The document discusses Minnesota's American Indian population, which is the 12th largest in the U.S. Approximately 1/3 of Minnesota's 50,000 American Indians live in the Twin Cities. It also notes that American Indians in Minnesota experience high rates of poverty, low educational attainment, unemployment, and incarceration compared to white Minnesotans. Additionally, it provides details on the seven Ojibwe and four Dakota reservations and communities located in Minnesota.
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What are the problems for the United States having sovereign nations within its borders? How has the U.S. dealt with these problems? Support you views with examples from the program
The Story of Federal Indian Law.
Federal Policy
There are 2 basic views regarding Indian tribes:
1. Indian tribes are here to stay and need a land base which needs to be protected.
2.
Tribes should disappear and their members absorbed into mainstream society.
The result is that for the last two hundred and twenty-five years federal policy regarding Indian affairs has been pendulum-like, swinging back and forth between assimilation and self-determination. This shift does not occur instantly, it rather resembles a continuum:
Assimilation____________________________________________Self-determination
The textbooks divide the history of federal Indian policy into several eras.
1.
Colonial Period – ended in 1820
Initially, European powers dealt with Indians through the use of treaties. After the American Revolution, the federal government continued this practice for two reasons: Non-Indian settlers needed land, and war weary from the American Revolution, the federal government wanted to ensure peaceful relations with Indians.
European powers, and later the federal government, took the role of a protector of the Indians from the settlers who wanted land. The U.S. Constitution gave Congress power over Indian affairs, so Congress passed a series of Trade and Intercourse Acts that made interactions with Indians subject to federal control.
2. Removal (1820-1850)
Generally, the non-Indian community believed that Indians would assimilate, become christianized and live in the European tradition. There were those, however, including Thomas Jefferson and his followers, who didn’t believe Indians and non-Indians could live together. Jefferson therefore urged voluntary removal of Indians to their own territory west of the Mississippi River.
Indians were moved from the southeast U.S. to Oklahoma, many of them dying along the way. This resulted in what has become known as the “trail of tears.” The move was termed “voluntary”, but under the circumstances, tribes were left with little choice other than to leave their homelands. By 1849, the eastern U.S. was almost entirely free of Indian tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was then moved from the War Dept. to the Dept. of Interior.
3. Movement to Reservations (1850-1887)
Non-Indians began to move westward. The federal government created a policy of restricting tribes to reservations. Tribes were moved entirely or were granted portions of their land, with the bulk of the land going to the federal government through treaties that were often coerced or fraudulently induced.
When Indians were placed on reservations, Indian agents supervised their adaptation of non-Indian ways. Organized religions tried to christianize Indians and reservations were divided among the churches. There are many Baptist churches on reserv.
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