The United States of America has continuously tried to silence and exterminate Native American culture. Through forced removals, broken treaties, and racist violence, the U.S. has spent numerous years and resources on this cause. Through it all, Native Americans have endured and found ways to keep and preserve their identities. The U.S. stays unjust towards minorities, making now an extremely important time to spread awareness and preserve Native culture.
From the arrival of the first English settlers to the founding of the United States in 1776, colonizers encroached on Indian lands. In Maryland, for example, the Pascataway nation was between a rock and a hard place when settlers arrived. They felt pressure from neighboring tribes and the expansion of English colonialism. Maryland’s colonial government offered numerous treaties to Native tribes to maintain the peace. However, these treaties were merely verbal agreements that were broken–almost always by colonists–after a short time.
How Indians were continuously mistreated after 1776
The Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the United States of America would make conditions worse for Native Americans. The U.S. government and many of its citizens believed that Indians were a problem that needed fixing. Notable historical figures like James Monroe and Andrew Jackson shared these racist beliefs. Monroe once said that if Indians did not civilize themselves, they would go extinct. Some believed that Native Americans were biologically incapable of being “civilized.” Others believed that it was the Americans’ duty to “lift” up Native tribes and help them succeed. Native American tribes were civilized and had their own traditions and society. Because it was foreign to colonizers, they believed it to be savage and underdeveloped. These differences in opinion of Natives (although both negative) created a conflict within American society. The U.S. wanted to acquire Indian lands without going to war, but some people wanted to “save” the Indians by enlightening them, as it was a more “humane” thing to do.
In the 1790s, the Plan of Civilization was created. The POC merged both ideas into one. Its goal was to civilize Native American tribes and, in the future, take them. Native tribes had a communal system with their lands. They had no private property, meaning that individuals could not sell land to the U.S. The U.S. knew this, and the POC sought to completely remove communal systems and establish private ownership. This opened a door to debt, poverty, and corruption within tribes. Tribes were already suffering before the Plan of Civilization. For example, the Revolutionary War had caused the Cherokee to lose more than half of their land, and the POC just made it worse. The U.S. turned Indian lands into farms and encouraged Indian men to give up their warrior lifestyle and become farmers. Understandably, this was met with resistance. Native American society was built on hunting and gathering, and for men, this was their purpose. The POC also allowed Christian and Quaker missionaries to preach on tribal lands. Natives were forced to learn English and dress differently. In a short period of time, life in the tribes changed drastically.
Native American tribes found ways to endure, but had limited success. In 1805, Lalawethika, a Shawnee man, had a vision. In his vision, the Great Spirit (Native American god) was angry at Indians for abandoning old traditions and embracing white culture. He told Lalawethika to reject Christianity and white beliefs and go back to their old traditions. Lalawethika spread his message and gained a lot of support from tribes. The Shawnee town of Tippacanoe (also known as Prophetstown and modern-day Battle Ground, Indiana) became a destination for Natives. They would perform a pilgrimage to Tippacanoe and engage in cleansing rituals to rid themselves of white influence. Lalawethika’s brother, Tecumseh, a war hero and Shawnee Chief, used Lalawethika’s influence to band tribes together and unite against the U.S. His goal was to create an Indian confederacy that stretched from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. did not let this happen. They sent William Henry Harrison (military leader and 9th U.S. president) and a group of Americans to Tippecanoe. Tecumseh told Lalawethika not to engage with them, but he disobeyed his orders and attacked the Americans. Harrison defeated the Natives and burned down Tippacanoe.
Andrew Jackson strongly supported Indian removal. He believed that if Native Americans were not removed, they would limit societal development for the U.S. When he was elected president, he passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This act allowed the U.S. to negotiate removal treaties with tribes to relocate them. The Removal Act did not allow violence, but Jackson encouraged whites in Georgia to harass the Cherokee to pressure them into giving up their land. This led to massive white-on-Indian violence that made life miserable for the Cherokee. Cherokee leaders like John Ross tried to resist removal by encouraging the tribe to embrace white society, but some Cherokee believed that it was futile. John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, mixed-race Indians who could pass as white, knew from their past experiences that America would not accept them even if they embraced white culture. The Cherokee were split into two factions: The National Party and the Treaty Party. The National Party, led by John Ross, opposed removal. The Treaty Party, led by Major Ridge (father of John Ridge), believed that accepting the removal deal was the only way. The Treaty Party, feeling pressure from white violence and from the U.S. government, accepted the removal deal without tribal consent. They thought that because they accepted the deal of their own accord, conditions would be easier for the tribe. This, unfortunately, was not true. The U.S. did not care. Other tribes suffered the same fate. Some accepted the treaties, and some were forcibly removed. They all ended up in the same place: Oklahoma.
After removal, some tribes, like the Sioux, found success in the new lands. Others did not. Tribes had lost lots of land by this point, and struggled to find their way in Oklahoma. The land was not fertile for farming, and they were close to rival tribes. In the 1840s and 50s, there was a huge push westward by Americans. This was bad news for Indian tribes. White travelers would disrespect their lands by not paying tolls and hunting buffalo for fun. Around this time, the buffalo population decreased, leading to even harsher conditions for tribes. There was also more white-on-Indian violence. Travelers were quick to pull the trigger on peaceful Indians who approached them asking for passage fees. This violence was because of ignorance on the part of white travelers, who were unfamiliar with Native customs. Some travelers hired Indian guides to help them through the lands. Tribes could not catch a break. In the time after the Civil War (1861-1865), reservations were a disaster. Poverty, malnutrition, starvation, disease, and all kinds of problems riddled the reservations. The life expectancy for Indians was 10 years less than whites, and 30% of Indian children would not live past the age of 5.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was another attempt to assimilate Indians and get rid of reservations. This was the Dawes Act and the Friends of the Indian movement. The Dawes Act removed communal land and gave each Indian family 160 acres of land. Indians were able to choose what lands they wanted, but it was purposefully from a pool of poor lands. The U.S. took the good lands for itself. The Dawes Act caused tribes to lose a total of 90 million acres, which was ⅔ of tribal lands. The Friends of the Indian movement was a group of reformers who wanted to assimilate Indians. However, they believed that adults were a lost hope, and focused on reforming children. Indian children would be forced to attend Indian schools, which were special schools that taught them English, Christianity, and “civilized” them to prepare them for life among whites. Children were punished for speaking in their Native tongues and would also get beaten for crying. Indian schools were, in a way, successful. Indian children who attended these schools were traumatized, and did not teach their children their Native culture out of fear that they would be required to attend Indian schools.
In the 1920s, some Native tribes found some success. The Pueblo tribe fought against U.S. attempts to take their land and won. The U.S. compensated them for any lands they had taken illegally from them in 1924. In the 1940s, the U.S. wanted to settle any issues with tribes and then cut ties completely. They allowed tribes to put together a claim for any injustices done to them by the government. This was a very long process. The government (and individual tribes that submitted a claim) had to look for documentation proving their case. Since these documents were often decades old, some were lost or destroyed. Additionally, the U.S. purposefully made the process of submitting a claim difficult and expensive. Many tribes spent lots of money hiring lawyers, but were denied a claim. By 1978, the U.S. commission had settled 285 cases and paid out over 800 million dollars. However, many Indians were unhappy. On average, the U.S. paid out 5% of the money that was originally demanded. Some tribes did not want money; they wanted land. The payments also created internal conflicts within tribes. There was confusion on whether or not the money should be equally distributed between families or given to the tribal leaders (who were often corrupt and would use the money for their own personal gain). After compensation, the U.S. government stopped funding reservations and cut ties with them. This was a disaster, as they stopped funding health clinics, hospitals, and schools. This ended up increasing poverty on reservations. The U.S. also attempted to relocate Indians into major cities to erase reservations completely. They would give them resources at first as a boost and let them fend for themselves. They would also purposefully relocate them to a city far from their reservation to discourage them from returning. Some Indians did well, some did not. There was a lot of job discrimination, police brutality, and unfair arrests. Many Native Americans chose to live together in small neighborhoods within the cities. By the 1960s, over 40% of Indians lived in urban areas.
Native Americans were inspired by the success of the Civil Rights Movement and created organizations of their own. One of these was the American Indian Movement (AIM), which was founded in 1968 by former Indian inmates. These members knew how unjust the American system was to Native Americans and were not afraid to use violence to make a change. Many tribes disapproved of AIM because of the violence associated with it. They were similar to the Black Power Movement in ideals. They focused on racial pride and the celebration of their culture. They did a lot of good for Indian communities, such as creating medical clinics, providing more jobs and housing opportunities for Indians, and more. However, over time, they lost support. They were strongly opposed by the U.S. government and were negatively portrayed in media. AIM began to move away from community work and focused more on media outreach. They believed that change would come if they received more support. But because they had limited support from Native American tribes already, they were unsuccessful. Women who worked with AIM said that the organization was sexist, and created their own organizations that worked towards improving the lives of Indian women. Women of all Red Nations was created in 1970, and the Indigenous Women’s Network was created in 1980. They focused on issues like domestic violence and involuntary sterilization. After the decline of AIM, Indian civil rights efforts focused on cultural preservation, holding governments accountable, protecting tribal sovereignty, and protecting civil rights. Over the past few decades, Native Americans have worked towards removing racist imagery, such as in school or sports mascots. The biggest example for this is the Washington Redskins, which changed its name to the Washington Commanders in 2022. Other organizations, such as the Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories, work towards spreading awareness of issues affecting Native American tribes.
Native Americans have been under constant pressure from the U.S. government. The effects of the Plan of Civilization, the Indian Removal Act, and the Dawes Act are all felt today. Indian reservations still have high rates of poverty, unemployment, and substance abuse. However, despite centuries of oppression, forced assimilation, and broken promises, Native American culture continues to endure. Preserving this culture is not only an act of respect towards the first peoples of this land but also a step towards healing the wounds caused by colonization.
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