Compelling Policy Question: What should be the goal of Native American Policy?

Policy Case Study: S. 3645 "The Indian Reorganization Act"

AN ACT to conserve and develop Indian lands and resources; to extend to Indians the right to form business and other organizations; to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain rights of home rule to Indians; to provide for vocational education for Indians; and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter no land of any Indian reservation...shall be allotted in severalty to any Indian.

Sec. 3. The Secretary of the Interior ... is hereby authorized to restore to tribal ownership the remaining surplus lands of any Indian reservation...

Sec. 4. Except as herein provided, no sale ... of restricted Indian lands ... shall be made or approved: Provided-, however, That such lands or interests may ... be sold, devised, or otherwise transferred (back) to the Indian tribe …

Sec. 5. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized … to acquire … any interest in lands, water rights, or surface rights to lands … for the purpose of providing land for Indians...

Sec. 7. The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to proclaim new Indian reservations on lands ... or to add such lands to existing reservations ... for the exclusive use of Indians...

Sec. 10. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated ... the sum of $10,000,000 to ... make loans to Indian chartered corporations for the purpose of promoting the economic development of such tribes and of their members...

Sec. 11. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated ... $250,000 annually… for loans to Indians for the payment of tuition and other expenses in recognized vocational and trade schools ... $50,000... shall be available for loans to Indian students in high schools and colleges...

Sec. 12. [Q]ualified Indians shall hereafter have the preference to appointment to vacancies in any such positions... (in the Indian Office, which administers services affecting any Indian tribe).

Sec. 15. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impair or prejudice any claim or suit of any Indian tribe against the United States...

Sec. 16. Any Indian tribe, or tribes, residing on the same reservation, shall have the right to organize for its common welfare, and may adopt an appropriate constitution and bylaws, which shall become effective when ratified by a majority vote of the adult members of the tribe... and approved by the Secretary of the Interior...

[T]he constitution adopted by said tribe shall also vest in such tribe or its tribal council the following rights and powers: To employ legal counsel ... to prevent the sale, disposition, lease, or encumbrance of tribal lands, interests in lands, or other tribal assets without the consent of the tribe; and to negotiate with the Federal, State, and local Governments. The Secretary of the Interior shall advise such tribe or its tribal council of all appropriation estimates or Federal projects for the benefit of the tribe...

Sec. 17. The Secretary of the Interior may, upon petition by at least one third of the adult Indians, issue a charter of incorporation to such tribe: Provided, That such charter shall not become operative until ratified at a special election by a majority vote of the adult Indians living on the reservation...

Sec. 18. This Act shall not apply to any reservation wherein a majority of the adult Indians... shall vote against its application...

Sec. 19. The term "Indian" as used in this Act shall include all persons of Indian descent who are members of any recognized Indian tribe now under Federal jurisdiction, and all persons who are descendants of such members who were, on June 1, 1934, residing within the present boundaries of any Indian reservation, and shall further include all other persons of one-half or more Indian blood. For the purposes of this Act, Eskimos and other aboriginal peoples of Alaska shall be considered Indians ...

Historical Context:

Pre- Contact Scholars believe between 4 and 20 million Native Americans lived in what is today the United States in 1492.

Before Europeans arrived in the Americas, most tribes were communal, Individuals did not own the land. This was very different from the European's value of private property. However, it could be argued all 3 million square miles of today's Continental United States "belonged" to the Native Americans.

Contact - 1492 The Europeans who arrived in America claimed the "Right of Discovery", arguing since they didn’t think the Natives were using the land to its fullest, the Europeans had a right to it.

Coexistence with the United States (1789–1828),

When the United States won its Independence, and it became the job of the U.S. to determine policy towards Natives rather than Great Britain. The U.S. government debated how much sovereignty tribes have and who would control Indian policies, the federal government or the states. Tribes were treated like foreign sovereign nations through negotiated treaties. However, the United States frequently used military force to subdue Native American tribes who fought against American encroachment on their lands.

Removal and Reservations (1829–1886),

In 1823, the Supreme Court ruled in the First Marshall Decision that Indians had some claim to land, but a less than right of discovery. The U.S. has absolute title, not Natives. Then in the 1830's the Cherokee tribe, which had adopted white farming methods, laws and even religion, was being forced out of Georgia to Indian Territory in Oklahoma by the Georgia Government. The Cherokee argued they were a sovereign nation based on treaties, and should be treated like a State. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where Marshall said they are "domestic dependent nations”, and possess a right to “self-government,". He said that the federal government, not the state of Georgia, governs the tribe. Georgia couldn't force the Cherokee off their land.

In response to the Marshall Decision, President Andrew Jackson, a general with whom the Cherokees had fought, supposedly said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." Jackson used the Army to round up the Cherokee, and march them to Oklahoma. This is known as the "Trail of Tears". Four Thousand Cherokee died on the forced march.

Some groups of Native Americans grew tired of their treatment at the hands of the United States Government. The Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho bands famously defeated George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. However, in most cases, a better armed United States military defeated tribes who resisted. In 1877 after fighting to maintain their territory, Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé led his people on a retreat to Canada. They were caught, and he surrendered: “I will fight no more, forever” speech.

Tragically, the United States military did not just use its military force against armed Native American warriors who were fighting them, but in a number of cases, turned their weapons of peaceful groups. Two infamous examples include the Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee massacres.

In 1864 the 3rd Colorado Calvary attacked an encampment of Cheyenne and Arapahoes, killing 230, of which over half were women and children. The leader of the Calvary Colonel John M. Chivington justified the attack by saying "Nits make lice".

In 1890, the United States Calvary attacked an encampment of Lakota who had refused to give up their weapons. In the end, an estimated 300 Lakota, including women and children were killed.

Massacres like these were justified by the ideas of men like General Phillip Sheridan, who in 1869, said "The only good Indian is a dead Indian".

Painting below by Robert Lindneaux, 1936. The Sand Creek Massacre,

Assimilation (1887–1932),

While some in the United States Government did not mind a policy of removal of Natives, and the wars & massacres that resulted from this policy, some people in America feared what was happening to the Native Americans. Some came to believe that the best way to "save" the Indians was to assimilate them.

This idea was best illustrated by Captain Richard H. Pratt, who opened Carlisle boarding school in 1879. In an 1892 speech he said his goal was to "Kill the Indian, and Save the Man".

American Indian children were sometimes sent by their families to boarding schools, but were often forcefully removed. There were over 350 Native American boarding schools supported by the United States Government. By 1900 there were American Indian 20,000 children living in Indian boarding schools. By 1925 that number had more than tripled. These boarding schools cut their students' hair, forced them to wear "white" clothes, and punished students for speaking their native languages or use of their cultural practices.

The below picture shows a group of Native American youth "before" and "after" their arrival at a boarding school.

One of the biggest Assimilation policies was the Dawes Act in 1887. The Dawes Act divided up Native American reservations into "allotments", turning tribal lands into private property. The belief was this would make the Natives give up their old ways and blend them into the rest of American society. However, left over reservation land was sold to whites, which led to a massive land transfer from Native Americans to whites.

The below map from Map from Humbolt State University, shows the loss of Native American's land starting in 1492. In 1877 Native Americans had 154 million acres of land. Today it is 56.2 million.

Section #1 Supporting Question: Why do some people believe preserving Native American Culture should be the goal of government policies?

On May 16, 1934, Officers of the Zuni Pueblo tribe wrote a letter to New Mexico's Congressional Representatives. In their letter they said...

We, the undersigned officers of the Zuni Pueblo earnestly request the assistance of all Congressmen interested in the welfare of the Indians, in support of the Wheeler-Howard bill...

At mass meetings... the Zuni Indians unanimously approved it... We have been a self-governing people for many generations and under this bill will not only continue to be self-governing but will have more power... this bill is for the best interests of our people.

[U]nder the Wheeler-Howard bill we are protected against the allotment system...

The law and order section meets our entire approval, giving to us... needed protection from outside influences, and is one of the important features of this bill.

We wish to express our appreciation for any efforts made in our behalf in your support of the Wheeler-Howard bill.

In 1934 a picture was taken of John Collier with five Chiefs of South Dakota’s Blackfoot tribe while meeting to discuss Native American tribal self-government.

Supporting Question #2: Why do some people believe assimilation of Native Americans should be the goal of Government policy?

A member of the Navajo council named J.C. Morgan, gave a speech to the Navajo Indian Council at Crown Point on April 10, 1934 in which he said...

(excerpts / link to full document)

Mr. Chairman: I am going to speak on the Wheeler-Howard bill just as I see it myself.

This bill tends to isolate our Navajo people upon a reservation.

This bill urges segregation of our Indian people... [W]hy don't they segregate all Japanese, and all Chinamen, by themselves somewhere ? These people are foreigners and yet are living in all parts of the United States doing what they will under the Constitution of our country.

We, the indians, were here before any of the ancestors of Commissioner Collier ever came to this land... Therefore, we, the Indians, are the First Americans and by all rights are free citizens of our land...

No one has any right to construct a fence around our Indians...

Personally, I want my children to have the same rights and privileges in school as any child of the white citizen... The Wheeler-Howard bill... urges Indian self-rule when they are not ready for such step...

Let me finish reading the amendment to the Constitution "Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law..." ... Why should I accent such a bill that tends to deny me my property. If I build a home on a piece of land I naturally would want my property to go to my children... but the Wheeler-Howard bill (says) the property belongs to the tribe... I therefore object to this bill because it is unconstitutional.

The Secretary of the Interior (said) "We want to encourage him (the Indian) to live his own life in his own way."... This statement means... we should not have ambition for education, improvement of homes, farms and livestock... no desire for church or American citizenship. It further means that we must live just as we are; a living advertisement and curiosity for the tourist. I object to this sentiment because it is un-American...

In 1884, Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper published an illustration titled, “Educating the Indians--a female pupil of the government school at Carlisle visits her home at Pine Ridge Agency".

The Results and the Consequences of the Debate:

In 1934 Congress passed an amended version of the bill, and it is known as the "Indian Reorganization Act", also called Wheeler–Howard Act, and is part of what became known as the Indian "New Deal".

The act slowed the practice of allotting communal tribal lands to individual tribal members. It did not however take away individual Native's land that had been alloted to them. As a result, many reservations turned into "checkerboards" where some of the land was held by the tribe, and other parts held by individuals.

In total, more than two million acres of land were returned to various tribes in the first 20 years after passage.

Section 18 required each Tribe to vote for or against having the Act apply to them. In the end, 172 tribes had accepted the act, and 73 had rejected it.

The Act has been challenged in court many times, mainly because the land that is turned over to the tribe is exempt from certain State laws, and taxes. Businesses such as Casinos are frequently built upon these pieces of land.

The legacy of the Act is mixed. While it had good intentions, and did preserve a great amount of Native Lands, it was still another government program created for Natives, without much input from Natives. Many think forcing a structured "American" government on the tribes was worse than allowing them to keep their traditional governments.

While the Indian Reorganization Act helped protect the Reservations, and preserve Native American cultures, today close to 30% of people living on Reservations live in poverty.