Us Poicy Towards Native Americans

US Policies Towards Native Americans

It is clear that throughout many years there has been an exemption of treatment when talking about the Native Americans in the United States. Supposedly every individual is endowed with the right of freedom, equality, and of seeking for happiness, but Native Americans were treated irrationally.

The first policy they made was The Northwest Ordinance, which gave the Indians the right not to let others take their lands and property without their consent. William Henry Harrison broke that promise when he attacked, bribed, intoxicated, and threatened Indians, finally defeating them. Later on Indians were settling in Florida which was a Spanish territory; during this time they continuously tried to rebel against Americans, but they failed because Andrew Jackson captured two Spanish forts, which made them think that by selling Florida to the Unites States they will be able to keep their territories, instead they were force to live in reservations in central Florida. As time went by more and more issues kept coming up, for instance when the Cherokees, which where hard workers and independent from Georgia, found gold in their lands, as soon as Georgia found out they claimed jurisdiction over the Cherokee. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the tribe, but Andrew Jackson let the federal government move the Indians to Oklahoma. After the government realized they could not rule over the Indians until some guide lines were given they made an act authorizing the president to negotiate treaties and make it easier to relocate Indian tribes, living in the Mississippi, into the west. This act did not actually order the removal of any tribe, but it facilitated the possibilities of taking their lands away. Up until this point it is clearly that one the treatment with Native Americans was unmerited, people started to realize that all the wars Indians wanted to have were due to all the broken promises they gave them. After this government came up with the Dawes Act, which stated that all Indians were accredited with 160 acres of farm outside of reservation camp, also that Indians that adopted a civilized life would be granted with the American citizenship, and finally that extra reservation lands would be available for white settlers to buy. Even though the act was intentioned to help the Indians it did not benefit