Starting in 1851 and continuing for three decades, U.S. bureaucrats generated several policies for the solution to the "Indian problem." The U.S. government purposely consolidated Native American societies by using treaties, coercion, and military force.255 Commissioner of Indian Affairs Luke Lea set forth the doctrine in 1851 by calling for the Indians' "concentration, their domestication, and their incorporation." Reservations were the instruments to achieve this goal.256 There were forces other than Army bullets that brought an end to the Native way of life.257 The transcontinental railroad had been completed in 1869, bringing additional immigrants to the West.258 At the same time, the systematic destruction of the massive buffalo herds
…show more content…
The first step to assimilation was to eradicate the ‘Native-ness’ of the Indigenous – Kill the Indian and save the Man.261 The Native had to learn to farm, become sedentary on a certain piece of land, become self-supporting and practice Christianity.262 The rationale behind the twentieth-century reservation system was two -fold: Native American resources could be further exploited with a minimum of cost and effort and, the controlled environment of the reservation would provide for a laboratory in social engineering.263 The reservation was conceived as a refuge for a declining race that could be elevated from their inferior status by assimilation.264 The Indian Office promoted these objectives by breaking up the "habits of savage life" by instilling "civilized" values through forced education, by insisting on agricultural labor, and by pushing the notion of private property and the development of monetary funds.265 To this end, the reservation was conceived as a controlled society where the habits of civilization could be molded under the direction of the Indian agent and agency personnel.266 From 1880 to 1934, ethnocide became an officially sanctioned …show more content…
Government used these systems to usurped the Chief’s authority and exploited divisions in Native society.273 By making the Natives in charge and responsible for eradicating traditional customs, animosity would not be directed at the United States but the Indian Agents in charge.274 In Calfornia, according to Brian W. Dipple in The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy, “the Superintendant of Indian Affairs, proposed a system of small ‘military reservations’ where the tribes would be invited to assemble for protection and to an acquire the rudiments of civilization…No treaties were involved; the Indians were in effect guests of the federal government. However, the reservation was a place to Divide and Conquer. The system had taken hold…it [the
The first step to assimilation was to eradicate the ‘Native-ness’ of the Indigenous – Kill the Indian and save the Man.261 The Native had to learn to farm, become sedentary on a certain piece of land, become self-supporting and practice Christianity.262 The rationale behind the twentieth-century reservation system was two -fold: Native American resources could be further exploited with a minimum of cost and effort and, the controlled environment of the reservation would provide for a laboratory in social engineering.263 The reservation was conceived as a refuge for a declining race that could be elevated from their inferior status by assimilation.264 The Indian Office promoted these objectives by breaking up the "habits of savage life" by instilling "civilized" values through forced education, by insisting on agricultural labor, and by pushing the notion of private property and the development of monetary funds.265 To this end, the reservation was conceived as a controlled society where the habits of civilization could be molded under the direction of the Indian agent and agency personnel.266 From 1880 to 1934, ethnocide became an officially sanctioned …show more content…
Government used these systems to usurped the Chief’s authority and exploited divisions in Native society.273 By making the Natives in charge and responsible for eradicating traditional customs, animosity would not be directed at the United States but the Indian Agents in charge.274 In Calfornia, according to Brian W. Dipple in The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy, “the Superintendant of Indian Affairs, proposed a system of small ‘military reservations’ where the tribes would be invited to assemble for protection and to an acquire the rudiments of civilization…No treaties were involved; the Indians were in effect guests of the federal government. However, the reservation was a place to Divide and Conquer. The system had taken hold…it [the