APUSH Native American Policy and Issues

Indian Self-Determination Act

1974 act that granted Native American tribes control of federal aid programs on the reservations and oversight of their own schools

Bureau of Indian Affairs

A government agency created in the 1800s to oversee federal policy toward Native Americans

assimilation

A policy in which a nation forces or encourages a subject people to adopt its institutions and customs.

Helen Hunt Jackson

A writer. Author of the 1881 book A Century of Dishonor. The book exposed the U.S. governments many broken promises to the Native Americans. For example the government wanted Native Americans to assimilate, i.e. give up their beliefs and ways of life, that way to become part of the white culture.

Indian Removal Act 1820

Signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, strongly supported by the South whom was eager to gain access to the lands inhabited by the "Five Civilized Tribes." Though the act was intended to be voluntary removal, significant pressure was put onto the tribes' chiefs to vacate and led to the inevitable removal of most Indians from the states

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

Supreme Court decision in which Chief Justice Marshall ruled that the Cherokee had "an unquestionable right" to their lands, but they were "not a foreign state, in the sense of the Constitution" but rather a "domestic, dependent nation" and so could not sue in a United States court over Georgia's voiding their right to self-rule. Was a blow to the Cherokee case, it cast doubt on the constitutionality of Indian Removal Act.

Indian Territory

An area to which Native Americans were moved according to the Indian Removal Act covering what is now Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska

Americanization

Belief that assimilating immigrants and Native Americans into American society would make them more loyal citizens

Indian Claims Commission

Congress established this to discharge outstanding claims by Native Americans for land taken by the federal government., 1946-1978

Dawes Severalty Act

It was designed to reform what well-meaning but ignorant whites perceived to be the weaknesses of Indian life-- the lack of private property, the absence of a Christian based religion, the nomadic traditions of the Indians, and the general instability in their way of life -- by turning Indians into farmers. The main point of the law was to emphasize treating Indians as individuals as opposed to members in a tribe., 1887, dismantled American Indian tribes, set up individuals as family heads with 160 acres, tried to make rugged individualists out of the Indians, attempt to assimilate the Indian population into that of the American

reservation

land set aside by the United States government for Native Americans

Andrew Jackson

..., The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he opposed the Bank of America, objected to the right of individual states to nullify disagreeable federal laws, and increased the presidential powers. He ignored Supreme Court rulings and enforced the Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears.

Board of Indian Commissioners

1869 a committee that advised the federal government of the United States on Native American policy and it inspected supplies delivered to Indian agencies to ensure the fulfillment of government treaty obligations to tribes.

Battle of Little Big Horn

1876 Sioux leader Sitting Bull led the fight against General George Custer and the 7th Cavalry. The Sioux wanted miners out of the Black Hills, and had appealed to government officials in Washington to stop the miners. Washington didn't listen. When Custer came to Little Big Horn River, Sitting Bull and his warriors were ready and killed them all! Last major victory of Native Americans in the west.

Indian Reorganization Act

1934 New Deal program that recognized the interests of Native Americans and halted the sale of tribal lands. It restored tribes as legal entities that could apply for charters of incorporation and allowed them to pursue business ventures as tribes and to seek enforcement of earlier treaties. Ended the period of assimilation.

Five Civilized Tribes

Powerful southern tribes that were forced to give up their lands by the Indian Removal Act 1820 - Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole.

Trail of Tears

The Cherokee Indians were forced to leave their lands. They traveled from North Carolina and Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas-more than 800 miles (1,287 km)-to the Indian Territory. More than 4, 00 Cherokees died of cold, disease, and lack of food during the 116-day journey.

Worchester v. Georgia

Worchester v. Georgia: 1832 - The Supreme Court decided Georgia had no jurisdiction over Cherokee reservations. Georgia refused to enforce decision and President Jackson didn't support the Court. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia: 1831 - The Supreme Court ruled that Indians weren't independent nations but dependent domestic nations which could be regulated by the federal government. From then until 1871, treaties were formalities with the terms dictated by the federal government.