The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

Steven Adams Dr. Alexander Mendoza United Sates History II Journal Entries 1-10 Entry 1 What was the Dawes Act? It was named for Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, chair of the Senate’s Indian Affairs Committee. It divided land into small sections, however this allowed the tribe to retain only a minor portion of land. The remaining land was purchased by whites. Did the Dawes act benefit the Plains Indians?

government has unspecified and unorganized policies, which were unprotected for Native Americans who lived in the west because of all the new coming Americans. During westward expansion, a majority of who moved were whites, who didn’t know the Native Americans who already lived in the west. The Natives felt their land was being conquered, because of the U.S government policies(Louisana Purchase & Homestead Act) and the whites not wanting them to be there, which lead to fighting between the Natives and the whites. These acts and policies such as the Indian Removal Act often resulted in violated treaties and violence. The Indian Removal Act was the removal of Native American homes and tribes. “This also confines the Indians to still narrower limits, destroys that game which in their normal state, and constitutes their principal means of subsistence.” Resulting in westward expansion, Native Americans began rapidly decreasing in the area by wars and new diseases caught by new coming

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.

The Trail of Tears was a testament to the cruelty and disrespect we showed toward the Native Americans. This paper will show how the United States used its legislative power and brute force to remove the Indian tribes. From the election of Andrew Jackson, and the implementation of the Indian Removal Act. The Creeks, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole and their actions against the removal process. Finally, how the Cherokee used the legal process to fight evacuation of their nation.

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

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

In the early nineteenth century, the United States wanted position in the West, power was still in the hands of Native peoples. The Native Americans outnumbered whites and controlled the resources and routes of movement. Native Americans were not only fighting with the U.S. but with other Indian nations. Natives started to become even more unsettled as the U.S. government removed most eastern Native groups beyond the Mississippi River.

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

Section eight of the Dawes Act states that the provisions of the act cannot extend to the territory occupied by the Choctaws, Peorias, Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles Chickasaws, Osage, Foxes, Miamies, and Sacs, also known as the “civilized

It was wrong for the government to reduce the Indian’s land by 90 million acres. Was it not enough forcing them onto reservations? They were taken from their native lands, placed in reservations, and then had their land reduced. How could this possible be considered okay? In the course book on page 546, it talks about how in order to protect the Indians from land speculators, the government held the allotted land in trust. The Indians could not sell the land for 25 years. I did some research on the Dawes Allotment Act and found an article titled, “Cleveland signs devastating Dawes Act into law”, written by the History.com Staff. In this article, it talks more about the trust the lands were put in. As you can see the American ideals of “freedom”

In order to understand the Dawes Severalty Act and the effects it had on the Native Americans and the United States, one must acknowledge that there were certain geographical, political, social, and economic circumstances prior to the adoption of the Dawes Act that eventually led Congress to take a stand. In 1887, the US Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act which was intended to help the Indians by protecting their human and property rights. Little did the United States know that the consequences of this Act on the Native Americans were far greater than they planned.

America’s greatest flaw throughout history is how it treats its minorities, especially the Native Americans. From the beginning of European involvement in America, Native Americans have been cheated and mistreated. Even before the United States became a country, European traders would do whatever they could to make a profit, even use the diseases that they carried to begin an epidemic. As shown in the early Franciscan missions, Native Americans were considered heathens that were, at best, simply objects of conversion and at worst subhuman converts that could be used to till fields until they died of disease or maltreatment. Treaties with Native Americans were rarely honored, and they were used as mere pawns in struggles such as the French and Indian War. In “the land of the free”, Native Americans were systematically denied their “inalienable rights,” and the period that most clearly shows this are the 19th and early 20th century. Government policy regarding Native Americans changed from the 1830s to the 1930s, often reflecting the way Native Americans were viewed in that time period.

The United States government constructed many federal policies for Native Americans to make American settlers lives better. Federal policies the United States government came up were very inhumane and unfair. A couple of these federal policies are the removal policy, termination policy, and finally the reservation policy. The federal policies deeply affected Native Americans ways of life and their trust in a American settler. These policies could have been modified to make Native Americans better if the United States government and American settlers cared more about the Native Americans well being and beliefs during the 1800’s.

In the 19th century the United States federal government had a vision to expand and utilize the country, but the indigenous tribes complicated their plans of expansion. Years of constant “negotiations” with the natives resulted in millions of acres of land evicted from the natives. Assigning tribes to reservations for them to inhabit was the government’s hope of finally avoiding violent and political conflicts with the natives. However, Indian reservations led to controversy and frustration of the natives since they were succumbed to poor living conditions. As years passed federal policies started to change once federal officials and Indian rights organization groups started to recognize that the reservations were unlivable to the people. John

During the 1800's the Native Americans kept the peace while the Americans were self-serving in their pursuit of land. The Americans believe in the Manifest Destiny. The Native Americans did all that they could to remain in peace with the Americans. The Americans fought persistently with the Native Americans to gain Native American lands. The Americans wanted to move the Native Americans of what they thought was land given to them by God.