Year: 1971
Type: article
Abstract: IIn his book on Indian assimilation, Henry E. Fritz points out that by 1860 it was evident to keen observers that "the only practical and humane answer to the Indian problem was to assimilate the Indian into Anglo-American culture." 1 He shows how the system of reservations broke down as whites encroached upon them, how tribal governments grew steadily weaker and how many frauds were perpetrated upon the Indian.Congress refused to pass legislation for new Indian policy, and early attempts at reform of Indian policy were set back by various Indian wars in the 1870's.Fritz further shows how, in the 1880's, reformers made evident the need for reform through such bodies as the Indian Rights Association and the books of writers such as George W. Manypenny and Helen Hunt Jackson.They made it clear that the Indian could not possibly make a choice of cultures in the face of pressing American civilization and stressed the need for a policy of wardship to protect the lands remaining to the Indians and to offer them a possibility of adjusting to the Anglo-American society.What American lawmakers thought was a solution came in the General Allotment Act of 1887.Fritz concludes that the act condemned the reservation Indians to poverty for generations because of the nature of the allotments. 2 The act gave the President discretionary powers to make the Indians on reservations take allotments of land in severalty.Until this time, members of the Indian tribes had held the land in common, but by this act each Indian was to receive title to a certain number of acres.In actual practice, allotments varied as the government made attempts to give the
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2179353907