The Changing Tides

The relationship between the US government and Native American tribes is by no means static. Throughout history, the tide has changed many times, alternating between friendlier policies and attitudes to encourage the continuation and self-governing of the tribes and harsher policies that look to diminish or take the rights of tribes away. As I looked into the early and mid-1900’s, up until 1968, the tide shifted thrice in this span of years.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, allotment was still in place, and there was an act passed that gave American Indian objects and remains to the federal government if it was on federal land, instead of to the tribes. That was the Antiquities Act of 1906. On a side note, an important development in the religious layer of Native American life was the creation of the Native American Church, which tried to remedy the influences of “becoming civilized” and older traditions by combining the influences of Christianity with the spiritual use of peyote. This church has continued into the present day.

The beginning of the first switch came with Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, where all American Indians were given citizenship to the United States. That was followed by the Meriam Report, which assessed that the current federal policy towards Native Americans was failing, and it called for an end to allotment and the boarding schools. In 1934, the Indian Reorganization Act was passed as part of an Indian New Deal, an attempt to give back power to tribes. It was successful in giving control over land back, however it didn’t implement self-governing in a way that fit tribes. It was meant to be a show of good will, a movement to bring back native culture and self-governing, but it was a movement led by non-American Indian people.

The second switch came in the early 1950’s, which was the beginning of the termination period. During this time, the US began to end the special relationship it had with several tribes. Native Americans were to be treated as normal citizens, so tribes lost their land rights and became subject to state law. While this did not happen with all tribes, those that did have their relationship terminated suffered, and it signaled a dark time for tribes all over. In this period, there was a failed relocation program and Public Law 280, which upset both tribes and states because tribes lost a lot of power and states were given greater jurisdiction but still couldn’t tax the tribes.

The third switch came during the Civil Rights Era in the United States. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was a step forward for tribal religious freedoms because the act began the protection of historic land, which included religiously and culturally important land for Native American tribes. From my reading, the language of the act does leave wiggle room, however, and does not securely protect this land. It basically says it should be considered. After that came the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. The act said that the Bill of Rights must be applied within tribes, which, while it did infringe on self-government, had a positive reaction as well because it showed that the government foresaw the continuation of tribes and their self-government.

This past week ended with this act, and next week begins to enter the later 1900’s, which is where much of the meat for the discussion of religious freedom comes in. I’m excited to get into the brunt of the court cases and to look at the language and find holes, as I’ve already been working on. I know there is a lot of information to be condensed. This week focused heavily on getting the history, but bear with me and there will more analysis and discussion next week, which is the fun part.

#history #religiousfreedom #1900s #specialrelationship