Pros And Cons Of The Dawes Act Of 1887

The whites tried to colonize the Natives land, and they Natives didn’t know how to handle it. They also couldn’t handle all the diseases, and illnesses that the white people brought with them as said in the background “europeans brought with them measles and smallpox, against which natives americans were not immune”. This started to kill the Native Americans, but not all things that the white’s brought over to the new land, weren't so bad. The Native Americans started running out of food, this lead them to start relying on Europeans goods or food and other necessary items as stated in the background “The Cherokees were losing their self-sufficiency and becoming increasingly dependent on European goods”. In Document 5 it says “your mothers, your sisters ask and beg of you not to of our land, We say ours. You are our descendants; take pity on our request.” This quote emphasises how much the cherokee women didn't want the whites colonizing Their land anymore, because they wanted the land passed down to the next generation for them the thrive and live. This later took a turn when the Native americans and the white started to realize that they couldn't live with the whites anymore, The two different races were to different in culture as said in document 4 “Indians cannot flourish in the neighborhood of the white population”. This later became an issue with the whites and later became the Indian Removal

Document 2 displays the Sand Creek Massacre, where a Colorado militia attacked a Cheyenne village. Around 200 men, women, and children were killed. To stop the fighting, the US government gave tribes a big reservation in South Dakota and promised not to bother the Native Americans. Then, gold was found on the reservation. Many Americans went to the reservation to try and get rich. The Sioux tribe was living where the gold was found, and they weren’t happy about these additional visitors. Document 4 tells about the responses from the chiefs of two tribes, Chief Joseph and Chief Sitting Bull. They speak about how the Americans came in and forced the tribes to move because they wanted the land. The Native Americans are upset because reservations were made for the tribes, but eventually the Natives are forced off those lands too. Native Americans and the US army met at the Battle of Little Bighorn, where the US army was completely obliterated. The US army was forced to take the Native Americans seriously after this major loss. In document 6, assimilation is demonstrated. This most likely would’ve happened to the Native Americans if the US forced them to become citizens of the country. Assimilation is the process of becoming socially and psychologically like another group of people. The Natives would most likely have to dress like Americans, and basically give up their

No, it was catastrophic to Indian culture and lead to the loss of the majority of Indian tribal lands. It also led to clashes between Indian tribes. Did the Dawes Act benefit whites? Yes, immensely. It allowed whites to buy 86 million acres of land during the late 1880’s into the 1890’s.

The Dawes Act of 1887 began the process of allotment. By trying to force Native Americans to become farmers, the federal government cast many groups into poverty. The land which the United States held in trust for Indians was usually not choice farmland. Those trying to make a living off the inhospitable lands of the West found little success. During the interwar period of the early twentieth century, the government made new efforts to alleviate Indians’ position as a marginalized group. Over 10,000 Native Americans volunteered and served with distinction in the armed forces during World War I. In recognition of their efforts, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, making all American Indians United States citizens.

During westward expansion, the Native Americans got kicked to the side. The settlers coming west often saw the Indians as a threat to them and their families. However, this was not the main reason the Indians were pushed aside. The settlers saw the Indians had fertile land and wanted it for themselves. The Indians were the opposite of what the settlers thought they were. The Indians often helped the people moving west across the plains; giving them food, supplies, and acting as guides. However, the U.S. Government did not see this side of the Indians, instead they forced the Indians onto reservations. During the time of the expansion of the United States to the present, the Native Americans went through many things so that the United States could expand; they were pushed onto reservations, and forced to give up their culture through the Ideas of Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism.

There has been much documentation on the plight of Native Americans throughout the beginnings of this nation. In spite of the attempts by the early government of the United States, the culture of many Native American tribes has survived and even flourished. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 is just one of many examples of how our government attempted to wipe out Native American culture. This paper will discuss the Dawes Act, particularly the time leading up to the act, the act itself, and finally its failure. By understanding the past failures in the treatment of a particular race of people, the government can learn how to protect the rights of all people, especially in a day and age of cultural diversity.

The encouragement of farming and redistribution of land posed challenges for indigenous people to express their culture. In 1881, Chester A. Arthur said in his message to the Congress that “[m]any of [Native Americans] realize the fact that their hunting days are over” and urged them to “engage at once in agricultural pursuits”. Arthur undermined indigenous culture by discouraging the way Native Americans used land. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 also overlooked indigenous culture by distributing land to individual Native Americans, which contradicted their custom of collective landholding; indigenous people had to begin farming as a result of receiving a third of land they originally had. This neglecting of a fundamental facet of indigenous culture disconnected Native

After the Dawes Act was passed, the Government stripped the tribes of their authority and made it very difficult for each of them to maintain their traditional ways of life. The tribes finally decided that they needed some type of authority. This authority came with land ownership and the allotment of land was the closest to land ownership they were going to get. They all agreed to the Dawes Act by 1902 and forfeited their

In the years leading up to the Indian Removal Act, which was the initial cause of the Trail of Tears, the United States was in a shift. The country was seeing an unrivaled influx of European settlers looking for careers and land. This caused population to skyrocket, in fact in the years 1790-1840, the United States saw a 350% increase in population. In other words, the need for fertile land and viable property was high. At the same time, attempts at assimilation of Indians into American society were proving to be futile. Americans saw the Indians as “noble savages”, who were uncivilized but able to be fit for society if they were converted to Christianity and adopted Anglo-European culture and behavior. With the growing need for land and the rise in tension between Natives and fearful white settlers, something needed to be done in the eyes of the American people. These two things combined is what really set up the foreground for what would become the Indian Removal Act. President Andrew Jackson, in

Minorities were necessary in order to take up unwanted work in production and in creating monumental advancements that Americans were unwilling to do. For example, the Transcontinental railroad was built primarily by Chinese workers. African Americans especially, were kept in the lower class and viewed upon as mainly common laborers, because they were argued to have had little intelligence and if taught well could develop needed skills in production jobs (Doc D). They were subjugated in the south and not allowed to integrate into society, forcing them to live under similar circumstances as they would if they were enslaved. However, they are now largely credited for building up the nation through their largely uncompensated labor. The Indians were destined to be destroyed as a culture. The land that was made available through the Homestead Act, Morrill Grant and utilized by large corporations, such as the railroads, was largely stolen Native American land (Doc E). The Dawes Act, for example, was adopted by Congress in 1887 and it authorized the President to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians in order to turn a profit and divide the

The Indians were ridiculed and manipulated because of many different bills passed in the 1800’s and their land was decreasing in size and amount of food sources and land. The effects of the Indian Removal Act, Westward expansion, and the Dawes Act on the Native Americans in the 1800’s were abundant.

The goal of the Act was to make independent farmers out of the Indians by giving them land and the means for citizenship. The intention was to free them from the reservations and make them civilized American people. The Native American people had no input in this decision, and they were not even consulted. The Dawes Act declared that each head of an Indian family be allotted 160 acres of farmland and 80 acres to every unmarried adult. Rest of the the tribal land was considered surplus so the government could sell it to the settlers.

Effect of Dawes Act: more opportunities for white plundering of Indian lands, further undermining of traditional Indian cultures

Five specific groups were especially affected by industrialization: Native Americans, African Americans, children, farmers, and immigrants. Due to federal and state policies, Native Americans were removed from their traditional land into reservations, which were often smaller, more undesirable land. The Dawes Act of 1887, which broke up reservation lands, was ultimately detrimental to Native Americans. Settlers and federal troops pushed the remaining free tribes off their homelands in the Great Plains, and killed most of the buffalo population on which Native Americans relied for survival (The USA online, n.d.).

Throughout history, countries went through imperialism, reconstruction and wars to pursuit their freedom. Native American’s embarked on new discoveries in America, which began conflicts with White Americans wanting control over what Native American had. Native Americans believed in freedom for the nation, but things began to change for them, when White American passed the Indians removal act. African American and Native American had similar experiences to pursuit their freedom. Both races were treated like they didn’t exist in the world; different types of acts and laws were created to prevented them from have equal rights. White Americans destroying ever race but themselves, to get what they wanted and these innocent people just wanted freedom and equal rights.