-
The trail of Tears
Guided by policies favored by President Andrew Jackson, who led the country from 1828 to 1837, the Trail of Tears (1837 to 1839) was the forced westward migration of American Indian tribes from the South and Southeast. Land grabs threatened tribes throughout the South and Southeast in the early 1800s. -
The Indian Removal Act
Jackson encouraged Congress to adopt the Removal Act of 1830 to achieve his purpose. The Act established a process whereby the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Indian tribes that agreed to give up their homelands. -
The civil war
A common explanation is that the Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery. It was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict. -
The reconstruction
the historic period in which the United States grappled with the question of how to integrate millions of newly freed African Americans into social, political, and labor systems, was a time of significant -
The Daws Act
Also known as the General Allotment Act, the law authorized the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Thus, Native Americans registering on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation land. -
The Oklahoma Land Rush
en and women rushed to claim homesteads or to purchase lots in one of the many new towns that sprang into existence overnight. An estimated eleven thousand agricultural homesteads were claimed. -
The Indian Reorganization
granted a new degree of autonomy to Native Americans in the United States, giving them greater control over their lands and allowing them to form legally recognized tribal governments.