Indian termination policy
Indian termination describes United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Cultural assimilation of Native Americans was not new; the assumption that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become what the government considered "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. There was a new sense of urgency that, with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans". To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government.
In practical terms, the policy ended the federal government's recognition of sovereignty of tribes, trusteeship over Indian reservations, and the exclusion of state law's applicability to Native persons. From the government's perspective, Native Americans were to become taxpaying citizens subject to state and federal taxes as well as laws from which they had previously been exempt.
From the Native standpoint, a former US Senator from Colorado Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of the Northern Cheyenne, said of assimilation and termination in a speech delivered in Montana in 2007:
The policy for termination of tribes collided with the Native American peoples' own desires to preserve Native identity. The termination policy was changed in the 1960s and rising activism resulted in the ensuing decades of restoration of tribal governments and increased Native American self-determination.
Process
Termination began with a series of laws directed at dismantling tribal sovereignty. From June 1940 until September 1950, six laws were passed that gave states criminal or limited-criminal jurisdiction over tribes and reservations within those states. In 1949, the Hoover Commission reports, recommending integration of Native peoples into mainstream society, and the 1952 House Report, investigating the Bureau of Indian Affairs, both portrayed termination as cost effective and benign in its effects.House concurrent resolution 108 of 1953 announced the federal policy of termination and called for the immediate ending of the Federal relationship with a selected group of tribes.
The resolution established that Congress would pass termination acts on a tribe-by-tribe basis. Most such acts included the cessation of federal recognition and all the federal aid that came along with that designation. Between 1953 and 1964, the government terminated recognition of more than 100 tribes and bands as sovereign dependent nations. These actions affected more than 12,000 Native Americans or 3% of the total Native American population. Approximately of trust land was removed from protected status during these years. Much was sold by individuals to non-Natives.
The termination of these tribes ended federal government guardianship of and recognition of those tribal governments and US jurisdiction of tribal lands. In addition to ending the tribal rights as sovereign nations, the policy terminated federal support of most of the health care and education programs, utility services, and police and fire departments available to Indians on reservations. Given the considerable geographic isolation of many reservations and inherent economic problems, not many tribes had the funds to continue such services after termination was implemented. The tribes initially selected for termination had been considered groups who were the most successful in the United States, in some cases, because of natural resources controlled by their reservations.
A few tribes mounted legal challenges to maintain tribal government and the trust relationship with the federal government. Through the Indian Claims Commission, tribes had the ability to file claims against the government for breaches of treaty or grievances. The five-year deadline for making a claim, August 1951, caused many tribes to file in the months preceding the end of the registration period. In some instances, pending claims cases with complex legal issues aided the tribes in preventing termination, while in others, tribes were taken advantage of again by government agents and their associates.
History
Indiana
- Miami Nation of Indiana: The Indiana Miami, or Eastern Miami, signed a treaty with the United States on June 5, 1854; however, its federal recognition was terminated in 1897. In the 20th century, the Indiana-based Miami unsuccessfully sought separate federal recognition. Although they had been recognized by the U.S. in an 1854 treaty, that recognition was stripped in 1897. In 1980, the Indiana legislature recognized the Eastern Miami as a matter of state law and voted to support federal recognition, but in 1993, a federal judge ruled that the statute of limitations on appealing their status had expired. In 1996, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma changed its constitution to permit any descendant of people on certain historical roles to join, and since then hundreds of Indiana-based Miami have become members. Today the Oklahoma-based Miami tribe has about 5,600 enrolled members. However many other Indiana-based Miami still consider themselves a separate group that has been unfairly denied separate federal recognition.
Idaho
- Lemhi-Shoshone Tribes was stripped of recognition in 1907.
Kansas Act of 1940
Almost immediately, similar statutes were passed in North Dakota, Iowa and New York, granting state jurisdiction over most offenses committed by or against Indians in Indian country.
Survey of Indian conditions
In 1943, the United States Senate commissioned a survey of Indian conditions. It indicated that living conditions on the reservations were extremely poor. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and its bureaucracy were found to be at fault for the troubling problems due to extreme mismanagement.Congress concluded that some tribes no longer needed federal 'protection' and would be better off with more independence, rather than having them depend on and be poorly supervised by the BIA. They also thought the tribes should be assimilated to mainstream American society. Goals of termination included freeing the Indians from domination by the BIA, repealing laws that discriminated against Indians, and ending federal supervision of Indians. Senator Arthur V. Watkins of Utah, the strongest proponent of termination, equated it with the Emancipation Proclamation, which had declared the freedom of all slaves in the territory of the Confederate States of America.
In 1953, the United States House of Representatives and the Senate announced their support for the termination policy, with House Concurrent Resolution 108:
North Dakota jurisdiction on Devils Lake Indian Reservation
On 31 May 1946, Congress enacted An Act to confer jurisdiction on the State of North Dakota over offenses committed by or against Indians on the Devils Lake Indian Reservation, 60 Stat. 229. In language reminiscent of the Kansas Act of 1940, the law granted the State of North Dakota jurisdiction for criminal offenses occurring on lands occupied by the Spirit Lake Tribe but retained the right of the federal government for jurisdiction on offenses against federal law.Indian Claims Commission Act
In 1945, earnest discussion began on creating an Indian Claims Commission. The idea had been circulating for years but had never gained much momentum. However, in the wake of termination, it took on new life. Policymakers saw that settling claims would become the means to speed along the process of ending "Indian-identity" and move tribe members into the broader society. Simultaneously it would eliminate the need of the government to continue serving as tribal guardian, or at the very least allow the government to reduce "appropriations for tribes in proportion to the size of their claim settlements".On 13 August 1946 the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946, Pub. L. No. 79-726, ch. 959, passed. Its purpose was to settle for all time any outstanding grievances or claims the tribes might have against the U.S. for treaty breaches, unauthorized taking of land, dishonorable or unfair dealings, or inadequate compensation. Claims had to be filed within a five-year period. Most of the 370 complaints that were submitted were filed at the approach of the 5-year deadline in August 1951.
The life of the commission was extended, but eventually Congress terminated it on 30 September 1978; it transferred outstanding claims to the United States Court of Federal Claims. The final case, Pueblo of San Ildefenso v. United States, was finally resolved in 2006.