8 th Grade Native American Land Curriculum Part II – Lesson 1 Manifest Destiny and Federal Laws dealing with Native Americans Photo courtesy of

Manifest Destiny North America was seen as a continent that was destined for American settlement at the beginning of the nineteenth century. “Manifest Destiny” was a phrase coined in 1845 that gave formal wording to the belief that Americans had a “God- given right” to expand across North America. Photo courtesy of americanhistory.mrdonn.org

Manifest Destiny? As we know there was a big problem with this belief. Hundreds of Native American tribes lived in the land that Americans believed was destined for their settlement. Clearly, conflict would arise in the near future as Americans moved westward into land that had been occupied for thousands of years. Picture courtesy of hanstheman.glogster.com

What will the United States government do to deal with this conflict? The federal government would pass a series of laws designed to deal with what some saw as “troublesome” Natives. While many Americans saw westward expansion as a positive thing, many Native Americans saw it as an invasion of their homelands.

Federal Laws dealing with American Indians After the Americans won their independence from Britain, they immediately claimed all of the Indian lands to the West of the Appalachian Mountains by right of conquest. This was the belief that when a Christian people found land settled by non-Christian people, they had the God- given right to conquer the land and convert the people. Map courtesy of kwiznet.com

The Native American Perspective Obviously, Native Americans refused to honor the Americans’ claim to their land. They did this for two reasons. First, they had not signed the peace treaty between the United States and Britain. Second, they had never been conquered by either country. Picture of the surrender of Cornwallis courtesy of niahd.wm.edu

What did the United States Constitution say about Native Americans? The Constitution was very clear that only the federal government had the right to deal with Native tribes, not the states. Under the Commerce Clause, it was also clear that there were three primary and sovereign levels of government in the United States: Federal, State, and Tribal. Photo courtesy of elcivics.com

The “Indian Problem” Since the Constitution recognized Native American tribes as sovereign, the new American government realized that it would not be as easy as they had thought to spread their influence throughout North America. It was clear that hundreds of sovereign Indian nations were not going to give up their land willingly. Map of Indian nations courtesy of mappery.com

What will the United States government do to deal with this problem? The United States government would try to gain control of Native land through various tools including 371 treaties signed by the U.S. government and various Indian nations, and a series of Congressional laws. Photos courtesy of inetmonster.com and thetikitrader.net

Why did the United States government try to take away Native American sovereignty? First, the government wanted to eliminate the Indian “threat” so that westward expansion would be “peaceful” for white settlers. Second, they wanted to destroy the Native way of life and assimilate Native Americans into the American way of life. Picture depicting Native American assimilation courtesy of sparcmurals.org