Table of Contents
What did the US government want to do with the Native Americans?
For most of the middle part of the nineteenth century, the U.S. government pursued a policy known as “allotment and assimilation.” Pursuant to treaties that were often forced upon tribes, common reservation land was allotted to individual families.
What was the US government offering the Native Americans who agreed to move west?
Andrew Jackson & Indian Removal Act – 1830 Elected president in 1828, Jackson spearheaded the Indian Removal Act (1830) through Congress, by which the U.S. government granted land west of the Mississippi River to Native tribes who agreed to give up their homelands.
During which decades did the US government pass all of the Indian Appropriation Acts?
A considerable number of acts were passed under the same name throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the most notable landmark acts consist of the Appropriation Bill for Indian Affairs of 1851 and the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act.
What were the benefits of the Indian Removal Act?
What does Jackson name as the advantages of the Indian Removal Act for the United States? Native American removal would reduce conflict between the federal and state governments. It would allow white settlers to occupy more of the South and the West, presumably protecting from foreign invasion.
How did the US government acquire Native American lands?
The new United States government was thus free to acquire Native American lands by treaty or force. Resistance from the tribes stopped the encroachment of settlers, at least for a while.
Why did the federal government reduce the size of Native American reservations?
Moreover, as settlers demanded more land in the West, the federal government continually reduced the size of the reservations.
What was the strategy of the Native American tribes?
Under this kind of pressure, Native American tribes—specifically the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw—realized that they could not defeat the Americans in war. The appetite of the settlers for land would not abate, so the Indians adopted a strategy of appeasement.
How did the US encroach on Native American lands?
The expansion of the United States that encroached upon Native American lands occurred faster than many policymakers had predicted, with events such as the Mexican-American War in 1848 placing new territories and tribes under federal jurisdiction.