Native American PolicyNative American Policy

1776-18501776-1850

Modern Questions about Native Modern Questions about Native AmericansAmericans

• Should tribal land be returned to Native Americans and/or should Native Americans be given reparation payments for confiscated lands?

• Should the U.S. government apologize today for actions against Indians in the past?

• How much sovereignty should Native Americans have on Reservation land (to make their own laws, set up casinos, allow drug use, refuse to pay taxes, etc)?

I. The Constitution and Native I. The Constitution and Native AmericansAmericans

• Excluded from being counted toward representation in the House of Representatives; not considered citizens (Article I, Section 2)

• U.S. government could “make rules and regulations” in the frontier territory (Article 4, Section 3); enabled government to push natives off land

• Native Americans were not protected by Constitution and Bill of Rights

II. Westward Expansion and Native II. Westward Expansion and Native AmericansAmericans

• Treaty of Paris (1783) gave western land to the United States; Indian nations were not represented in the treaty, nor did they surrender to the U.S.

• U.S. government sent troops into western territory and defeated natives; Indians gave up most of their land through treaties

II. Westward Expansion and Native II. Westward Expansion and Native Americans, cont.Americans, cont.

• Northwest Ordinance of 1787 allowed western territory to be added as new states; natives were supposed to be protected:– “The utmost good faith shall always be

observed toward the Indians; their land and property shall never be taken away from them without their consent.”

– The government did not uphold this pledge.

II. Westward Expansion and Native II. Westward Expansion and Native Americans, cont. Americans, cont.

• Louisiana Purchase led to expeditions in Louisiana Territory and brought U.S. government into contact with new tribes

• Lewis and Clark Expedition: relations with natives were good, but descriptions of some tribes as “brutal savages” eventually led to U.S. policy of assimilation or removal

III. Indian RemovalIII. Indian Removal

• Washington and Jefferson favored a policy of assimilation

• As westward expansion continued, more people in the U.S. government wanted a policy of extermination (i.e. War Hawks)

• Jackson decided to move natives further west; he claimed:– “They and my white children are too near…their father has

provided a country large enough for them all…and [the Indians] can live upon it, they and their children as long as the grass grows…”

– Indian Removal Act (1830) authorized government to move Native Americans west of the Mississippi

III. Indian Removal, cont.III. Indian Removal, cont.

• Ninety Indian removal treaties were signed, which moved Eastern tribes into what is now Kansas and Oklahoma

• Most tribes refused to be removed and were taken out by force

• Black Hawk War broke out in Mississippi when the Choctaw tribe tried to return to their land

• Seminal Indians in Florida, aided by escaped slaves, fought removal

• The U.S. government fought natives for seven years before resistance ended

Native women and children fleeing the during the Black Native women and children fleeing the during the Black Hawk WarHawk War

IV. Native American AssimilationIV. Native American Assimilation

• Cherokees attempted to assimilate– Began farming– Set up schools– Wrote their own constitution and attempted become

sovereign• Supreme Court ruled that Cherokees had sovereignty and

land could not be opened to white settlement• Jackson went against Court and ordered removal to

Oklahoma• Cherokees were removed through an 800 mile journey, now

known as the Trail of Tears

Trail of TearsTrail of Tears

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LSkfmCj8Jg

• Start at 11:48