The Board Of Indian Commissioners

By 1940, Native Americans had experienced many changes and counter-changes in their legal status in the United States. Over the course of the nineteenth century, most tribes lost part or all of their ancestral lands and were forced to live on reservations. Following the American Civil War, the federal government abrogated most of the tribes’ remaining sovereignty and required communal lands to be allotted to individuals. The twentieth century also saw great changes for Native Americans, such as the Citizenship Act and the Indian New Deal. Alison R. Bernstein examines how the Second World War affected the status and lives of Native Americans in American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs. Bernstein argues

Times were a lot different back in the 1800s as compared to today, and unfortunately, for the minorities of the day, most white people did not see them as equals. The Civil War was testimony to this horrific fact. America was expanding rapidly on the heels of the gold rush and the boom of industry. This expansion posed a major problem in regards to the Native American. Most of the southern and eastern tribes had already been removed from their lands and forced to move west in the 1830s.1 Later, in 1867, a peace commission was appointed to persuade western Native Americans to relinquish their land and move to reservations. Once moved onto these reservations, the Native Americans would be wards of the government until they learned to be more like the white people.2

During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.

“I fought through the civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew”, remarked a Georgia soldier who had participated in the removal of Indian Natives during the mid-1800’s. As a result of the Indian Removal Act, Indian natives have been perceived as mistreated and cheated throughout history. The Indian Removal Act was passed during the presidency of Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. This act granted authorization to the president to exchange unsettled lands west of Mississippi for Indian lands residing in state borders. Initially, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed to expand the Southern United State for farmland and to aid the government in furthering our development as a nation. With this plan in mind, the government provided money to establish districts in the west of the Mississippi River for the Indian natives, ensured trade and exchange in those districts, allowed Native Indian tribes to be compensated for the cost of their removal and the improvements of their homesteads, and also pay one years’ worth subsistence to those Native Indians who relocated to the west.

The government attempted to uphold relations with the Indians on the condition that they establish themselves in the beliefs and values of the United States people (Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress, 2). They wanted the Indians to be of the Christian faith and to learn their practices, such as their agricultural lifestyle and techniques, to help civilize and assimilate the Indian people. This really just rooted the settler’s supremacist temperament into place. The Supreme Court did back the Indians temporarily in the Worcester v. Georgia trial, in which the United States Supreme Court held that “the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers” (Garrison, Worcester v. Georgia, 1). While it seemed a concerted effort, it eventually led to the forced signing of the Cherokee people at the “Cherokee capital of New Echota”, and furthermore, to the Trail of Tears and the downfall of the Indian nation (Garrison, Worcester v. Georgia, 1). The Americans ultimately made a frail attempt at civil dealings with the Indian people and their tribes, but when the Indians refused, the government used unnecessary force and aggression to get what they

This paper will briefly cover how the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) treated the Native Americans, during the American Indian Movement (AIM) focusing more in the 1960s-1970s. What initially helped push for the AIM and the end result of it.

When most people hear of Native Americans, they cannot help but think of elaborate headdresses, red skinned warriors, and lively dancing. Although these aspects of Native American culture are fascinating, more important is where they fare in our society 's past and present. Restrictive laws and acts such as the Indian Removal Act, the Indian Reorganization Act, Fort Laramie treaties, and the Trail of Tears forced Native Americans from their lands. When settlers and the American government saw the resistance of Native Americans to forced assimilation, they resorted to racial discrimination and relocation to reservations. This history of discrimination has fueled calls for the United States government to pay reparations and the return of Native Americans to their indigenous lands.

A policy of self-governance would end treaty violation, justly compensate tribes for land, prevent bureaucrats from obstructing the ability of Native Americans to participate in their religion, and prevent the serious cultural loss that may occur if the government continues to use Native American land for self-interested purposes. Arguments that these objectives are unattainable and unfounded do not hold up to analysis. Therefore, to provide a remedy for the ongoing infringement of Native American constitutional rights, Congress should both return non-privately owned land taken in violation of treaties and abolish federal plenary power over tribes, permitting greater self-governance.

Since neither the United States nor Native Americans would give up their goals, the government of United States figured that to win Native Americans and get all they wanted, government needed to spend lots of money and time. The United States tried to figure out a peaceful way to communicate with Native Americans. The new workable system fell to President George Washington’s first Secretary of War Henry Knox (p. 10).Henry Knox brought a new relation between Americans and Native Americans. Knox and Washington believed that the “uncivilized” Indian life was based on them not knowing better. On the other hand, their inferiority was cultural not racial (p. 11). In 1791 they announced the Cherokees may be led to a greater civilized society instead of remaining hunters. So women started to weave cloth, these Cherokee planters became rich, and the first law established in 1808 was about preventing the theft horses, also Cherokees invented a system for writing the Cherokee language.

Many historians argue that the Indian Removal Act was not justified. “Members of Congress argued that Jackson violated the Constitution by refusing to enforce treaties that guaranteed Indian land rights.” (Cheathem, 452). In 1791, America signed a treaty with the Cherokees with the intent on “civilizing” them into the traditions of America. By the 1820’s, most Cherokees were “living in log cabins instead of houses made

The dawn of the new American republic saw also the birth of U.S. Indian policy. In observing the bureaucracy of the United States government, one could clearly note the American view of proper dealings with Native peoples. It was the official U.S. policy to deal with the Indian tribes as separate foreign entities, grouping Choctaws, Shawnee, Cherokee and Creek peoples with the Spaniards, English and French. Curiously enough, the Secretary of War, not the Secretary of State, became responsible for Indian affairs. Clearly, the United States saw the Indians as a threat, either real or potential. In addition, the United States saw the Indians as a barrier to new and prosperous lands in the Western territories. An unofficial policy of provocation emerged. Using a multi-pronged assault, Americans would often enter Indian land and commit a crime worthy of retaliation by native peoples. Such an event precipitated Lord Dunmore's War; John Logan, a prominent Indian favored by many white men, was horrified to find his family murdered by white intruders. Vowing revenge, Logan led an attack on white settlements and the event quickly escalated to a full-blown war between the Shawnee and the whites, culminating in an Indian defeat and a subsequent land session. Such

In the 1830’s, Native Americans still lived in their native lands for the most part, however, white men considered them to be a threat to their peace. So in 1838, the Federal government had what

This torturous trend did not stop with the settlers. Even the American government that had previously promised, through the words of American founders like Thomas Jefferson, to protect the Indians, treated the Indians cruelly. For example, President Andrew Jackson’s vision for America was not accommodative of the Native American. His policies were notorious for punishing the Cherokee community especially the most assimilated and civilized members. The American government made and broke all the vows it made to the Cherokee community concerning the protection of the native people and their lands. By 1838, the American government was not even attempting to make vows of friendship. Instead, it gave the Cherokee the choice of voluntarily leaving their productive lands or facing a forced eviction. This ultimatum set pace for what was to become a Trail of

Ever since Columbus first set his eyes on the Indians, accounts have been kept of their tribulation, slavery, and bloodshed. Nonetheless, resilience and harden spiritually has helped Indians conquer and solidified their existence in human history. Every human has a mental break and the Removal Act 1830 had a profound emotional effect on the Indian race to give future generations the lack of growing. American Indians have endured hundreds of years of physical warfare, but never had the Indians faced psychological warfare. Prior to the Removal Act, there is enough evidence to show that the Cherokee had adopted current religious, education, text mill, and farming techniques. Under the Civilization Plan program created by President Washington in the 1790’s to help the Cherokee adapt to white American customs. Social programs were created to teach the Cherokees self-reliance on current productive commerce, land ownership, and education. So successful the programs were, that in 1817 the Cherokees established a national capital in New Echota, Georgia to protect themselves from the threat of land removal. Created their own 3 branch government system, coded laws, drafted a Constitution, and elected Jim Ross as Principal Chief.

The Indian Act was enacted in 1867 by the Parliament of Canada. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development administered the act. The act defines who an “Indian” is and the legal rights of the Aboriginal people in Canada. Regulation of the economic system between aboriginal people and the government of Canada is included in the Indian Act. It also includes the power the ministers have on the aboriginal people including children and disabled Aboriginals. If the laws are not obeyed, the punishment is written in the act. The Indian Act was influenced by the legislative foundation of the Royal Proclamation, 1763, which recognized Aboriginals as a distinct political unit (Residential schools). The Royal Proclamation, 1763, thought that it was their duty to protect the Aboriginal people from the Canadian society. The Royal Proclamation, 1763, had the responsibility for Aboriginal affairs in Canada with British imperial authorities. However, by the mid-1800s Britain began to transfer this responsibility to Canadian colonies. Then the Canadian authorities passed the First Indian Act. Over the years many amendments have been made to the Indian Act.The Indian act passed out a law that any children under the ages of 16 had to study at Residential schools (Residential schools), the children there were physically abused, especially girls. (Churchill, 55-56). The Indian act is significant today because on June, 11 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the