Dawes Act - The Indian Problem

The Indian Problem

It was during the 1850s when the United States federal government's attempt to grasp control over the Native Americans reached an entirely new level of severity. With the arrival of a plentiful group of new European settlers reaching the eastern border, a place where multitudes of Native Americans tribes were currently situated, the government grew fearful as they believed that they were in the midst of facing an “Indian problem” as the racial societies were unable to coexist within the same communities. Searching for a quick and accessible solution to their problem, William Medill the commissioner of Indian Affairs, proposed establishing “colonies” or “reservations” that would be exclusive to the natives, mimicking those which the natives had created for themselves in the east. It was a form of removal whereby the US government would uproot the natives from their current locations to positions to areas in the region beyond the Mississippi River; this would enable settlement by European Americans in the Southeast in turn opening up new placement for the new white settlers and at the same time protecting them from the corrupt “evil” ways of the subordinate natives.

The new policy intended to concentrate the Native Americans in areas away from encroaching settlers, but it caused considerable suffering and many deaths. During the nineteenth century, Native American tribes resisted the imposition of the reservation system and engaged with the United States Army in what were called the Indian Wars in the West for decades. Finally defeated by the US military force and continuing waves of encroaching settlers, the tribes negotiated agreements to resettle on reservations. The Native Americans ended up with a total of over 155 million acres (630,000 km2) of land ranging from arid deserts to prime agricultural land.

The Reservation system, though forced upon Native Americans, was a system that allotted each tribe a claim to their new lands, protection over their territories and the right to govern themselves. With the senate supposedly being able to intervene only through the negotiation of treaties, they adjusted their ways of life and tried to continue their traditions. The traditional tribal organization, a defining characteristic of Native Americans as a social unit, became apparent to the non-native communities of the United States and created a mixed stir of emotions. The tribe was viewed as a highly cohesive group, led by a hereditarily chosen chief, who exercised power and influence amongst the members of the tribe through the usage of aging traditions. Seen as a strong tight knit society led by powerhouse men who were opposed to any change that weakened their positions, many white Americans feared Indian tribes and sought out immediate reformation. Their objection to the “Euroamerican” lifestyle that was of social norm in the United States at the time, was seen as both unacceptable and uncivilized; and by the end of the 1880s, a general consensus seemed to arise amongst the country concerning the native’s habits. Government and military officials, congressional leaders and Christian reformers alike all formed the belief that the assimilation of Native Americans into white American culture was top priority, it was the time for them to leave behind their tribal landholding, reservations, traditions and ultimately their Indian identity. They wanted nothing more than to rid themselves forever of their “Indian problem,” to relieve themselves of their impoverished, uncivilized counterparts and replace them with independent Americanized Christian agricultural society, and so on February 8, 1887, the Dawes Allotment Act was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland.

Responsible for enacting the division of the American native reserves, the Dawes Act was created by reformers in hope of achieving at least six accomplishments: the breaking up of tribes as a social unit, encouraging individual initiatives, furthering the progress of native farmers, reducing the cost of native administration, securing parts of the reservations as Indian land, and finally opening the remainder of the land to white settlers for profit. The compulsory Act forced natives to succumb to their evitable fate; they would undergo severe attempts to become “Euro-Americanized” as the government allotted their reservations with or without their consent. Native Americans held very specific ideologies pertaining to their land, to them the land and earth were things to be valued and cared for, for they represented all things that produced and sustained life, it embodied their existence, identity and created an environment of belonging. In opposition to their white counterparts, they did not see it from an economic standpoint. However it was believed that in order to ensure their survival the natives would have to succumb to embrace these beliefs and surrender to the forces of progression. They were to adopt the values of the dominant society and see land as real estate to be bought and developed; they were to learn how to use their land effectively in order to become prosperous farmers. As they were inducted as citizens of the country they would shed their uncivilized discourses and ideologies, and exchange them for ones that allowed them to become industrious self-supporting citizens, and finally rid themselves of their “need” for government supervision.