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Indian Reservation
Most of the white americans believed they couldnt live with native americans. Because of this, the US government created a reservation system in 1851 keep Native Americans off of lands that European-Americans wished to settle. -
Indian Wars
Many indians resisted going to the reservations, resulting in a series of conflicts between Native Americans and the US Army known as the Indian Wars. Overall, the US Army contained Native Americans and forced them onto reservations, where they were allowed to govern themselves and keep some of their traditions and culture. -
Indian Appropriations Act
The Indian Appropriations Act of 1851, also known as the Appropriation Bill for Indian Affairs, allowed the creation of reservations in Oklahoma and inspired the creation of reservations in other states also. The US federal government saw the reservations as a good way of keeping Native Americans off of lands that white Americans wanted to settle on. -
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Ely Samuel Parker
In 1824, the Office of Indian Affairs was created in order to help fix the land issue in America. The position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs was established by an act of Congress in 1832. In 1869, Ely Samuel Parker became the first Native American to be appointed to the position. This was good for Native Americans because they had a person of their own kind controlling their land and where they stay. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 allowed the federal government to break up tribal lands by splitting them into individual plots. Only the Native Americans who accepted the individual allotments were allowed to become US citizens. -
Ghost dance
During a solar eclipse in 1889, Wovoka, a shaman of the Northern Paiute tribe had a vision. He said that God had appeared to him disguised as a Native American and showed him a beautifull land of love and peace. Because of this, Wovoka created a spiritual movement called the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance ceremony reunites the dead spirits with the living spirits, and the power of these spirits could be used in battle. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
The massacre at Wounded Knee, was where soldiers of the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment slaughtered hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children. This was what marked the end of Indian resistance to the wants of the white settlers. -
Curtis Act of 1898
Native Americans were guaranteed that their tribal lands would be free of white settlers. However, after they showed they were not willing to move onto certain allotments of land, the Curtis Act of 1898 amended the Dawes Act to apply to the Five Civilized Tribes as well. Their tribal governments were destroyed, their tribal courts were ruined, and over ninety million acres of their tribal lands were sold off to white Americans. -
Aftermath of Wounded Knee
After Wounded Knee, the rest of the Indian tribes were "forcibly assimilated into mainstream white US society". There are estimates that before european contact with native americans there could have been up to 18 million living in america. By 1900, the native american population had been shrunk down to about 237,000. -
New Deal
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, President Roosevelt wanted the passage of the US Indian Reorganization Act, which was the “New Deal” for Native Americans. This allowed them to reorganize and form their own tribal governments. The act also ended the land allotments created by Dawes Act. It also remodeled the reservation system, which remains in place today.