American Indians in the United States

By olso6748

  • Trail of Tears

    This was part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy. The Cherokee were forced to give up lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in Oklahoma. It's called the Trail of Tears because the migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of them died.

  • Homestead Act

    This made western lands belonging to many Indian Nations available to non-Indian American settlers. It influenced Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land, who must pay a small fee and have to complete five years of residence before they can own the land. This marked the beginning of many migrations to Indian lands for non-Indian settlement.

  • Mining Act

    Alaskan natives could not claim ownership to their own land, in hopes to promote the development and settlement of publicly-owned lands in the western United States. Natives were not accepted as citizens of the nation and had no land or claim rights to it.

  • Battle of the Little Bighorn

    250 soldiers attacked Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Little Bighorn. 211 men were killed. Afterwards, the federal government spent two years tracking down the Lakota. They killed some and forced most onto the reservation.

  • Indian Rights Association

    This was created to protect the interests and rights of Indians. This consisted of white reformers who wanted to help Indians abandon their cultural and spiritual beliefs and integrate into American society, because they felt that Indians were capable of assuming full U.S. citizenship.

  • Indian Citizenship Act

    This provided citizenship and voting rights to all American Indians. Some Indians didn't want to become US citizens, and insisted on maintaining only their tribal membership. Some Native Americans still weren't allowed to vote because the right to vote was governed by state law.

  • Indian Child Welfare Act

    This act allowed authority of tribal courts to hear the adoption and guardianship cases of Indian children and establish a strict set of rules for those cases. It's goal was to keep American Indian children with American Indian families, in response to a high number of Indian children being removed from their homes.