Native American Policies during the Gilded Age
Anthony Ciccariello
01 May 2016
HIST407 D001
American Military University Since the North American continent was discovered and inhabited by Europeans there was a distance or gap of misunderstanding between the settlers and the indigenous people. This distance and difference in way of life did not end after the inhabitants created their own country and won their independence from the Great Britain. The American government and the people of the United States began treating Native Americans differently in the years following the Revolutionary War, as westward expansion became more and more important. The American government felt that westward expansion was key to the economic and political …show more content…
There were six goals associated with the Dawes Allotment Act and the transitions from tribal reserves to individual locations upon reservations. These goals were breaking up Native American Tribes as a social unit, encouraging individuality among Native Americans, further the progress of native farmers, reducing the cost of Native American administration, securing parts of the reservations as Native American lands, and opening the remainder of the land to white settlers for the economic advancement of the United States. This left the Native Americans with no choice but to succumb to the attempts of the federal government to force them to except and adapt the ways of the white man. Native Americans held specific ideologies pertaining to their land. They viewed the land and earth as things to be valued and cared for, they represented all things that produced and sustained life, embodied their existence and identity, and created an environment of belonging. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe said, “I know my race must change. We cannot hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. Whenever the white man treats the Indians as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike, brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one government for all.” This was a common thought among many Native Americans, that they would have to change the way they viewed their lands, more as real estate or for the means of profit, rather than the way their ancestors viewed the same lands. They would need to shed their “uncivilized” ways of life and exchange them for a way of life similar to that of the white man. This would be key to them becoming prosperous farmers,
Anthony Ciccariello
01 May 2016
HIST407 D001
American Military University Since the North American continent was discovered and inhabited by Europeans there was a distance or gap of misunderstanding between the settlers and the indigenous people. This distance and difference in way of life did not end after the inhabitants created their own country and won their independence from the Great Britain. The American government and the people of the United States began treating Native Americans differently in the years following the Revolutionary War, as westward expansion became more and more important. The American government felt that westward expansion was key to the economic and political …show more content…
There were six goals associated with the Dawes Allotment Act and the transitions from tribal reserves to individual locations upon reservations. These goals were breaking up Native American Tribes as a social unit, encouraging individuality among Native Americans, further the progress of native farmers, reducing the cost of Native American administration, securing parts of the reservations as Native American lands, and opening the remainder of the land to white settlers for the economic advancement of the United States. This left the Native Americans with no choice but to succumb to the attempts of the federal government to force them to except and adapt the ways of the white man. Native Americans held specific ideologies pertaining to their land. They viewed the land and earth as things to be valued and cared for, they represented all things that produced and sustained life, embodied their existence and identity, and created an environment of belonging. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe said, “I know my race must change. We cannot hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. Whenever the white man treats the Indians as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike, brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one government for all.” This was a common thought among many Native Americans, that they would have to change the way they viewed their lands, more as real estate or for the means of profit, rather than the way their ancestors viewed the same lands. They would need to shed their “uncivilized” ways of life and exchange them for a way of life similar to that of the white man. This would be key to them becoming prosperous farmers,