Allotment and Assimilation For most of the middle part of the 19th century, the U.S. Although the removal and resettlement was supposed to be voluntary, ultimately, this resulted in the series of forcible removals known as the Trail of Tears. A primary target was the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The Removal Act of 1830 authorized President Andrew Jackson to negotiate for the removal and resettlement of Native American tribes. Removal and Resettlement Although conflicts were fought in the Northwest Territories (Tecumseh and the Battle of Tippecanoe) and the Southeast (Creek War and the Seminole Wars), the major policy toward the North American tribes in the early part of the 19th century was removal and resettlement. As of 2018, the amount due appears to be around $1 billion. The tribe has refused to accept payment, however, and is still seeking return of the land. Sixty years later, the Supreme Court determined the annulment was a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment and that the tribe was owed “just compensation” plus interest starting from 1877. Finally, in 1877, Congress went back on the original treaty and passed an act reclaiming the Black Hills. The Lakota rejected the offer, resulting in the Black Hills War (1876-1877), which included Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn (June 25-26, 1876). Although neither side fully complied with the treaty’s terms, with the discovery of gold in the area, the United States sought to buy back the Black Hills. ![]() Under that treaty, the United States pledged, among other things, that the Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills, would be "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" of the Lakota Nation. One notable treaty with ongoing repercussions is the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. Many of the treaties made before then, however, remained in force at least to some extent, and the Supreme Court was occasionally asked to interpret them. The value of the treaties also came to be called into question when the Supreme Court decided, in 1903, Congress had full power over Native American affairs, and could override treaties. Treaty-making as a whole ended in 1871, when Congress ceased to recognize the tribes as entities capable of making treaties. For example, William McIntosh, chief of the Muskogee-Creek Nation, was assassinated for signing the Treaty of Indian Springs in violation of Creek law. ![]() On occasion, the representatives of Native American tribes who signed the treaties were not necessarily authorized under tribal law to do so. Often, however, the treaties were not ratified by the Senate, and thus were not necessarily deemed enforceable by the U.S. In general, the treaties were to define the boundaries of Native American lands and to compensate for the taking of lands. Treaty-making After the Revolutionary War, the United States maintained the British policy of treaty-making with the Native American tribes. Resistance from the tribes stopped the encroachment of settlers, at least for a while. The new United States government was thus free to acquire Native American lands by treaty or force. However, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was silent on the fates of these British allies. Late 18th Century Many Native American tribes allied with the British during the Revolutionary War. To Europeans and Americans, it has included everything from treatment of Native American nations as equals (or near-equals) to assimilation to exile to near-genocide, often simultaneously. To many Native Americans, the history of European settlement has been a history of wary welcoming, followed by opposition, defeat, near-extinction, and, now, a renaissance. ![]() The history of relations between Native Americans and the federal government of the United States has been fraught.
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