Citizen Rights Indians and Native Americans struggle to keep their culture alive. Some of the Native Americans and Indians were apart of their own separate nations with in the U.S. In the year of 1924 Indians and Native American were considered United States citizens. Congress granted citizenship to all Native American who were born in the United States. Even during the Indian Citizenship Act, Native American did not have the right to vote for state laws, and government rights. The Indians Chief White Eye’s insisted that they should be treated like normal people and have some land they can call their own. The Americans gave into the Indians idea for land. The Indians had to move from their tribes to the different land far away from the White …show more content…
But, many of them volunteered to fight in the American armed forces. Because of this Congress past an act that let any Indian’s to become citizens if they served in the military or navy. Later on, June 2, 1924 Congress passed the Indian Citizenship act, which granted citizenship to all Indians. With the Citizenship act, it gave some of the Indians the right to vote in America, military duties when called, and to pay taxes. It was estimated that about two- thirds of Indians were considered citizens before the Indian Citizen Act was passed. This news of the Indian Citizenship Act was speared to other states, and not a lot of the states agreed with this decision. But, others Americans took it well that the Indians are now considered citizens of America. Indians were not officially considered citizens until 1940 when Congress passed the Nationality Act. When the Americans made Indians resign from the draft. Then the states of New Mexico and Arizona refused to let any Indians vote. Clinton Rickard an Indians urged some of his people to sign up and volunteer for the armed forces if they wanted to now that they are citizens of
...y robbing the Indians of their land, the English upset and hurt many of the Native American tribes, which lead to many disputes over ownership of the land.
The land of the Native Indians had been encroached upon by American settlers. By the
Today there are more than a million Indians in America in all phases of development, some still attempting to adjust to American civilization, others completely Americanized and some still holding on to their Native heritage. There are 300 federal Indian reservations and about 21 state reservations present in the United States today. These reservations are considered sovereign nations, however these people still poses American citizenship. In my opinion, the process of assimilation in the United States was an extremely cruel and unnecessary one. Although it did work out for the best in the long run and today the Indian Americans have the freedom to live the way they chose on their reservations, I firmly believe that the process of getting to where we are today could have been much better had it taken a different route.
Also, the transcontinental railroad went through the land that the Plains Indians lived on. They were forced to move into smaller areas that were designated by the government. A lot of wars happened over this issue, and over the issue of gold being on their land.
The Indians thought of land very differently to the white man. The land was sacred, there was no ownership, and it was created by the great spirit. They could not sell their land to others, whereas the white people could fence off the land which belonged to them, and sell it freely to whoever they wanted. The Europeans didn't think that the Indians were using the land properly, so in their eyes, they were doing a good favour to the earth. To the Indians, the land was more valuable than the money that the white man had brought with him, even though it didn't belong to them.
Native Americans Status Today Native Americans are equal to everyone else in the United States. Most of them are holding steady jobs and living like normal people but some of them still live on Indian reservations and act like they are old time Indians from long ago. Indians became United States citizens in 1901.
They felt that this country was rightfully theirs, and wanted an equal opportunity to be able to live where they pleased. Also, they were constantly discriminated against. Many stores and establishments had signs that read “No Indians Allowed.” AIM would go to these places and protest openly, sometimes getting violent. Many acts of violence and murder also occurred on reservation lands against Native Americans, and the white men who committed the crimes would receive a light sentence in court, sometimes not even be punished at all.
The governmental leaders of the United States of America began implementing Indian policies from its inception. As Euro-Americans they expected all non-whites in the U.S. to assimilate into a Euro-American (Christian) lifestyle, without reciprocation or sympathy to the traditions and history of our native people. Our founding fathers and subsequent leaders of the United States at varying times have used suppression, segregation, aggression, and assimilation to manage what they perceived as an Indian problem, and civilize them. The native peoples of North America have responded to these actions by, at times, complying with the U.S. government and allowing themselves to be relocated to other areas of the country leaving behind their ancestral
The Indian Act is made up from the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. The Gradual Civilization Act encouraged the Indian people to give up their status and become a Canadian citizen. The Gradual Enfranchisement Act gave the government full control over the Indian people. They were able to decide everything from who kept their status, received benefits, and even who were able to keep their children. In 1876, these acts together alongside with other rules and regulations formed the Indian Act. The government thought it was best to be able to control every aspect of the First Nations people’s lives. It was stated in annual report of the Department of the Interior Indian Affairs in 1876:
The American Indians were promised change with the American Indian policy, but as time went on no change was seen. “Indian reform” was easy to promise, but it was not an easy promise to keep as many white people were threatened by Indians being given these rights. The Indian people wanted freedom and it was not being given to them. Arthur C. Parker even went as far as to indict the government for its actions. He brought the charges of: robbing a race of men of their intellectual life, of social organization, of native freedom, of economic independence, of moral standards and racial ideals, of his good name, and of definite civic status (Hoxie 97). These are essentially what the American peoples did to the natives, their whole lives and way of life was taken away,
Many tribes had reigning governments and tribal counsels as a way of life. With westward expansion brought changes. Many Americans were killing their livestock, the food they ate, and Americans were settling more and more on the Indian lands. In time, Indians began to fight back and take what had been theirs. Once this happened, the Americans decided to make the Indians like Americans, so we took their land and tried to make them Americans.
From the beginning of the 20th Century, there were nearly 250,000 Native Americans in the United States who accounted for approximately 0.3 percent of the population. This population was mostly residing in reservations where they executed a restricted extent of self-government. Native Americans have experienced numerous challenges related to land use and inconsistent public policies. Actually, during the 19th Century, Native Americans were dispossessed of a huge section of their land through forced removal westwards, through a series of treaties that were largely dishonored, and through military defeat by the United States in its expansion of control over the American West (Boxer par,1). Moreover, Native Americans have experienced
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...
The definition of citizenship change over time by allowing all races to vote . Over the course of time citizenship has changed in many ways like allowing all people 18 and older to vote. The 26th lowered the voting age to 18 years old because it use to be 21 years old. Citizenship has changed will a lot over the years because the Wars that help establish the freedom citizens get to have.
Citizenship is the legal permission given to an individual to work, live, vote and pay taxes for the certain place. It is the status of being citizen. In order to be a citizen for Particular country there is specific requirement and the laws of the nation. One of the easiest ways to get citizenship of the United States is to get through by Birth, (Jus soil) no matter what is your parent’s nationality. U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott (1857) case—states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” However, Indians are excluded from this rule.