, launching cultural revitalization movements, and establishing tribal colleges and universities, language
When the Europeans began colonizing the New World, they had a problematic relationship with the Native Americans. The Europeans sought to control a land that the Natives inhabited all their lives. They came and decided to take whatever they wanted regardless of how it affected the Native Americans. They legislated several laws, such as the Indian Removal Act, to establish their authority. The Indian Removal Act had a negative impact on the Native Americans because they were driven away from their ancestral homes, forced to adopt a different lifestyle, and their journey westwards caused the deaths of many Native Americans.
The Indian tribes that were located in Indiana territory were the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Cheyenne, Commanche, and Apache tribes. In 1887 the Dawes Act was created to force Indians into white culture. The Dawes Act ended tribal leadership and gave each Indian family 160 acres of land. On April 22, 1889, was the Oklahoma Land Rush. About 50 thousand boomers were waiting along the borders of Indian territory to go claim their land.
First of all, Native Americans were settled on a hotbed of natural resources which included oil and precious metals such as silver and gold. There was also much fertile land that would entice farmers and frontiersmen to move out west. On this land there was so much potential economic opportunity for farmers, cattle drivers, miners and many other occupations. The government developed the popular public misconception that the indians were misusing the land and that Americans had the right to take advantage of the opportunities that lie in the west. These ideas led to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 which authorized encroachment of Indian lands by the US government in order to divide up reservations and control Indian activity.
The Allotment Act The Dawes Act and its supporters sang a very similar tune to southerners who justified slavery as their patriarchal and christian duty. The Dawes Act allowed the President of the United States to survey the reservations Indians lived on and allot its land to heads of households, single persons over eighteen, and to orphans. This meant that the President went into reservations and redistributed the land, upsetting the system Native Americans had previously. Slave owners of the Antebellum South believed that the Black men and women needed to be enslaved, for they could not function without a patriarchal master. Westerners too saw the Native Americans as inferior, and felt that they had to help the tribal people be free of
Throughout the 19th century Native Americans were treated far less than respectful by the United States’ government. This was the time when the United States wanted to expand and grow rapidly as a land, and to achieve this goal, the Native Americans were “pushed” westward. It was a memorable and tricky time in the Natives’ history, and the US government made many treatments with the Native Americans, making big changes on the Indian nation. Native Americans wanted to live peacefully with the white men, but the result of treatments and agreements was not quite peaceful. This precedent of mistreatment of minorities began with Andrew Jackson’s indian removal policies to the tribes of Oklahoma (specifically the Cherokee indians) in 1829 because of the lack of respect given to the indians during the removal laws.