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Early Indian/U.S. Relations
U.S. government treats some Indians as sovereign nations; makes treaties with some; makes war with others; establishes federal jurisdiction in dealings with Indian people; promises to protect them from settler encroachment; an era of incredible wholesale expropriation and physical violence -
Northwest Ordinance
Established orderly and equitable procedures for the settlement and political incorporation of the Northwest Territory -
Commerce Clause added to the U.S. Constitution
Authorizes Congress “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with Indian Tribes” -
First Indian agents assigned under the Department of War to negotiate treaties with tribes
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Indian Trade and Intercourse Act
Congress proclaimed its treaty-making policy and mandated that all interactions between Indians and non-Indians were under federal control -
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Eastern U.S. Wars, Removal, and Relocation
Forcible relocation of Indian tribes of the Eastern states to west of the Mississippi River; opening of Indian lands for colonization; Indian
title to lands extinguished; Indians become wards of federal government as “domestic dependent nations;” Federal government
assumes trusteeship of Indian lands, resources, and affairs. -
Johnson vs. McIntosh
U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that private citizens could not purchase lands from Native Americans -
Indian Office established in the Department of War
Establishes the bureaucracy that will administer the nation’s “manifest destiny” objectives - the government will make treaties with American Indian tribes as the U.S. military defeats them, after which the tribes will be moved to reservations -
Indian Removal Act
Act authorized the president to grant Indian tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their desirable territories within state borders (especially in the Southeast), from which the tribes would be removed -
Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia
Supreme Court did not hear the case on its merits - it ruled that it had no original jurisdiction in the matter, as the Cherokees were a dependent nation, with a relationship to the United States like that of a "ward to its guardian," as said by Justice Marshall -
Worcester vs. Georgia
In the court case Worcester v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1832 that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers- it did not protect the Cherokees from being removed from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast -
Seminole Nation vs. U.S.
The Court found three of the Seminole Nation's five claims for reimbursement from the United States government to be without merit -
Oregon Trail Opens
Overland trail between Independence, Missouri, and Oregon City (present-day Portland), Oregon. It was one of the two main emigrant routes to the American West in the 19th century -
End of Mexican American War
The war resulted in the United States’ acquisition of more than 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean -
Reservations
Settlement of Native people on reservations became common practice -
Period: to
Western U.S. Removal, Reservations, Wars and Treaty Making
Massive Western migrations of U.S. settlers beginning in late 1840s leading to horrific violence between colonizers and Native
people; U.S. uses military might and treaties to forcibly relocate Indian people to Indian Territory or onto reservations and expropriates their lands; Indian Affairs is transferred to the Dept. of the Interior which manages public lands expropriated from Native people. -
Plains Wars
Systematic military campaigns to destroy subsistence base of Plains
people -
Reservation military surveillance
Military agents stationed to live on, surveillance, and oversee welfare disbursements and assimilation policies on reservations -
Indian education and assimilation begins
Regular Congressional appropriations for Indian education and assimilation begin -
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Allotment and Civilization/Assimilation Projects
Congress abolishes treaty making with Indian nations, Congress and Executive make unilateral decisions concerning Indians and their resources; Indian lands and resources are expropriated and redistributed to settlers; large-scale attempts to dismantle tribes and assimilate Indian people through land reform (Dawes Act), forced reeducation, outlaw of their cultures; results in widespread poverty, loss of lands/resources, abuse and neglect; most communities take culture and languages underground. -
Treaty making abolished
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Indian Police Force created
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Civilization Regulations
Outlaw Native religions, healing practices, and leaving of reservations -
Dawes Act
Distribution of Indian reservation land among individual tribesmen, with the aim of creating responsible farmers in the white man’s image -
Period: to
Reform and Tribal Reorganization
Indians are granted citizenship in most states; allotment ended; poverty is recognized; Western style constitutional forms of
government are imposed that displace traditional tribal social and political organization and leadership; great authority given to Secretary of Interior as trustee to oversee development of Indian people. -
Indian Citizenship Act
With Congress’ passage of the Indian Citizenship Act, the government of the United States confers citizenship on all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the country -
Meriam Report
Provided much of the data used to reform American Indian policy through new legislation: the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 - it strongly influenced succeeding policies in land allotment, education, and health care -
Indian Reorganization Act
Aimed at decreasing federal control of American Indian affairs and increasing Indian self-government and responsibility -
Period: to
Termination & Relocation
Post-WWII political backlash against Indian New Deal, difference, and perceived “communism;” government attempt to rapidly assimilate Indians into mainstream by terminating special status, reservations, and public services; opens reservations for economic exploitation by private companies; relocates over 100,000 Native people to urban areas away from reservations to supposed job training and placement programs; pan-Indian identity and activist movement gains momentum. -
Indian Land Claims Commission Act
Ancient or historical tribal claims for money damages have been brought under special jurisdictional acts waiving the United States' sovereign immunity and allowing a particular tribe to bring a suit in the United States Court of Claims -
House Concurrent Resolution 108
Abolish federal supervision over American Indian tribes as soon as possible and to subject the Indians to the same laws, privileges, and responsibilities as other US citizens, to include an end to reservations and tribal sovereignty, integrating Native Americans into mainstream American society -
BIA Direct Employment Program
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Economic Development and War on Poverty
Legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent -
Period: to
Civil Rights and Self-Determination Era
Government first under Kennedy admin. turns to economic
development on Indian reservations to deal with Indian poverty; trust status and public assistance programs reinstated and
created; courts recognize Indian tribal sovereignty; legislation recognizes religious freedom; Indian people form national civil rights organizations and activism sweeps the country; quality of life indicators on reservations improve through the 1970s; cultural revitalization programs undertaken. -
Indian Civil Rights Act
Makes many, but not all, of the guarantees of the Bill of Rights applicable within the tribes -
Indian Education Act
Promised to provide adequate and appropriate educational services for Native Americans -
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act
Authorized the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and some other government agencies to enter into contracts with, and make grants directly to, federally recognized Indian tribes -
American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978)
Protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts and Native Hawaiians -
Indian Child Welfare Act
Federal law that seeks to keep American Indian children with American Indian/Alaska Native families -
Santa Clara v. Martinez Supreme Court Decision
The courts decided that "tribal common-law sovereign immunity prevented a suit against the tribe," ultimately strengthening tribal self-determination by further providing that generally, the federal government played no enforcement role over the tribal government -
Federal Acknowledgment Project
The acknowledgment process is the Department’s administrative
process by which petitioning groups that meet the criteria are given Federal "acknowledgment" as Indian tribes and by which they become eligible to receive services provided to members of Indian tribes -
Period: to
New Era of Economic Development and Indian Nationalism
Cutbacks in government programs under the Reagan administration causes increased unemployment and hardships for tribes; tribes
undertook new economic development strategies in 1980s to bring in revenue including gaming enterprises; 1990s – present many tribes,
especially those with gaming enterprises have undertaken massive community development programs; become economically prosperous; and gained access to a political machinery. -
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
Federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming -
Native American Languages Act
Declares as policy that Native Americans are entitled to use their own languages -
Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act
Establishes the ownership of cultural items excavated or discovered on federal or tribal land -
Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act
Enacted to return basic civil liberties, and to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religious rights and cultural practices -
Executive Order on Indian Sacred Sites
Designed to protect and preserve Indian religious practices, this EO directs each federal agency that manages federal lands
