Hippocampus United States History: Native Americans

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European immigrants are credited for “civilizing” the United States, but prior to their arrival America had long been inhabited by tribes of indigenous people. In the fifteenth century, when Christopher Columbus landed in what he presumed was the Indies, he began calling these inhabitants “Indians,” a label that would last centuries until the modern term “Native Americans” came into use.

Prior to white settlement, Indian tribes stretched from coast to coast across North America. Spanish explorers introduced horses to the Plains Indians during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which allowed the Indians to cover ground more rapidly and made them nomadic, able to follow their main source of food, clothing, and shelter—the buffalo—along its migratory path.

Indians were divided into tribes, or small societies. A chief served as the religious, moral, and political leader of each tribe. Tribes were divided into “bands,” with each band containing around 500 members, including men, women, and children. A governing council for each band, along with the tribal chief, served as the authority for members of the tribe. Only the males from the tribe were entrusted with governance responsibilities, and the men also provided food, shelter, and safety, while the women assumed domestic roles.

Tribal lines were typically strong. Men and women rarely married outside their tribe, and it was unusual for two tribes to work in cooperation. Young male tribe members were warriors who competed with warriors from other tribes for superiority, often in bloody battles. This lack of Indian unity contributed to the losses they suffered at the hands of the white society.

When European settlers began to inhabit the Atlantic Coast, Indians native to that region spread westward—often encroaching on other tribes. Still, the vast expanse of the western plains would have been adequate for a relatively peaceful existence for the Indians, but the white society followed them west.

By the early nineteenth century, the United States government had claimed most of North America as its own, either as states or territories. Initially, Indians were “allowed” to remain on this land, although the federal government made attempts to regulate their habitation. The U.S. government was not sure how to classify Indians who occupied U.S. territory, so tribes were considered to be both independent nations and wards of the state. This dual—albeit contradictory—perspective, required that treaties negotiated with Indian tribes be ratified by the U.S. Senate.

However, the ratification requirement did not ensure fair enforcement. White settlers recognized that the Indians inhabited land that could be beneficial to agriculture, settlement, and other endeavors. In an effort to obtain these native lands, tribes were often victimized, sometimes by the very people that the Senate had put in charge of protecting them. The desire to attain tribal lands often led people in power to ignore treaties and look the other way as Indians were unlawfully and unfairly removed from their locations.

In 1851, the United States government began to introduce a Concentration Policy. This strategy would provide white settlers with the most productive lands and relocate Indians to areas north and south of white settlements. Over the next decade, Indians were evicted from their land to make way for a white society.

However, the settlers were not satisfied with the Concentration Policy, and they sought to restrict Indians to even smaller areas through relocation. For example, the Sioux tribe, which had previously spread across the northern United States, was relocated to an area in Dakota Territory known as the Black Hills. Present-day Oklahoma became known as “Indian Territory” as additional tribes were relocated to reservations there. The federal government relocated hundreds of thousands of Indians under the guise of protecting them, when in truth the government’s primary goal was attaining the Indians’ lands.

The federal government established the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1836 to be in charge of the relocated Indians. Illustrating the government’s sentiment toward Indians, this bureau was initially placed under the Department of War, and one of its primary responsibilities was to prevent Indian military action against whites.

However, by the mid-nineteenth century, the BIA had shifted its focus to overseeing Indian concentration and relocation. It aimed to provide reasonable protection to the Indians—however, their lands were still fair game. Corruption by BIA leaders and agents further resulted in the destruction of the Indian lifestyle. Many agents were paid to look the other way as white men took land and game that rightfully belonged to the Indians. This flawed federal aid program furthered the Indians’ resentment toward white society and created an atmosphere of conflict.