HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 1607 TO 1865

History Of The United States From 1607 To 1865



History Of The United States From 1607 To 1865

From Jamestown in 1607 to the end of treaty-making in 1871 (Kidwell and Velie 2005:66), land was in contention. In 1871, the U.S. government officially terminated the sovereignty of American Indian tribes and relegated them to holding limited rights of citizenship. Unlike other minorities, however, Native Americans held little property of value apart from their land. It was in accordance with the Doctrine of Discovery policy adopted by the founding fathers that the legal title to indigenous lands was transferred to the federal government. This legal usurpation occurred between 1778 and 1871 and involved no fewer than 374 treaties. However, because the Doctrine of Discovery policy required both consent and fair payment to authenticate the transfer of indigenous land rights, it is the latter of these treaty requirements, still enforceable, that accounts for a wide variety of tribal hunting rights that range from “whales” (Makah tribe, 1855 treaty) to “walleye fish” (Chippewa tribe, 1837, 1842, and 1854 treaties).

While it is true that Indian schools did teach American Indian children some vocational skills such as pencil making, mainstream society generally took only slight interest in providing employment opportunities. Rather than promoting employment opportunities on the reservations, the federal government encouraged the more highly motivated to move away from the reservations (Schaefer 2006:161). By the twentieth century, most tribal Indians were living on isolated, rural reservations. Unlike other minorities, American Indians were dominated by rigid, paternalistic government rules and regulations. And while Native Americans did not experience the Jim Crow laws, the health care system, the reservation schools, the agency system, and the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) rendered them marginal, powerless, and isolated. As an agency of the Department of Interior, the BIA controlled everything, including the distribution of food, shelter, police, legal justice, schools, reservation budget, and even tribal membership, philosophy, and structure. From building roads to the level of fire protection, reservation life was controlled by the federal government (Schaefer 2006:158). As the civil rights movement emerged in the twentieth century, the focus of this movement was primarily integrationist. By contrast, Native Americans did not want to seek integration, but they did desire to preserve their heritage and culture.

Native Americans represent the most impoverished group in the United States. Their traditional lifestyles have been difficult to maintain because the land on which reservations are established is generally of poor quality, and whatever good land was possessed was systematically taken from them via treaty-making. Traditional hunting and farming ways were lost, and other food sources were destroyed. Because of a lack of means to satisfy even subsistence needs, over time most Native Americans became totally dependent on federal government aid.

In the past, Native Americans held few marketable skills, experienced low rates of literacy, did not advocate good work habits, and could only secure employment by leaving the reservation (Tinker 2004:15, ...