“No Little Lies”
A Look at US Indian Policy in the 19th century and
Today
Goals for this Lesson:
● To analyze the causes and effects of the US government’s “Indian policy” from
the 19th century to the present
● To evaluate critically the relationship between the US government and Native
Americans from the 19th century to the present
● To evaluate change/continuity in the US government’s “Indian policy” from the
19th century to the present
● To interpret primary sources in context, and to analyze historical evidence
● To draw conclusions about the impact of 19th century US “Indian policy” to
present day issues
“So tractable, so peaceable, are these people [the
Taino Indians] that I swear to your Majesties there is not in
the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as
themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and
accompanied with a smile; and though it is true that they are
naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy.”
-Christopher Columbus, in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella
Background: What is Revisionism?
● Revisionism is a trend among modern historians that seeks to challenge
traditional views of history as biased or skewed, and to change the way that
history is perceived
● Revisionists analyze history through perspectives that are traditionally
neglected (if “history is written by the winners”, then revisionists want to see
historical events through the eyes of the “loser”)
● The goal of revisionism is to take an objective rather than a subjective view of
history-to eliminate bias and slant and understand history “as it was”
● Revisionists practice historical skepticism; they constantly weigh evidence,
especially primary sources, to evaluate the validity of accepted history
A traditional view of Columbus’ landing depicts him as a noble and gallant adventurer,
without much attention given to the natives (background right).
A revisionist might find more significance in a document such as this; here, Columbus’
soldiers hack off the hands of Arawak forced laborers who failed to meet a mining quota
imposed by the Europeans, a decidedly ignoble representation of the famous explorer.
What Are Some Problems With Revisionism?
● Revisionism may sound like a perfect, objective view of history, but it’s not without
problems…
● Revisionist histories are revolutionary in that they challenge accepted views; oftentimes,
they create alternative histories (sometimes based on dubious or objectionable evidence)
which hotly divide scholars as to what is truth and what is fabrication
● Revisionists tend to accept the views of minority groups, leaving a very real possibility
of overcorrecting bias, or merely skewing history a different way
● Revisionist histories can be provocative, sometimes even accusatory, levying an unfair
amount of blame on a certain group retrospectively without fully considering both sides
of an argument or the context of the period
We should always be careful to consider history from all sides, and not be influenced too
greatly by any perspective, but to be truly objective and to draw our own conclusions.
“They [Americans] made us many
promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but
one; they promised to take our land, and they took it.”
-Red Cloud, chief of the Oglala Lakota
New England colonists meet with Samoset of the Pemaquid. In 1625, at the behest of
the colonists, Samoset, who had no concept of land ownership, signed over 12,000
acres of land occupied by the Pemaquid. It was the first deed of native land to the
people who would become Americans.
How did Strained Relations between the US and
Native Americans Begin?
● By the beginning of the Seven Years’ War, British colonists
had pushed all the way into the Appalachians and beyond
● These settlers fought countless wars and skirmishes with
Native Americans and raised military outposts, garrisoned
with British soldiers, on the frontiers
● Powerful Native American sovereign states like the Iroquois
Confederacy supported the French against the British
A French Map of the Iroquois Confederacy and Surrounding Territories, c.1680
“And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will
and Pleasure...to reserve under Our Sovereignty, Protection, and
Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the Lands and
Territories not included within the Limits of Our said Three new
Governments [Quebec, East Florida, and West Florida]...
“And We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of Our
Displeasure, all Our loving Subjects from...taking Possession of
any of the Lands above reserved…”
-George III, Proclamation of 1763
How Did Strained Relations between the US and
Native Americans Begin?
The Proclamation Line of 1763
1. In what ways do these three
documents signify a shift in
British-Native American
relations?
2. The halting of westward
expansion was one point of
animosity between the colonies
and the British government. In
what ways might this have
affected Native Americans?
How did Early American Policies Affect Native
Americans?
North American Territory after the Seven
Years’ War (1763)
The United States after the American
Revolution (1783)
The United States after the Louisiana Purchase (1803)
How did Early American Policies Affect Native
Americans?
“Our manifest destiny
is to overspread the continent
allotted by Providence for the
free development of our yearly
multiplying millions...We are the
nation of progress, and who will,
what can, set limits to our
onward march?”
-John L. O’Sullivan, American journalist,
1845
The United States, c. 1820
How did Early American Policies Affect Native
Americans?
1. The term “manifest destiny” refers to a historic
American belief in the divine right of the
civilization and government of the United stated
to span the North American continent. In what
ways do these five documents represent this
belief?
2. How might American expansionism after the
Revolution have affected Native Americans?
How and Why did the Dispute over Tribal
Sovereignty Begin?
The Cherokee nation. The blue
borders represent original
Cherokee lands; the red
borders represent the Cherokee
nation at the close of the
American Revolution; the
green borders represent the
Cherokee nation in about
1830.
“Article X. If any Cherokee Indian or Indians...shall...commit a
robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any citizens or inhabitants of
the United States, the Cherokee nation shall be bound to deliver him or
them up, to be punished according to the laws of the United States.
“Article XI. If any citizen or inhabitant of the United States...shall go
into any...territory belonging to the Cherokees, and shall there commit any
crime...such offender or offenders, shall be subject to the same
punishment...as if the offence had been committed within the jurisdiction
of the state or district to which he or they may belong against a citizen or
white inhabitant thereof.”
-Treaty between the United States and the Cherokee nation, 1791
“SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for
the President [of the United States] to cause such tribe [as has removed
itself west of the Mississippi] or nation to be protected, at their new
residence, against all interruption or disturbance from any other tribe or
nation of Indians, and from any other person or persons whatsoever.
“SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for
the President to have the same superintendence and care over any tribe or
nation in the country to which they may remove, as contemplated by this
act, that he is now authorized to have over them...Provided, That nothing in
this act contained shall be construed as authorizing or directing the
violation of any existing treaty between the United States and any of the
Indian tribes.”
-Indian Removal Act, Approved May 28, 1830
Worcester v. Georgia and Tribal Sovereignty
● In 1831, Samuel Worcester, a white
missionary living among the
Cherokee, was arrested for, and
convicted of, failing to obtain a
Georgia state permit to live on the
Cherokee nation
● Worcester appealed his case, on the
grounds that the Cherokee were an
independent nation and didn’t have
to answer to Georgia law; the case
went to the US Supreme Court
Samuel Worcester
Worcester v. Georgia and Tribal Sovereignty
● Chief Justice John
Marshall, who oversaw the
case, ruled in favor of
Samuel Worcester and
moved to overturn the
Georgia law under which
he was prosecuted
● In his majority opinion,
Justice Marshall argued
that:
Chief Justice John Marshall
“The Indian nations had always been considered as distinct,
independent political communities, retaining their original natural
rights as the undisputed possessors of the soil from time
immemorial...The words ‘treaty’ and ‘nation’ are words of our own
language...having each a definite and well understood meaning. We
have applied them to Indians, as we have applied them to the other
nations of the earth. They are applied to all in the same sense.
“...The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community
occupying its own territory...in which the laws of Georgia can have
no force...”
-US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall
Reaction to Worcester v. Georgia
“The decision
The “Trail of Tears”, a 1,200 mile forced
removal of southeastern tribes (including
the Cherokee) west of the Mississippi to
the US government’s Indian Territory
of the Supreme Court
has fell still born, and
they find that it cannot
coerce Georgia to yield
its mandate.”
-President Andrew Jackson
How and Why did the Debate over Tribal
Sovereignty Begin?
1. What do these documents
show about American
views on tribal sovereignty
in the early 19th century?
2. To what extent was the
Worcester v. Georgia
ruling important for Native
Americans?
The “Trail of Tears”, 1838-39
What Factors Affected US-Native American
Relations in the 19th Century?
Map of Westward Wagon Routes, c.1850
Map of Proposed Pacific Railroad Routes,
1857
“We have sat and watched them pass here to get
gold out and have said nothing...My friends, when I went
to Washington I went into your money-house and I had
some young men with me, but none of them took any
money out of the house while I was with them. At the
same time, when your Great Father’s people come into my
country, they go into my money-house [Paha Sapa, the
Black Hills] and take money out.”
-Long Mandan, Sioux leader
What Factors Affected US-Native American
Relations in the 19th Century?
“Buy land. They’re not
making it anymore.”
-Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens),
satirizing the rampant land speculation
of the late 19th century
“A long time ago this land belonged to
our fathers; but when I go up to the river I see
camps of soldiers on its banks. These soldiers cut
down my timber; they kill my buffalo...Has the
white man become a child that he should recklessly
kill and not eat? When the red men slay game, they
do so that they may live and not starve.”
-Satanta, Chief of the Kiowa
What Factors Affected US-Native American
Relations in the 19th Century?
Railroad men kill bison en masse to clear the
tracks and feed legions of workers
1. What primary factors
affected the relationship
between Native
Americans and the US in
the 19th century?
2. What do these documents
show about the condition
of US-Native American
relations in the mid-tolate 19th century?
History in Context: What is the “White Man’s
Burden”?
● The “White Man’s Burden” was a 19th century concept used to
justify European and American imperialism on a moral grounds
● The “theory” was that it was the “burden” of white men, as the
world’s most superior race, to conquer nonwhite peoples in order
to “civilize” them-to impose European culture, governmental
institutions, and religion on native “heathens”-but also to cure
disease, end famine, and protect the colonized natives
● The notion of the “White Man’s Burden” had existed for decades
before the Indian-born British writer Rudyard Kipling penned his
famous poem of that name:
“The White Man’s Burden”
...
Take up the White Man’s burdenIn patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another’s profit,
And work another’s gain.
Take up the White Man’s burdenThe savage wars of peaceFill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
…
Take up the White Man’s burdenAnd reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guardThe cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:“Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?”
-Rudyard Kipling, 1899
How did the Concept of the “White Man’s
Burden” Affect US “Indian Policy”?
“The whites were
always trying to make the
Indians give up their life and
live like white men-go to
farming, work hard and do as
they did-and the Indians did
not know how to do that, and
did not want to anyway...”
-Big Eagle, Santee Sioux
Donehogawa (Ely Parker), the first
Native American Commissioner of
Indian Affairs
Native American children outside of their government-sponsored school
How did the concept of the “White Man’s Burden”
Affect US “Indian Policy”?
Comanches receiving supplies from
American post agents at Timber Mountain
Fork reservation post agency
1. To what extent did the
notion of the “White
Man’s Burden” affect US
“Indian Policy” in the 19th
century?
2. How might Native
Americans have reacted to
their characterization under
this concept?
History in Context: What was the Dawes Severalty
Act?
● The Dawes Severalty Act, passed in 1887,
was enacted by the US government to
liquidate Native American lands and
redistribute them to families of natives in
allotments, thereby abolishing tribal
ownership in favor of individual
ownership
● The Dawes Act also made residents of
former Indian nations citizens of the
United States, and subject to US
jurisdiction
Approved on February 8, 1887 “An act to provide for
the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations,
and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the
Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.
“Be it enacted, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has
been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their
use...the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized...to
allot the lands in said reservations in severalty to any Indian located
thereon…
“[T]hat the United States does and will hold the land thus allotted, for the
period of twenty-five years, in trust for the sole use and benefit of the
Indian to whom such allotment shall have been made…
“That upon the completion of said allotments and the
patenting of lands to said allottees, each and every member of the
respective bands or tribes of Indians to whom allotments have been
made shall have the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil
and criminal, of the State or Territory in which they may reside...And
every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to
whom allotments shall have been made...who has voluntarily taken
up, within said limits, his residence separate and apart from any tribe
of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is
hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States…”
-From the Dawes Severalty Act
The Dawes Severalty Act
1. In what ways does the
Dawes Act seem to
contradict the notion of
tribal sovereignty?
2. How might their new
US citizenship have
affected Native
Americans?
Map of Indian Territory divided into
allotments
What were the Effects of 19th Century US “Indian
Policy”?
“The Navahos, squaws, and
children ran in all directions and were shot
and bayoneted. I succeeded in forming
about twenty men..I then marched out to
the east side of the post; there I saw a
soldier murdering two little children and a
woman...I ran up as quick as I could. but
A plains Indian war party awaits action, could not...prevent him from killing the
c.1870
two innocent children and wounding
severely the squaw.”
-Capt. Nicholas Hodt, on the Massacre at Ft.
Wingate
“Although this country was once wholly
inhabited by Indians, the tribes, and many of them
once powerful, who occupied the countries now
constituting the states east of the Mississippi, have,
one by one, been exterminated...If any tribe
remonstrated against the violation of their natural and
treaty rights, members of the tribe were inhumanly
shot down and the whole treated as mere dogs.”
-Donehogawa (Ely Parker), first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs
What were the Effects of 19th Century US “Indian
Policy”?
“The only good
Indians I ever
saw were
dead.”
-Gen. Philip Sheridan
The Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876
Aftermath of the Battle of Wounded Knee, the last battle of the Indian Wars, 1890
“I did not know then how much was ended.
When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can
still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and
scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them
with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died
there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A
people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream...the nation’s
hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and
the sacred tree is dead.”
-Black Elk, Sioux, reflecting on the massacre at Wounded Knee
What were the Effects of 19th Century US “Indian
Policy”?
1. What were the results of the conflict between the
US government and Native Americans?
2. In what ways do the Indian Wars, as these
conflicts have collectively become known,
represent the culmination of US “Indian Policy”
from the policy’s earliest days?
How did the Relationship Between the US and
Native Americans Change After the 19th Century?
A young Native American mother and
child during the Depression era
John Collier, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, with two unidentified Native
American Men, c.1935
“There is not among these three hundred bands of Indians one
which has not suffered cruelly at the hands of either the government or
of white settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the more helpless
the band, the more certain the cruelty and outrage to which they have
been subjected…
“It makes little difference...where one opens the record of the
history of the Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain. The
story of one tribe is the story of all, varied only by differences of time
and place...Colorado is as greedy in 1880 as was Georgia in 1830, and
Ohio in 1795, and the United States government breaks promises now
as deftly as then, and with the added ingenuity from long practice…”
-Helen Hunt Jackson, white author of A Century of Dishonor, 1881
How did the Relationship Between the US and
Native Americans Change After the 19th Century?
John Gates, Chairman of the Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe, c.1940
Civilian Conservation Corps workers restore
totem poles in the Pacific Northwest during
the Depression
How did the Relationship Between the US and
Native Americans Change After the 19th Century?
1. How did American
perceptions of Native
Americans change after the
19th century?
Ernest Childers, of the Creek, receives
the Medal of Honor for his valor during
the Second World War
2. How might this change
have affected US attitudes
toward Native Americans?
How did US “Indian Policy” Change after the 19th
Century?
Oglala Sioux carry a
specially chosen
cottonwood tree, which
will become the
centerpiece of a Sun
Dance. Suppressed by
the US government for
years, the ritual has
undergone a resurgence
since the 1970’s.
Approved June 18, 1934 “An Act to conserve and develop Indian land
and resources; to extend to Indians the right to form business and other
organizations...to grant certain rights of home rule to Indians…
“BE IT ENACTED…[That] The Secretary of the Interior, if he shall find it
to be in the public interest, is hereby authorized to restore to tribal ownership the
remaining surplus lands of any Indian reservation heretofore opened…
“Except as herein provided, no sale, devise, gift, exchange, or other
transfer of restricted Indian lands or of shares in the assets of any Indian tribe or
corporation organized hereunder, shall be made or approved…
“The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to proclaim new
Indian reservations on lands acquired pursuant to any authority conferred by this
Act…”
-Indian Reorganization Act, the “Indian New Deal”
Map of current Native American Reservations
(data collected for the 2000 census)
“During the past generation, some tribal reservations
have prospered, others have not. There are now, and probably
always will be, disagreements within tribes as to the direction
their people should take...it is no longer unusual to meet
American Indian lawyers, physicians, college professors,
computer specialists, artists, writers, or members of almost any
other profession or trade. Yet on some reservations there is still a
shortage of proper places in which to live. And the county with
the deepest poverty in the United States is still a tribal
reservation.”
-Dee Brown, preface to Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
How did US “Indian Policy” Change after the 19th
Century?
Alutiiq Indians rebury
remains repatriated under
the 1990 Native American
Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act
(NAGPRA)
History in Context: What is Cobell v. Salazar?
● Allotments made by the Dawes Severalty Act were intended to be
held by the US government in trusteeship for 25 years, to be
turned over to their American Indian inhabitants after that time,
provided they had demonstrated adherence to “civilized” life
● Due to poor soil on the plots, a number of crops failed; allotment
overseers attributed the failure to native “incompetence” and
refused to relinquish the titles
● In 1934, the allotment system was repealed, and the Dawes
government ownership program became permanent
History in Context: What is Cobell v. Salazar?
● In 1996, Elouise Cobell, of the
Blackfoot, and several others filed suit
against the US government for
inadequately accounting for income
from trusts, and later for
mismanagement of trust assets
● Cobell v. Salazar remains the largest
class action suit in US history, with as
many as 500,000 plaintiffs
● In 2009, the case was settled for a
record $3.9 billion
Elouise Cobell, plaintiff
President Barack Obama signs the historic $3.4 billion Cobell settlement bill
How did US “Indian Policy” Change after the 19th
Century?
1. What do these documents show about US
“Indian Policy” after the 19th century?
2. What struggles do these documents suggest still
face Native Americans?
3. What struggles do these documents suggest still
face the US government?
What statements do all the documents, taken
together, make about the complex relationships
between the US and American Indians?
Complete the lesson follow up, keeping in mind this
essential question.
Sources
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Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York: Picador, 1971. Print.
Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor. New York, 1881. Print.
New Georgia Encyclopoedia. Georgia Humanities Council, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
"The Dawes Act." New Perspectives on The West. PBS, 2001. Web. 27 Apr.2014
"Avalon Project - The Royal Proclamation - October 7, 1763." Avalon Project - The
Royal Proclamation - October 7, 1763. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
"The Avalon Project : Treaty With the Cherokee : 1791." The Avalon Project : Treaty
With the Cherokee : 1791. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
"Primary Documents in American History." Indian Removal Act: (Virtual Programs &
Services, Library of Congress). Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
"Worcester v. Georgia." LII / Legal Information Institute. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
"Internet History Sourcebooks." Internet History Sourcebooks. Fordham University.
Web. 6 Nov. 2014.
Web. 6 Nov. 2014. <http://www.cskt.org/gov/docs/reorganizationact.pdf>.
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http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/historic-rotunda-paintings/landing-columbus
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_who_Failed_to_Meet_the_Mining_Quota.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Wampanoag2.jpg
http://www.mapsofpa.com/18thcentury/1718delisle.jpg
http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gastudiesimages/Proclamation%20Line%20of%201763%202.jpg
https://figures.boundless.com/8024/full/northamerica1762-83.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/United_States_1789-08-1790.png
http://storiesofusa.com/images/louisiana-purchase-1803.gif
http://www.us-census.org/states/graphics/1820.gif
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/cherokee_country_1900.jpg
http://goldenink.com/images/sworch.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/John_Marshall_by_Henry_Inman,_1832.jpg
http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/images/trailoftears.jpg
http://sb.dhpress.org/cherokee/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/04/Cherokee-Nation-Past-Presentd81a4921bab18f8420ac635d7ff31f9b.jpg
http://www.fasttrackteaching.com/ftap/T_M10_GrFrWest300g15.gif
http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/pacific.jpg
http://cantonasylumforinsaneindians.com/history_blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Poster-Encouraging-Westward-Migration.jpg
http://seventhgradehistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/hunters_shooting_bison_from_a_train.jpg/92866364/hunters_shooting_bison_
from_a_train.jpg
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Carlisle_pupils.jpg
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wynkoop/photos/medldg6.jpg
http://tm112.community.uaf.edu/files/2010/08/indianlandsale.jpg
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/fed-indian-policy/images/territory-map-01.jpg
http://www.old-picture.com/indians/pictures/Indian-War-Party.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Schlacht_am_Little_Bighorn_River.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/16/1361053911705/woundedknee_460.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/53/77/39/537739a7cc24c8a992790a05fc43cae0.jpg
http://www.nwhistorycourse.org/ttcourse/Year2/unit3/week15/images/Collier-IndReorgAct.jpg
http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/standingrock/images/John_Gates.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a5Nv0U3g6CE/UetGKZNByrI/AAAAAAAABMI/hSrDHnOTxc0/s1600/ccc+totem.jpg
http://www.wpt2.org/wayofthewarrior/images/WWII_Childers-pin-medal.jpg
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/pine-ridge/img/20-sacred-cottonwood-tree-carried-670.jpg
http://www.oneofmanyfeathers.com/images/aicensus.gif
http://www.mindspring.com/~wjager/pix/ak/alutiiqremains.jpg
http://sadredearth.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/cobell1.jpg
http://www.dbetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/obama-tribal-law-and-order.jpg
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