Examining Views on Indian Rights

As citizens of the fall in States began to settle the contributes west of the Mississippi River, they encountered a group with whom they had had much experience when settling the East sailplaning: the American Indians. Particularly early on, the generalized response by settlers was antagonistic and cruel, and although this did not disappear it gradually was joined by another class of settlers, the reformers. They sought to civilize the Native Americans and slenderize them to their power structure. In reality, the actions of the reformers, and of the Federal government which aided them in their efforts, did irreparable harm to the western Native American creation and often treated them cruelly as well.
This is not to verbalize that m whatsoever of the reformers did not have the interests of the Native Americans at least somewhere on their agenda, albeit in a racist and patronising way. However, when compared with the majority of settlers who simply desired to take the Indian land one way or another, the efforts of some of the reformers can be viewed as somewhat humanitarian. Documents like the Dawes Act of 1887 sought to return for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indiansand to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians1.



Still, examination of documents from this time period, like the Dawes Act, reveal that compared to what the Indians feature before the arrival of the settlers far outweighed what they were now going to receive.
For example, office four of the law restricts Indians not living on a specified reservation from making any settlement upon any surveyed or unsurveyed lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated, and in percentage 7 it states that in areas of Indian-occupied land where irrigation was required, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure a just and equal distribution thereof2. Statements like...If you want to get a broad(a) essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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