Everything about Indian Termination Policy totally explained
Indian termination policy was a policy that the
United States Congress implemented in 1950s and 1960s to assimilate the
Native Americans (Indians) with mainstream American society, by terminating the government's trusteeship of
Indian reservations and making Indians assume all the responsibilities of full citizenship.
Formation
A 1943 survey of Indian conditions, conducted by the
United States Senate, revealed that the living conditions on the
reservations were extremely poor. The
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the federal bureaucracy were found to be at fault for the troubling problems due to extreme mismanagement. The
Federal government believed that some tribes no longer needed its protection, and should be part of the mainstream American society. Senator
Arthur V. Watkins of
Utah, the strongest proponent for termination, equated it with the
Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of all slaves in the territory of the
CSA.
Public Law 280, passed in 1953, gave the State governments the power to assume jurisdiction over
Indian reservations. In 1957–58, a State Senate Interim Committee investigation revealed that little had been done to prepare Indian reserves for termination. In 1958, the
Rancheria Termination Act was enacted.
Western Oregon Indian Termination Act of 1954 – This act terminated about 67 tribes from western Oregon, including the Grand Ronde and Siletz Reservations. This one act terminated more Tribes than all other termination acts combined.
Effects
During 1953–1964, 109 tribes were terminated, approximately 1,365,801 acres of trust land were removed from protected status, and 13,263 Native Americans lost tribal affiliation. As a result of termination, the special federal trustee relationship of the Indians with the federal government ended, they were subjected to state laws, and their lands were converted to private ownership. The lands belonging to the Native Americans, rich in resources, were taken over by the federal government. The termination policy had disastrous effects on the
Menominee tribe (located in
Wisconsin) and the
Klamath tribes (located in
Oregon), forcing many members of the tribes onto public assistance roll
Repudiation
In 1961, President
John F. Kennedy decided against implementing any more termination measures, although he did enact some of the last terminations, including that of the
Ponca Tribe, which culminated in 1966. Presidents
Lyndon B. Johnson and
Richard Nixon decided to encourage Indian
self-determination instead of termination. In 1975, Congress had implicitly rejected the termination policy by passing the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which increased the tribal control over reservations and helped with the funding of building schools closer to the reservations. On
January 24,
1983, President
Ronald Reagan issued an American Indian policy statement that supported explicit repudiation of the termination policy.
Further Information
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