Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumWestward Expansion and American Indians

"The real aim of this bill is to get at the Indian lands and open them up to settlement. The provisions for the apparent benefit of the Indians are but the pretext to get at his lands and occupy them. ... If this were done in the name of greed, it would be bad enough; but to do it in the name of humanity, and under the cloak of an ardent desire to promote the Indian's welfare by making him a landholder, is infinitely worse."
— Minority Report of the House Committee on Indian Affairs, 1880

Which of the following federal policies is the target of the criticism in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The establishment of treaty-based reservation boundaries to guarantee tribal sovereignty.
  2. B
    The federal deregulation of western territories to let market forces determine land use.
  3. The division of reservation lands into individual plots to promote assimilation.Answer
  4. D
    The extension of citizenship and civil rights to Native Americans under Reconstruction-era amendments.

Answer

The division of reservation lands into individual plots to promote assimilation.
The correct answer is correct because the House Committee minority report is criticizing the proposed Land in Severalty Bill (which became the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887). The act sought to assimilate Native Americans by dividing communal reservation lands into individual family plots, which ultimately allowed the federal government to sell the remaining 'surplus' land to white settlers.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context of the primary source excerpt.
The excerpt, dated 1880, criticizes a legislative proposal to make the 'Indian... a landholder' under the guise of 'humanity' and 'welfare,' which the authors argue is a pretext to 'get at the Indian lands and open them up to settlement.'
This identifies the historical subject as the debate over the allotment of Native American lands, which led to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887.
2
Connect the legislative critique to late nineteenth-century federal policies toward Native Americans.
During Period 6 (1865–1898), the federal government shifted from separating Native Americans on reservations to active assimilation. The primary legislative tool for this was allotment, dividing communal tribal lands into individual private plots.
This matches the critic's description of a policy making Native Americans individual landholders to dismantle tribal ownership.
3
Evaluate the options to identify the correct policy targeted by the criticism.
The policy of dividing reservation lands into individual family allotments to force assimilation and open 'surplus' land to white settlers directly aligns with the criticism. Other options either misinterpret the intent of the policy, conflate it with laissez-faire deregulation, or wrongly associate it with Reconstruction amendments.
This confirms that the correct answer describes the Dawes Act's allotment policy.

Key Concept

The Dawes Act of 1887 and federal assimilation policies aimed at breaking up tribal landholdings.
Rate this question

Topics

Westward Expansion and American Indians

More questions from this topic