Native Americans in the US
History
• During the War of Independence, the young U.S. fails to win the allegiance of many Indian nations.
• Several major wars and military conflicts between colonizers and Native people (see below)
• Native resistance mounts in the Northwest Territories (Tecumseh, Battle at Tippecanoe 1811).
• The Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) prepare the opening of western territories to American
settlement.
Louisiana Purchase 1803
• Napoleon Bonaparte develops plans for the revival of French empire in America.
• In a secret treaty of 1800 France acquires Spanish Louisiana Territory.
• Jefferson uses military and diplomatic strength to force Napoleon to sell New Orleans.
• The French lose St. Dominique due to a successful slave rebellion led by Toussaint L’Ouverture.
For $15 million (3,5 cents per acre) the USA buys Louisiana Territory.
1803-1806: The Lewis and Clark Expedition explores and maps the new territory.
1838 Trail of Tears: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole (sometimes called the “Five Civilized Tribes”)
were living as autonomous nations in America’s South East; the young American nation needed the land for settlement, they decided to
remove the Indians to Oklahoma; President Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830; in 1838 all of those who had not yet
gone to Oklahoma were rounded up by the US army and forced to walk from the South East to Oklahoma; many fled, many died, many
reached Oklahoma.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs is founded. Originally in the department of War, it is transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1849.
• 1870s to 1960s – Native American children are routinely removed from their homes to boarding schools to receive American-style education
(ethnocide);
• 1871 – Indian Appropriation Act: Congress no longer signs treaties with Native nations;
• 1887 – General Allotment (Dawes) Act: reservation/tribally held land is divided into individually owned lots (160 acres per family);
surplus land is sold.
• 1924 – Indian Citizenship Act.
• The Meriam Report (1928) leads to a change in the U.S. Indian Policy.
• 1934 – The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) is passed. It forbids further allotment of tribal land, demands the development of economic
recourses and attempts to restore Indian self-determination through the revival of tribal governments (majority/minority rather than
consensus decisions).
Termination
• Since the 1940s the migration of Native peoples from the reservations to urban areas is encouraged through the establishment of programs
that offer short-term financial help for housing and job training programs.
• 1953 – the HCR 108 ends the trust relationship between the U.S.A. and selected Native American tribes. 61 tribes, bands, and communities
are eliminated.
Self-Determination
• 1968 – The Indian Civil Rights Act applies most of the Bill of Rights protections to Native Americans on tribal lands.
• 1970 – President R. Nixon announces U.S. support for Native self-government.
• 1975 – Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act;
• 1978 – Indian Religious Freedom Act;
• 1988 – Indian Gaming Regulatory Act;
• 1990 – Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA);
• 1991 – Native American Languages Act.
Native American Movement
In 1968, Dennis Banks and George Mitchell found the American Indian Movement (AIM).
In 1969, the “Indians of All Tribes” occupy Alcatraz.
In 1972, Native Americans stage a sit-in at the BIA in Washington, DC.
In 1973, AIM occupies Wounded Knee, SD. The stand-off between the Native peoples, federal marshals, and the FBI lasts 10 weeks and
ends with a government promise to re-examine Indian treaty rights.
Issues
• Tribal Governments work on the basis of tribal constitutions which:
- describe the form of government of Native nations, e.g. the executive (e.g. president, chairman, principal chief), the legislature, and/or the
judiciary (tribal courts);
- determine the membership of Native nations (blood quantum)
- raise or do not raise taxes on tribal land.
Gambling
• 6,037,223 sq.ft. of gambling space in all Native American casinos;
• 5,044 tables and 88,892 gambling machines;
• 96,584 employees;
• Of the 20 largest reservations, 8 have casinos.
•
•
The tribes with the 20 largest casinos have an average of 2,319 employees, 83 tables and 1,863 machines each. Tribes owning the twenty
largest casinos had 3 % of the reservation population.
Tribes average 10 tables and 322 machines.
(numbers from 1997)
Religious Freedom
• Indian religious freedom is continuously redefined:
- Native Americans cannot hunt American eagles (but may possess eagle feathers if they are enrolled tribal members) United States v. Dion
(1986).
- Religious sites on state or federal land cannot solely be claimed by Native Americans (e.g. Bear Butte, SD – State Park).
- The use of peyote by members of the Native American Church (NAC) is allowed (American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendment,
1994).
- To counteract the appropriation of Native religions, Native communities/elders have restricted access of non-tribal members and nonNatives to traditional ceremonies.
The Kennewick Man
• 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
• 1996 - skeleton found in Washington;
• dated 8,000 (9,300) years old;
• Kennewick Man claimed by tribes (e.g. Umatilla) for reburial.
Education
• 34 tribal colleges exist in the U.S. and offer mostly A.A. and A.S. degrees.
• Haskell Indian Nations University and Sinte Gleska University offer B.A. degrees.
• Challenges include the balanced teaching of traditional knowledge/values and Euro-American science and technology as well as finding
solid funding and providing scholarships for native youths
Culture
• The 1990 Indian Arts and Craft Act criminalizes non-authentic Indian art, that is art sold as Native art but not produced by tribally
enrolled Native Americans.
• Pan-Indianism v. Tribal Identity (Pow Wows)
Major Wars and Military Conflicts between Colonizers and Native People
King Philip’s War (Chief Metacomet, Pokanet) – 1675)
- The Pokanet rise against the encroachment of tribal land by Puritan settlements, destroy 12 of the 90 Puritan towns.
- Due to the lack of food and ammunition, the tribe is defeated, Metacomet killed and his people virtually wiped out.
Pueblo Revolt (Pope, Pueblo) – 1680
-Pueblos in New Mexico revolt against Spaniards and drive them out.
- The Spaniards remain out of power until 1692 when their Indian Policy is changed (Missionaries) and they took over control of South West
again.
Yamasee War (Creeks and Choctaws) – 1715-1717
- The tribes organize a massive revolt against English control in South Carolina. The English win this war by playing the Cherokee against
the Creek. The French try to do the same between the Choctaws and the Chickasaws.
French and Indian War (1754/6 – 1763)
• 1756 – 1763: Seven Year’s War fought in Europe
• conflicts over political and military control in New England and in the Ohio River Valley and over the fur trade with the Native Peoples is to
be solved
• Treaty of Paris: France loses most of its power in North America.
• Spain controls territory west of the Mississippi plus New Orleans (and cedes Florida to Britain).
• Britain receives Canada and all French territory east of the Mississippi.
• Britain put colonies under strict control and begin to tax them to pay for the war.
• The Royal Proclamation 1763 tries to keep peace and earlier promises to the Delawares and Shawnees.
• A proclamation line across the crest of the Appalachian Mtns. is drawn: settlers are forbidden to cross it; Indian land could only be
purchased by the British Crown; Great Britain formally recognized the sovereignty and rights of the Native population; it controlled Indian
land and relations of Native people.
• Only the British Crown is allowed to negotiate land treaties west of this line.
Pontiac’s War (1763): Native Peoples of the Ohio River Valley (e.g. Ottawas) try to seize Detroit and attack British posts.
The War of 1812 (-1814)
Causes:
-Britain and France interfere with American trade (Second War of Independence).
Results:
-U.S. believe that Britain supported Native peoples in the Northwest Territory (Battle at Tippecanoe 1811/Tecumseh).
-U.S. want to take control over Canada and Florida
-Britain recognizes the U.S. boundaries and stays out of the Northwest Territory (pre-war status quo).
-American industry prospers due to stopped trade with Britain.
-Americans gain national pride.
Native American Sovereignty/US-Indian Relations
Treaty-making/Royal Proclamation of 1763 established the principles
 Native American title to the land
 Sovereign status of Native American tribes
 Exclusion of state jurisdiction
 Trust relationship between Native Americans and the USA
US Indian (Legal) Policy
Treaty Era (1789-1871)
Assimilation and Allotment (1871-1928)
Reorganization and Reestablishment (1928-1942)
Termination Policy (1943-61)
Self-Determination and Tribal Revitalization (since 1961)
Sovereignty, Self-Government of Native Tribes
Recognition of land title and tribal governments;
“domestic dependent nations”;
Communal land title divided into individual land property; erosion of
tribal governments; US government as guardian of Native American
people (they were wards of the government); Indian Citizenship Act 1924;
Meriam Report 1928, Indian Reorganization Act 1934; end of allotment
policy; legalization of tribal governments on basis of
American/democratic principles;
Termination of trust relationship for selected tribes; formation of tribal
incorporations; break-up of tribal communities/individualization;
Establishment of tribal control over e.g. education, jurisdiction, gaming
on basis of tribal constitutions; Supreme Court’s recognition of treaty
rights/land titles; federal recognition of tribes and formation of old/new
tribal political entities; critical review of trust relationship; compromises
in federal/state/tribal jurisdictions, e.g. gaming; Indian Bill of Rights1968;