1. Native American Policy

2. In the beginning ……..

3. The first full declaration of U. S
The first full declaration of U.S. policy was embodied in the Northwest Ordinance

4. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians, their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

5. Government Regulation of Native Americans

6. A coherent policy began to take shape in 1824
A coherent policy began to take shape in At this time, Secretary of War John Caldwell Calhoun created an administrative office within the Department of War called the Bureau of Indian Affairs, more frequently referred to as the Office of Indian Affairs.

7. Removal

8. The main Native American peoples in the Southeast were the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw. These groups were known collectively as the Five Civilized Tribes because they had rapidly adopted many elements of European life. They occupied rich agricultural land that was very attractive to potential settlers.

9. When gold was discovered in Cherokee territory, whites demanded that the United States acquire huge tracts of land from Native Americans in the region. Angry over the Cherokees’ independence, the state of Georgia threatened to secede over the issue.

10. In 1830 Congress accommodated the settlers’ wishes by passing the Indian Removal Act. This legislation provided funds to cover the cost of treaty negotiations and the removal of eastern tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River.

11. Military power was often used to force unwilling groups to leave their lands. Tribal members who were made to relocate often faced devastating losses and even death on the trek westward.

12. For example, the Cherokee's removal from Georgia to Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839 became known as the Trail of Tears because nearly 4,000 out of more than 18,000 who were forced from their homes died on the journey westward. By the end of the 1830s, the government had relocated more than 30 eastern tribes to the West.

15. Reservations

16. With so many people moving into the West, the government turned to a policy of restricting Native Americans to reservations, which were generally small areas of land within the group’s territory. This land was to be reserved exclusively for their use.

17. Dawes Severalty Act
An act to provide for the specific allotment of individual land plots to Indians on the various reservations

18. The Native American tribes lost 86,000,000 acres, or 62 percent, of a total of 138,000,000 acres in Indian ownership prior to 1887.

20. Extermination

21. To the peoples of the Northern Plains, white settlement meant losing the buffalo herds they relied on for food and other needs; many soon faced starvation.

22. Many native peoples had no immunity to smallpox, cholera, and even some of the more common illnesses, such as influenza, that the settlers brought with them. Some peoples, such as the Mandan in North Dakota, lost large percentages of their population to these diseases.

23. War

24. For the period of alone, some historians have calculated that upwards of 45,000 Indians and 19,000 whites were killed.

25. Battle of Fallen Timbres vs
Battle of Fallen Timbres vs. the Shawnee – the Treaty of Greenville ceded the territories of Ohio and Indiana to the US
Sioux Uprising 1862 – led to the mass hanging of 38 Sioux men for crimes against whites – the largest mass execution in US history

26. Treaty

27. One of the first treaties was the Treaty of Fort Laramie negotiated in The Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Mandan, and Arikara who signed this document agreed to end hostilities among themselves and to accept specified reservations.

28. In exchange, the government offered protection from attacks by white settlers and a yearly payment that would include money as well as food, household goods, livestock, and tools for agriculture. Similar treaties were made with other tribal groups throughout the West over the next two decades.