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Dispossession of the American Indians

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I am looking for information about the efforts taken by the American government to "close the West" in the last half of the 19th century. I need to mention the shift in policy towards Native Americans, legislative acts enacted to aid settlement, and ultimately the growth and development of political movements.

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Solution Summary

This test is designed to cover some of the programs put into effect by the Federal Government in the last half of the 19th century as well as cover the development of Indian activism.

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This work is to be used as guidance for the student's original work. It is not intended to be hand in ready and the information provided should be incorporated into the student's original work.

In the second half of the 19th century and into the early 20th century land played a big part in the expansion of America. Land, was traditionally the most important issue in Indian-white relations, and had been the focus of federal Indian policy. American Indians did not have the same concept of land as Europeans. It was unthinkable to parcel out land and farm it or use it for factories, certainly there were territories controlled by particular tribes but nobody owned the land.

Some excerpts from "The Dispossession of the American Indian, 1887-1934. Contributors: Janet A. McDonnel" will elaborate on the concept and development of land policy and the shift towards Native American rights are below:

However; Federal Indian land policy has historically reflected our fundamental assumptions about what Indians should be and do and how they should fit into American society. Each aspect—allotment leases, sales, and fee patents—was part of a general process aimed at "freeing" Indians from government control. (McDonnell vii)

The early twentieth century provides the logical setting for my study. Between the passage of the Dawes Allotment Act in 1887 and the reversal of the ...

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