Native Peoples of North America: Colonization and Displacement

In 1854, a Suquamish leader named Seattle spoke to the American governor Isaac Stevens. His words were later retold as a plea to respect the land. The exact wording is uncertain. The story behind it is not. Native peoples lost most of their land in the nineteenth century.

In this lesson, we follow how European colonization displaced the native peoples of North America. We see early trade, westward expansion, the Cherokee removal and the reservations. Then we see how the law slowly began to change.

1Who were the first peoples of North America?

People entered the Americas from northeast Asia. They crossed a land bridge called Beringia. Scholars agree they were in the Americas no later than 14,000 years ago. Some evidence suggests earlier than 20,000 years ago.

Over thousands of years, they built many different nations. Some hunted bison on the plains. Some farmed maize. Some fished along the coasts. Land was often shared, not owned by one person.

• Arrival by Beringia, at least 14,000 years ago.
• Many nations: bison hunters, farmers, fishers.
• Land was often shared, not owned by one person.

2How did early contact go?

Many early meetings were about trade. Traders swapped furs and food for European goods. Trade also brought new tools, new debts and new diseases. Over time, settlers wanted land more than trade.

Europeans held two views of native peoples. Some admired them as free and simple. Others called them “uncivilised”. Both views ignored that these were complex societies with their own laws.

• Early contact: fur and goods trade.
• Later, settlers wanted land.
• Two European views: admired or called uncivilised.

3How did westward expansion take the land?

In 1803, the United States bought Louisiana from France for $15 million. France controlled only a small part of that land. Most of it was home to native peoples. No one asked them.

The nation then pushed west. Settlers, miners and ranchers followed. The Glidden barbed wire patent of 1874 helped fence the open plains. The great bison herds fell too. An estimated 60 million bison in the late 1700s shrank to 541 animals by 1889.

• 1803: Louisiana Purchase, $15 million.
• France held little of it. Native peoples lived on most of it.
• 1874: Glidden barbed wire patent.
• Bison: about 60 million down to 541 by 1889.

4What was the Trail of Tears?

The Cherokee had a written language and a newspaper. Even so, Georgia pressed them to leave. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. It set up an exchange of land west of the Mississippi.

In 1832, the Supreme Court decided Worcester v. Georgia. Chief Justice John Marshall’s court held that Georgia’s law could not apply on Cherokee land. The ruling became a base for the idea of tribal sovereignty. A famous line says Jackson dared Marshall to enforce it. Historians think that quote is apocryphal.

The Treaty of New Echota of 1835 became the legal base for removal. A small Cherokee faction signed it. Many Cherokee opposed it. In 1838, about 15,500 Cherokee were forced west. An estimated 3,500 Cherokee and enslaved people died on the way. Estimates vary.

• 1830: Indian Removal Act, signed by Jackson.
• 1832: Worcester v. Georgia. The Court backed Cherokee sovereignty.
• 1835: New Echota treaty, signed by a minority faction.
• 1838: about 15,500 forced west. An estimated 3,500 died.

5How did reservations and war end the old life?

Native nations were pressed onto reservations. Later laws cut the land again. The Dawes Act of 1887 split tribal land into private plots for families. It forced a private-property system on peoples who had not used one. Land that was left over could be sold.

Armed clashes went on through the nineteenth century. One of the last was at Wounded Knee in December 1890. Between 250 and 300 Lakota people were killed. Twenty-five US soldiers died.

• Native nations moved onto reservations.
• 1887: Dawes Act split tribal land into private plots.
• 1890: Wounded Knee. 250-300 Lakota killed.

6How did the law begin to change?

In 1924, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act. It declared Native Americans born in the United States to be citizens. Before that, many were seen as citizens of their own nations only.

In 1928, the Meriam Report was handed to the Interior Secretary. It ran to 847 pages. It criticised how the Dawes Act was carried out. It also showed poor conditions across the country.

The report led to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. John Collier, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, drove it. It aimed to reduce land losses. It also aimed to restore self-government.

• 1924: Indian Citizenship Act.
• 1928: Meriam Report, 847 pages. It exposed the problem.
• 1934: Indian Reorganization Act, led by John Collier. It was the fix.

7What happened after 1934?

Policy then swung back. From the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, the United States followed a policy called termination. It tried to end the special status of tribes. Many tribes fought it, because they wanted to keep their identity.

In the 1960s, the policy changed again. In 1975, Congress passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. It made self-determination the focus of government action.

• Mid-1940s to mid-1960s: termination policy.
• Tribes wanted to keep their identity.
• 1975: Self-Determination Act.

8What are the exam traps?

• The Court backed the Cherokee in 1832. Jackson’s policy still sent them west.
• The Meriam Report (1928) exposed the problem. The 1934 Act was the fix.
• Citizenship (1924) came before the 1934 Act.
• The Dawes Act of 1887 split land. The 1934 Act aimed to stop land loss.
• Seattle’s famous speech has no word-for-word record. Treat quotes with care.