Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans and Alaska Natives

Collection of Native American Images Joseph Brant · Tecumseh · Pushmataha · Sequoyah Touch the Clouds · Chief Joseph · Charles Eastman Holmes Colbert · Jim Thorpe · John Herrington
Total population
American Indian and Alaska Native One race: 2.5 million are registered ^[1] In combination with one or more other races: 1.6 million are registered ^[2]
Regions with significant populations
United States (predominantly the West and South)
Languages
English language Spanish language Native American languages
Religion
Protestant Sacred Pipe Kiva Religion Long House Roman Catholic Russian Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawai'i. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as intact political communities. There has been a wide range of terms used to describe them and no consensus has been reached among indigenous members as to what they prefer to be called collectively. They have been known as American Indians, Amerindians, Amerinds, Aboriginal, Indians, Indigenous, Original Americans, Red Indians, or Red Men.

European colonization of the Americas was a period of conflict between Old and New World cultures. Most of the written historical record about Native Americans began with European contact. Ideologies clashed, old world diseases decimated, religious institutions challenged, and technologies were exchanged in what would be one of the greatest meetings of cultures in the history of the world. Native Americans lived in hunter/farmer subsistence societies with comparatively fewer societal constraints and institutional structures--as well as less focus on the acquisition of material goods and market transactions--than the more unyielding, institutional, market-based societies of Western Europe. The differences between these two cultures were vast enough to make for great misunderstandings and create long-lasting cultural conflicts.

As the colonies revolted against England and established the United States of America, the ideology of Manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. This ideology accommodated the American policy of attempting to "civilize" native tribes with Western ideals, (as conceived by men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Knox)^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] and assimilation, (whether voluntary as with the Choctaw,^[7]^[8] or forced) became a consistent policy through American administrations. Major resistance to American expansion, or "Indian Wars", were nearly a constant issue up until the 1890s.

Native Americans today have a special relationship with the United States of America. They can be found as nations, tribes, or bands of Native Americans who have sovereignty or independence from the government of the United States, and whose society and culture still flourish amidst a larger immigrated American (such as European, African, Asian, Middle Eastern) populace. Native Americans who were not already U.S. citizens as granted by other provisions such as with a treaty term were granted citizenship in 1924 by the Congress of the United States.

History

Pre-Columbian

According to the still-debated New World migration model, a migration of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which formerly connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The minimum time depth by which this migration had taken place is confirmed at c. 12,000 years ago, with the upper bound (or earliest period) remaining a matter of some unresolved contention.^[9] These early Paleoamericans soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes.^[10] According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation accounts.

European explorations

After 1492 European exploration of the Americas revolutionized how the Old and New Worlds perceived themselves. One of the first major contacts, in what would be called the American Deep South, occurred when conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed in La Florida in April of 1513. Ponce de León was later followed by other Spanish explorers like Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528 and Hernando de Soto in 1539.

Discovery of the Mississippi by William H. Powell (1823–1879) is a Romantic depiction of de Soto seeing the Mississippi River for the first time. It hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda.

The European exploration and subsequent colonization obliterated some Native Americans populations and cultures. Others re-organized to form new cultural groups. From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Native Americans declined in the following ways: epidemic diseases brought from Europe along with violence^[11] at the hands of European explorers and colonists; displacement from their lands; internal warfare,^[12] enslavement; and a high rate of intermarriage.^[13]^[14] Most mainstream scholars believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from Europe.^[15]^[16]^[17]

European explorers and settlers brought infectious diseases to North America against which the Native Americans had no natural immunity. Chicken pox and measles, though common and rarely fatal among Europeans, often proved deadly to Native Americans. Smallpox proved particularly deadly to Native American populations.^[18] Epidemics often immediately followed European exploration and sometimes destroyed entire village populations. While precise figures are difficult to determine, some historians estimate that up to 80% of some Native populations died due to European diseases after first contact. ^[19]

In 1618–1619, smallpox wiped out 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans.^[20] Historians believe Mohawk Native Americans were infected after contact with children of Dutch traders in Albany in 1634. The disease swept through Mohawk villages, reaching Native Americans at Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679, as it was carried by Mohawks and other Native Americans who traveled the trading routes.^[21] The high rate of fatalities caused breakdowns in Native American societies and disrupted generational exchanges of culture.

Similarly, after initial direct contact with European explorers in the 1770s, smallpox rapidly killed at least 30% of Northwest Coast Native Americans. For the next 80 to 100 years, smallpox and other diseases devastated native populations in the region. Puget Sound area populations once as high as 37,000 were reduced to only 9,000 survivors by the time settlers arrived en masse in the mid-19th century.^[22]

Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782 and 1837–1838 brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the Plains Indians.^[23]^[24] By 1832, the federal government established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832). It was the first program created to address a health problem of American Indians.^[25]^[26]

In the sixteenth century Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. The reintroduction of horses resulted in benefits to Native Americans. As they adopted the animals, they began to change their cultures in substantial ways, especially by extending their ranges. Some of the horses escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. Horses had originated naturally in North America and migrated westward via the Bering Land Bridge to Asia. The early American horse was game for the earliest humans and was hunted to extinction about 7,000 BC, just after the end of the last glacial period.

The re-introduction of the horse to North America had a profound impact on Native American culture of the Great Plains. The tribes trained and used the horses to ride and to carry packs or pull travois, to expand their territories markedly, more easily exchange goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily hunt game. They fully incorporated the use of horses into their societies, including using the horses to conduct warring raids.

Foundations for freedom

Treaty of Penn with Indians by Benjamin West painted in 1827.

Native American societies reminded Europeans of a golden age only known to them in folk history.^[27] The idea of freedom and democratic ideals was born in the Americas because "it was only in America" that Europeans from 1500 to 1776 knew of societies that were "truly free."^[27]

The Iroquois nations' political confederacy and democratic government has been credited as one of the influences on the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.^[28]^[29] However, there is heated debate among historians about the importance of their contribution. Although Native American governmental influence is debated, it is a historical fact that several founding fathers had contact with the Iroquois, and prominent figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were involved with their stronger and larger native neighbor-- the Iroquois.

Colonials revolt

Yamacraw Creek Native Americans meet with the Trustee of the colony of Georgia in England, July 1734, Notice the Native American boy (in a blue coat) and woman (in a red dress) in European clothing.

Frontier warfare during the American Revolution was particularly brutal, and numerous atrocities were committed by settlers and native tribes alike. Noncombatants suffered greatly during the war. Military expeditions on each side destroyed villages and food supplies to reduce the ability of people to fight, as in frequent raids in the Mohawk Valley and western New York.^[31] The largest of these expeditions was the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, in which American troops destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages to neutralize Iroquois raids in upstate New York. The expedition failed to have the desired effect: Native American activity became even more determined.

The British made peace with the Americans in the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which they ceded vast Native American territories to the United States without informing the Native Americans, leading immediately to the Northwest Indian War. The United States initially treated the Native Americans who had fought with the British as a conquered people who had lost their lands. Although many of the Iroquois tribes went to Canada with the Loyalists, others tried to stay in New York and western territories and tried to maintain their lands. Nonetheless, the state of New York made a separate treaty with Iroquois and put up for sale 5,000,000 acres (20,000 km²) of land that had previously been their territory. The state established a reservation near Syracuse for the Onondagas who had been allies of the colonists.

The United States was eager to expand, to develop farming and settlements in new areas, and to satisfy land hunger of settlers from New England and new immigrants. The national government initially sought to purchase Native American land by treaties. The states and settlers were frequently at odds with this policy.^[33]

Transmuted Native America

[[Image:Benjamin Hawkins and the Creek Indians.jpg|thumb|300px|Benjamin Hawkins, seen here on his plantation, teaches Creek Native Americans how to use European technology. Painted in 1805.]]

European nations sent Native Americans (sometimes against their will) to the Old World as objects of curiosity. They often entertained royalty and were sometimes prey to commercial purposes. Christianization of Native Americans was a charted purpose for some European colonies.

American policy toward Native Americans had continued to evolve after the American Revolution. George Washington and Henry Knox believed that Native Americans were equals but that their society was inferior. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process.^[4] Washington had a six-point plan for civilization which included,

Robert Remini, a historian, wrote that "once the Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans."^[5] The United States appointed agents, like Benjamin Hawkins, to live among the Native Americans and to teach them how to live like whites.^[3]

Assimilation

Pupils at Carlisle Native American school, Pennsylvania (c. 1900)

In the late eighteenth century, reformers starting with Washington and Knox,^[35] in efforts to "civilize" or otherwise assimilate Native Americans (as opposed to relegating them to reservations), adopted the practice of educating native children. The Civilization Fund Act of 1819 promoted this civilization policy by providing funding to societies (mostly religious) who worked on Native American improvement. Native American boarding schools, which were run primarily by Christian missionaries,^[36] often proved traumatic to Native American children, who were forbidden to speak their native languages, taught Christianity and denied the right to practice their native religions, and in numerous other ways forced to abandon their Native American identities^[37] and adopt European-American culture. There were many documented cases of sexual, physical and mental abuse occurring at these schools.^[38]^[39]

American citizens

Native Americans often had a legally ambiguous status in the United States, being neither full citizens of the U.S. nor of a recognized foreign nation. Laws were applied unevenly. Murder of an American Indian, for example, would not be considered a capital crime until a precedent was set in 1825.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans. Prior to the passage of the act, nearly two-thirds of Native Americans were already U.S. citizens.^[40] The earliest recorded date of Native Americans becoming U.S. citizens was in 1831 when the Mississippi Choctaw became citizens after the United States Legislature ratified the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Under article XIV of that treaty, any Choctaw, who elected not to move to Native American Territory, could become an American citizen when he registers and if he stays on designated lands for five years after treaty ratification. Citizenship could also be obtained by:

American expansion justification

Native Americans flee from the allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny, Columbia, painted in 1872 by John Gast

In July 1845, the New York newspaper editor John L. O’Sullivan coined the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” to explain how the "design of Providence" supported the territorial expansion of the United States.^[41] Manifest Destiny had serious consequences for Native Americans since continental expansion implicitly meant the occupation of Native American land. Manifest Destiny was an explanation or justification for expansion and westward movement, or, in some interpretations, an ideology or doctrine which helped to promote the process of civilization. Advocates of Manifest Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious and certain. The term was first used primarily by Jacksonian Democrats in the 1840s to promote the annexation of much of what is now the Western United States (the Oregon Territory, the Texas Annexation, and the Mexican Cession).

The age of Manifest Destiny, which came to be known as "Indian Removal", gained ground. Although some humanitarian advocates of removal believed that Native Americans would be better off moving away from whites, an increasing number of Americans regarded the natives as nothing more than "savages" who stood in the way of American expansion. Thomas Jefferson believed that while Native Americans were the intellectual equals of whites, they had to live like the whites or inevitably be pushed aside by them. Jefferson's belief, rooted in Enlightenment thinking, that whites and Native Americans would merge to create a single nation did not last, and he began to believe that the natives should emigrate across the Mississippi River and maintain a separate society.

Resistance

Tecumseh was the Shawnee leader of Tecumseh's War who attempted to organize an alliance of Native American tribes throughout North America.^[43]

U.S. government authorities entered into numerous treaties during this period but later abrogated many for various reasons; however, many treaties are considered "living" documents. Major conflicts east of the Mississippi River include the Pequot War, Creek War, and Seminole Wars. Notably, a multi-tribal army led by Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, fought a number of engagements during the period 1811-12, known as Tecumseh's War. In the latter stages, Tecumseh's group allied with the British forces in the War of 1812 and was instrumental in the conquest of Detroit. St. Clair's Defeat (1791) was the worst U.S. Army defeat by Native Americans in U.S. history.

Native American Nations west of the Mississippi were numerous and were the last to submit to U.S. authority. Conflicts generally known as "Great Plains Wars" broke out between American government and Native American societies. The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) was one of the greatest Native American victories. Defeats included the Creek War of 1813-14, the Sand Creek Massacre (1864) and the Wounded Knee in 1890.^[44] These conflicts were catalysts to the decline of dominant Native American culture.

Removals and reservations

The Trail of Tears, painted by Robert Lindneux in 1942

In the nineteenth century, the incessant westward expansion of the United States incrementally compelled large numbers of Native Americans to resettle further west, often by force, almost always reluctantly, long held to be an illegal practice, given the status of the Hopewell Treaty of 1785. Under President Andrew Jackson, United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the President to conduct treaties to exchange Native American land east of the Mississippi River for lands west of the river. As many as 100,000 Native Americans eventually relocated in the West as a result of this Indian Removal policy. In theory, relocation was supposed to be voluntary and many Native Americans did remain in the East. In practice, great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties.

The most egregious violation of the stated intention of the removal policy took place under the Treaty of New Echota, which was signed by a dissident faction of Cherokees but not the elected leadership. President Jackson rigidly enforced the treaty, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. About 17,000 Cherokees – along with approximately 2,000 black slaves held by Cherokees – were removed from their homes.^[46]

Native American Removal forced or coerced the relocation of major Native American groups in the Eastern United States, resulting directly and indirectly in the deaths of tens of thousands. Tribes were generally located to reservations on which they could more easily be separated from traditional life and pushed into European-American society. Some southern states additionally enacted laws in the 19th century forbidding non-Native American settlement on Native American lands, with the intention to prevent sympathetic white missionaries from aiding the scattered Native American resistance.^[47]

Civil War

Ely S. Parker was a Union Civil War General who wrote the terms of surrender between the United States and the Confederate States of America.^[48] Parker was one of two Native Americans to reach the rank of Brigadier General during the Civil War.

Many Native Americans served in the military during the Civil War.^[49] At the outbreak of the Civil War, the minority party gave its allegiance to the Confederacy, while the majority party went for the North.^[50] These courageous men fought with distinction, knowing they might jeopardize their freedom, unique cultures, and ancestral lands if they ended up on the losing side of the Civil War.^[49]^[50] 28,693 Native Americans served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War, participating in battles such as Pea Ridge, Second Manassas, Antietam, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in Federal assaults on Petersburg.^[49] ^[51] Many Native American tribes, such as the Creek and the Choctaw, were slave owners and found a political and economic commonality with the Confederacy. ^[52] The Choctaw owned nearly 6000 slaves.^[53]

The Delaware tribe had a long history of allegiance to the U.S. government, despite removal to the Wichita Indian Agency in Oklahoma, and the Indian Territory in Kansas.^[49] On October 1, 1861 the Delaware people proclaimed their alliance to the Union.^[49] During the war 170 out of 201 Delaware men volunteered in the Union Army. A journalist from Harper's Weekly described them as being armed with tomahawks, scalping knives, and rifles.^[49]

In January, 1862, William Dole, U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, asked Native American agents to "engage forthwith all the vigorous and able-bodied Native Americans in their respective agencies."^[49] The request resulted in the assembly of the 1st and 2nd Indian Home Guard.^[49] Many Native American tribes fought in the war including: the Delware, Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, Kickapoo, Seneca, Osage, Shawnee, Choctaw, Lumbee, Chickasaw, Iroquois, Powhatan, Pequot, Ojibwa, Huron, Ottawa, Potawami, Catawba, and Pamunkey. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Chatawba, and Creek tribes were the only tribes to fight on the Confederate side, and were split among each other fighting on both sides.^[54] Majority of the Creek sided with the Union as two-thirds of the people preferred to be guided by the advice of their valuable old chief, Opothle Yahola, but ex-Chief McIntosh was bought by the south, by appointing him colonel.^[54] During November of 1861, the Creek, Black Creek Indians, and White Creek Indians of their tribe were led by Creek Chief Opothle Yahola, fought three pitched battles against Confederate whites and other Native Americans that joined the Confederates to reach Union lines in Kansas, and offer their services.^[55]

People who were Black Indians served in colored regiments with other African American and Native American soldiers.^[56] Black Indians clearly served in the following regiments: The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, The Kansas Colored at Honey Springs, The 79th US Colored Infantry, and The 83rd US Colored Infantry along with other colored regiments that included men that were only listed as Negro.^[56] Civil War battles also occurred in Indian Territory.^[57] The first battle occurred July 1-2 1863 which involved the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.^[57] The first battle against the Confederacy outside of Indian Territory occurred at Horse Head Creek, Arkansas February 17, 1864 and involved the 79th U.S. Colored Infantry.^[57]

Native Americans swearing in for the Civil War.

The Delaware demonstrated their "loyalty", daring and hardihood" during the attack of the Wichita Agency in October, 1862. Considered a major Union victory, Native American cavalrymen killed five Confederate agents, took the Rebel flag and $1200 in Confederate currency, 100 ponies, and burned correspondence along with the Agency buildings.^[49]

The Cherokee Nation was having its own internal civil war.^[49] The Nation divided, with one side led by principal Chief John Ross and the other by renegade Stand Watie.^[49] Chief John Ross wanted to remain neutral throughout the war, but Confederate victories at First Manassas and Wilson's Creek forced the Cherokee to reassess their position.^[49]^[54] All other Native American tribes bordering the Cherokee were on the Confederate side which added to the pressure of possible occupation by the Confederate forces.^[49] Stand Watie along with a few Cherokee sided with the Confederate army in which Stand Watie was made Colonel and commanded a battalion of Cherokee.^[49] Reluctantly, on October 7, 1861, Chief Ross signed a treaty transferring all obligations due to the Cherokee from the U.S. Government to the Confederate States.^[49] In the treaty, the Cherokee were guaranteed protection, rations of food, livestock, tools and other goods, as well as a delegate to the Confederate Congress at Richmond.^[49] In exchange, the Cherokee would furnish ten companies of mounted men, and allow the construction of military posts and roads within the Cherokee Nation. However, no Indian regiment was to be called on to fight outside Indian Territory.^[49] As a result of the Treaty, the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles, led by Col. John Drew, was formed. Following the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 7-8, 1862, Drew's Mounted Rifles defected to the Union forces in Kansas, where they joined the Indian Home Guard. In the summer of 1862, Federal troops captured Chief Ross who was paroled and spent the remainder of the war in Washington and Philadelphia proclaiming Cherokee loyalty to the Union army.^[49] Unfortunately, in his absence Col. Stand Watie was chosen principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, and immediately drafted all Cherokee males aged 18-50 into Confederate military service.^[49] Watie was a daring cavalry rider who was skilled at hit-and-run tactics, and was considered a genius in guerilla warfare and the most successful field commander in the Trans-Mississippi West.^[49] Promoted to brigadier general in May, 1864, Watie was placed in charge of the Indian Cavalry Brigade, which was composed of the 1st and 2nd Cherokee Cavalry and battalions of Creek, Osage and Seminole. He achieved one of his greatest successes at Pleasant Bluff, Arkansas on June 10, 1864, capturing the Union steamboat J.R. Williams which was loaded with supplies valued at $120,000. At the Second Battle of Cabin Creek, (Indian Territory), his cavalry brigade captured 129 supply wagons and 740 mules, took 120 prisoners, and left 200 casualties.^[49] The Cherokee that had not been removed yet were also caught in the middle of the Civil War. Having to choose to side with the Confederate army since they were located in the southern states.^[49] The Thomas Legion, an Eastern Band of Confederate Cherokee, led by Col. William Holland Thomas, fought in the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.^[49] Another 200 Cherokee formed the Junaluska Zouaves.^[49] Nearly all Catawba adult males served the South in the 5th, 12th and 17th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia. They distinguished themselves in the Peninsula Campaign, at Second Manassas, and Antietam, and in the trenches at Petersburg. A monument in Columbia, South Carolina, honors the Catawba's service in the Civil War.^[49] As a consequence of the regiments' high rate of dead and wounded, the continued existence of the Catawba people was jeopardized.^[49]

Company K of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters resting.

In Virginia and North Carolina, the Pamunkey and Lumbee chose to serve the Union.^[49] The Pamunkey served as civilian and naval pilots for Union warships and transports, while the Lumbee acted as guerillas.^[49] Members of the Iroquois Nation joined Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry while the Powhatan served as land guides, river pilots, and spies for the Army of the Potomac.^[49]

During the Civil War there was no distinction made when a Native Americans joined the U.S. Colored Troops. Well into the twentieth century, the word "colored" included not only African Americans, but Native Americans as well.^[49] Individual accounts reveal that many Pequot from New England served in the 31st U.S. Colored Infantry of the Army of the Potomac, as well as other U.S.C.T. regiments.^[49]

The most famous Native American unit in the Union army in the east was Company K of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters.^[49] The bulk of this unit was Ottawa, Delaware, Huron Oneida, Potawami and Ojibwa.^[49] They were assigned to the Army of the Potomac just as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assumed command. Company K participated in the Battle of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and captured 600 Confederate troops at Shand House east of Petersburg.^[49] In their final military engagement at the Battle of the Crater, Petersburg, Virginia, on July 30, 1864, the Sharpshooters found themselves surrounded with little ammunition.^[49] A lieutenant of the 13th U.S. C.T. quoted their actions as

By fighting with the European-Americans, Native Americans hoped to gain favor with the prevailing government by supporting the war effort.^[49]^[54] They also saw war service as a means to end discrimination and relocation from ancestral lands to western territories.^[49] While the war raged and African Americans were proclaimed free, the U.S. government continued its policies of submission, removal, or extermination of Native Americans.^[49]

General Ely S. Parker, a member of the Seneca tribe, created the articles of surrender which General Robert E. Lee signed at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Gen. Parker, who served as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's military secretary and was a trained attorney, was once rejected for Union military service because of his race. At Appomattox, Lee is said to have remarked to Parker, "I am glad to see one real American here," to which Parker replied, "We are all Americans.^[49] The Cherokee Nation was the most negatively affected of all Native American tribes during the Civil War, its population declining from 21,000 to 15,00 by 1865. Despite the Federal government's promise to pardon all Cherokee involved with the Confederacy, the entire Nation was considered disloyal, and those rights were revoked. At the end of the war, Gen. Stand Watie was the last to surrender, laying down arms two months after Gen. Robert E. Lee, and a month after Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commander of all troops west of the Mississippi.^[49]

The west was mostly peaceful during the war due to the lack of U.S. troops occupying the west. The federal government was still taking control of native land, and there were continuous fights.^[50] From January to May 1863, there were almost continuous fights in the New Mexico territory, as part of a concerted effort by the Federal government to contain and control the Apache; in the midst of all this, President Abraham Lincoln peacefully met with representatives from several major tribes, and informed them he felt concerned they would never attain the prosperity of the white race unless they turned to farming as a way of life.^[49] The fighting would lead to the Sand Creek Massacre caused by Colonel J. M. Chivington whome was asked to punish the natives by settlers.^[50] Chivington, with 900 volunteer militiamen, attacked a peaceful village of some five hundred or more Arapaho and Cheyenne natives, killing women and children as well as warriors.^[50] There were few survivors of the massacre.^[50]

In July 1864, there was fighting against Santee Sioux in Minnesota.^[50]^[58] Because the war absorbed so many government resources, the annuities owed to the Santee Sioux in Minnesota were not paid on time in the summer of 1862.^[58] In addition, Long Trader Sibley refused the Santee Sioux access to food until the funds were delivered. In frustration, the Santee Sioux, led by Little Crow (Ta-oya-te-duta), attacked settlers in order to get supplies.^[58] After the Sioux lost the fighting, they were tried (without defense lawyers), found guilty on flimsy evidence,and many were sentenced to death.^[58]

When President Lincoln found out about the incident, he immediately requested full information about the convictions, and assigned two attorneys to examine the cases and differentiate between those guilty of murder and those who simply engaged in battle.^[58] General Pope, as well as Long Trader Sibley, whose refusal to allow the Sioux access to food had been largely responsible for the war, were angered by Lincoln's failure to immediately authorize the executions.^[58] They threatened that the local settlers would take action against the Sioux unless the President allowed the executions, and they quickly tried to push foward with the executions.^[58] In addition, they arrested the rest of the Santee Sioux, 1,700 people, of whom most were women and children, although they were accused of no crime. On December 6, 1861, based on the information of the convictions, Lincoln authorized the execution of 39 Sioux, and ordered that the others be held pending further orders, "taking care that they neither escape nor are subjected to any unlawful violence."^[58] On December 26, 39 men were taken. At the last minute, one was given a reprieve, but it would not be publicized until years later that 2 of the men hanged were not authorized by President Lincoln.^[58] In fact, one of these two men had saved a white woman's life during the fighting.^[58] Unfortunately, Little Crow was killed in July of 1863, the year in which the Santees were transported to a reservation in Dakota Territory.^[58]

World War II

Some 44,000 Native Americans served in the United States military during World War II.^[59] Described as the first large-scale exodus of indigenous peoples from the reservations since the removals of the 1800s, the international conflict was a turning point in American Indian history. Men of native descent were drafted into the military like other American males. Their fellow soldiers often held them in high esteem, in part since the legend of the tough Indian warrior had become a part of the fabric of American historical legend. White servicemen sometimes showed a lighthearted respect toward American Indian comrades by calling them "chief."

The resulting increase in contact with the world outside of the reservation system brought profound changes to American Indian culture. "The war," said the U.S. Indian commissioner in 1945, "caused the greatest disruption of Indian life since the beginning of the reservation era", affecting the habits, views, and economic well-being of tribal members.^[60] The most significant of these changes was the opportunity—as a result of wartime labor shortages—to find well-paying work. Yet there were losses to contend with as well. Altogether, 1,200 Pueblo Indians served in World War II; only about half came home alive. In addition many more Navajo served as code talkers for the military in the Pacific. The code they made was never cracked by the Japanese.

Current status

Harvey Pratt, a forensic artist. He is accepted as a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho kindred tribes.

There are 561 federally recognized tribal governments in the United States. These tribes possess the right to form their own government, to enforce laws (both civil and criminal), to tax, to establish requirements for membership, to license and regulate activities, to zone and to exclude persons from tribal territories. Limitations on tribal powers of self-government include the same limitations applicable to states; for example, neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or coin money (this includes paper currency).^[61]

Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights point out that the US Federal government's claim to recognize the "sovereignty" of Native American peoples falls short, given that the US still wishes to govern Native American peoples and treat them as subject to US law. True respect for Native American sovereignty, according to such advocates, would require the United States federal government to deal with Native American peoples in the same manner as any other sovereign nation, handling matters related to relations with Native Americans through the Secretary of State, rather than the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports on its website that its "responsibility is the administration and management of 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km²) of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives."^[62] Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights believe that it is condescending for such lands to be considered "held in trust" and regulated in any fashion by a foreign power, whether the US Federal Government, Canada, or any other non-Native American authority.

According to 2003 United States Census Bureau estimates, a little over one third of the 2,786,652 Native Americans in the United States live in three states: California at 413,382, Arizona at 294,137 and Oklahoma at 279,559.^[63]

As of 2000, the largest tribes in the U.S. by population were Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo. In 2000, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed blood. It is estimated that by 2100 that figure will rise to nine out of ten.^[64] In addition, there are a number of tribes that are recognized by individual states, but not by the federal government. The rights and benefits associated with state recognition vary from state to state.

Some tribal nations have been unable to establish their heritage and obtain federal recognition. The Muwekma Ohlone of the San Francisco bay area are pursuing litigation in the federal court system to establish recognition.^[65] Many of the smaller eastern tribes have been trying to gain official recognition of their tribal status. The recognition confers some benefits, including the right to label arts and crafts as Native American and permission to apply for grants that are specifically reserved for Native Americans. But gaining recognition as a tribe is extremely difficult; to be established as a tribal group, members have to submit extensive genealogical proof of tribal descent.

Jessica Biel at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January 2007. Biel claims Choctaw heritage but is predominately of various European ancestries including English, French and German descent.^[66]^[67]

Military defeat, cultural pressure, confinement on reservations, cultural assimilation, outlawing of native languages; culture; and religion, termination policies of the 1950s and 1960s and earlier, slavery and poverty, have had deleterious effects on Native Americans' mental and physical health. Contemporary health problems suffered disproportionately include alcoholism,^[68] heart disease, diabetes, and suicide.

As recently as the 1970s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was still actively pursuing a policy of "assimilation",^[69] dating at least to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. The goal of assimilation—plainly stated early on—was to eliminate the reservations and steer Native Americans into mainstream U.S. culture. In July 2000 the Washington state Republican Party^[70] adopted a resolution of termination for tribal governments. As of 2004, there are still claims of theft of Native American land for the coal and uranium it contains.^[71]^[72]^[73]

In the state of Virginia, Native Americans face a unique problem. Virginia has no federally recognized tribes, largely due to Walter Ashby Plecker. In 1912, Plecker became the first registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, serving until 1946. Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" with its African American population. A law passed by the state's General Assembly recognized only two races, "white" and "colored". Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying all Native Americans in the state as "colored", leading to the destruction of records on the state's Native American community.

This Census Bureau map depicts the locations of Native Americans in the United States as of 2000.

In order to receive federal recognition and the benefits it confers, tribes must prove their continuous existence since 1900. The federal government has so far refused to bend on this bureaucratic requirement.^[74] A bill currently before U.S. Congress to ease this requirement has been favorably reported out of a key Senate committee, being supported by both of Virginia's senators, George Allen and John Warner, but faces opposition in the House from Representative Virgil Goode, who has expressed concerns that federal recognition could open the door to gambling in the state.^[75]

In the early 21st century, Native American communities remain an enduring fixture on the United States landscape, in the American economy, and in the lives of Native Americans. Communities have consistently formed governments that administer services like firefighting, natural resource management, and law enforcement. Most Native American communities have established court systems to adjudicate matters related to local ordinances, and most also look to various forms of moral and social authority vested in traditional affiliations within the community. To address the housing needs of Native Americans, Congress passed the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) in 1996. This legislation replaced public housing, and other 1937 Housing Act programs directed towards Indian Housing Authorities, with a block grant program directed towards Tribes.

On May 19, 2005, the Massachusetts legislature finally repealed a disused 330 year-old law that barred Native Americans from entering Boston.

Societal discrimination, racism and conflicts

A discriminatory sign posted above a bar. Mid-20th century.

Despite the ongoing political and social issues surrounding Native Americans' position in the United States, there has been relatively little public opinion research on attitudes toward them among the general public. In a 2007 focus group study by the nonpartisan Public Agenda organization, most non-Indians admitted they rarely encounter Native Americans in their daily lives. While sympathetic toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, most people had only a vague understanding of the problems facing Native Americans today. For their part, Native Americans told researchers that they believed they continued to face prejudice and mistreatment in the broader society.^[77]

Conflicts between the federal government and native Americans occasionally erupt into violence. Perhaps one of the more noteworthy incidents in recent history is the Wounded Knee incident in small town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. On February 27, 1973, the town was surrounded by federal law enforcement officials and the United States military. The town itself was under the control of members of the American Indian Movement which was protesting a variety of issues important to the organization. Two members of AIM were killed and one United States Marshal was paralyzed as a result of gunshot wounds. In the aftermath of the conflict, one man, Leonard Peltier was arrested and sentenced to life in prison while another, John Graham, as late as 2007, was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for killing a Native American woman, months after the standoff, that he believed to be an FBI informant.^[79]^[80]

Native American mascots in sports

A student acting as Chief Osceola, the Florida State University mascot

The use of Native American mascots in sports has become a contentious issue in the United States and Canada. Americans have had a history of "playing Indian" that dates back to at least the 1700s.^[81] Many individuals admire the heroism and romanticism evoked by the classic Native American image, but many too view the use of mascots as both offensive and demeaning (especially amongst Native Americans). Despite the concerns that have been raised, many Native American mascots are still used in American sports from the elementary to the professional level.

Blood Quantum

Five Indians and a Captive, painted by Carl Wimar, 1855

Intertribal and interracial mixing was common among Native American tribes making it difficult to clearly identify which tribe an individual belonged to.^[13]^[14] Bands or entire tribes occasionally split or merged to form more viable groups in reaction to the pressures of climate, disease and warfare.^[87] A number of tribes practiced the adoption of captives into their group to replace their members who had been captured or killed in battle. These captives came from rival tribes and later from European settlers. Some tribes also sheltered or adopted white traders and runaway slaves and Native American-owned slaves. So a number of paths to genetic mixing existed.

In later years, such mixing, however, proved an obstacle to qualifying for recognition and assistance from the U.S. federal government or for tribal money and services. To receive such support, Native Americans must belong to and be certified by a recognized tribal entity. This has taken a number of different forms as each tribal government makes its own rules while the federal government has its own set of standards. In many cases, qualification is based upon the percentage of Native American blood, or the "blood quantum" of an individual seeking recognition. To attain such certainty, some tribes have begun requiring genetic genealogy (DNA testing).^[88] Requirements for tribal certification vary widely by tribe. The Cherokee require only a descent from a Native American listed on the early 20th century Dawes Rolls while federal scholarships require enrollment in a federally recognized tribe as well as a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood card showing at least a one-quarter Native American descent. Tribal rules regarding recognition of members with Native American blood from multiple tribes are equally diverse and complex.

The Captive, painted by Eanger Irving Couse, 1891.

Tribal membership conflicts have led to a number of activist groups, legal disputes and court cases. One example are the Cherokee freedmen, who were descendants of slaves once owned by the Cherokees. The Cherokees had allied with the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War and, after the war, were forced by the federal government, in an 1866 treaty, to free their slaves and make them citizens. They were later disallowed as tribe members due to their not having "Indian blood". However, in March 2006, the Judicial Appeals Tribunal—the Cherokee Nation's highest court—ruled that Cherokee freedmen are full citizens of the Cherokee Nation. The court declared that the Cherokee freedmen retain citizenship, voting rights and other privileges despite attempts to keep them off the tribal rolls for not having identifiable "Indian" blood. In March 2007, however, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma passed a referendum requiring members to have descent from at least one Native American ancestor on the Dawes Rolls. More than 1200 Freedmen lost their tribal membership after more than 100 years of participation.

In the 20th century, people among white ethnic groups began to claim descent from an "American Indian princess", often a Cherokee. The prototypical "American Indian princess" was Pocahontas, and, in fact, descent from her is a frequent claim.^{[citation needed]} However, the American Indian "princess" is a false concept, derived from the application of European concepts to Native Americans, as also seen in the naming of war chiefs as "kings".^[89] Descent from "Indian braves" is also sometimes claimed.

Descent from Native Americans became fashionable not only among whites claiming prestigious colonial descent but also among whites seeking to claim connection to groups with distinct folkways that would differentiate them from the mass culture. Large influxes of recent immigrants with unique social customs may have been partially an object of envy. Among African Americans, the desire to be more than black was sometimes expressed in claims of Native American descent.^{[citation needed]}^{[dubious – discuss]} Those passing as white might use the slightly more acceptable Native American ancestry to explain inconvenient details of their heritage.