Sociology

Native Americans are the original inhabitants of American. During early colonial settlement, Native Americans were displaced from their land and up to date they have continued to claim ancestry to their land (Library of Congress, 2010). In most cases, Native Americans have been portrayed as just backward and retrogressive people. Right from the start, it can be argued that government policies towards Native Americans was doomed to fail owing to the way they were treated and considered backward people.  These polices have demonstrated that there is a lot of ethnocentrism that is evident among whites who view Native Americans mainly Great Plains Indians as just backward and retrogressive.

Since the era of colonization, it is evident that white settlers looked down on Native Americans. During the Gold Rush of 1840s, explores asserted that the plans which were mainly inhabited by Indians were unfit for living and hence usurped them to carry on their mining activities.  The vast stretch of land that had been occupied by the Indians was therefore considered unfit for inhabitation and referred to as Great American Desert (Haug, 2010).  As the government understood the important of economic gains from the gold rush, railroads were built across the plains at a frantic pace.  The transcontinental plans, which cut across the native land of Grate Plain Native Americans, really affected them. It is important to understand that Native Americans were not party to the decision which was made by the government to build this railroad and hence they were completely ignored (Whittaker, 1996). This policy showed the ethnocentric nature of whites as they found Native Americans to be nothing but inferior beings who could not contribute to such an important decision or who could not understand the importance of such facility cutting across their ancestry land.

Earlier policies of U.S government towards Native Indians clearly illustrated the spirit of equality and coexistence with the native inhabitants of the land. In 1787, Northwest Ordinance, which was drafted by the congress, stated that there would be utmost good faith towards the Native Indians.  The ordinance stated that Native Americans lands shall not be taken unless their consent was obtained.  This was followed by Intercourse Act in 1790 which also asserted that public treaties that had been entered between U.S government and Indians shall be the only base for obtaining their land (Whittaker, 1996).  Washington entered into an agreement with the Indians which stated that they had the rights to their lands and the government would protect them in exchange for their land. These policies clearly indicate that the government recognized the Indians as a part of the American society and was already to protect them and not forcefully take them away from their land.

In 1851, U.S government put in place new policy that defined their relationship with Native Americans at Fort Laramie.  This policy put in place a buffer zone that separate the whites from the Indians. The buffer zone was such that Native Indians could not reach the place where whites building the railroad stayed (Whittaker, 1996) . The policy, which was referred to concentration, made it difficult for Native Indians to continue roaming in their ancestral land and therefore inhibited their economic activities.  The ethnocentric idea behind this policy was to concentrate Indians in one big reservation to keep them away from disturbing white travelers and others who were working on the railroad.

When gold was discovered in Colorado in 1859, whites trooped through the native teritory to Fort Laramie that had been established in 1851 (Whittaker, 1996). This infringed on the rights of Indians and upon news of attack from Indians at Sand Creek, government troops were sent to attack Native Indians. This led to massacre of 450 Native Indians and eventually culminated into the Sioux Wars (Whittaker, 1996).

Between 1865 and 1867, Great Plains became a battle ground and whites were often attacked and ambushed.  The congress acted quickly and put in place a policy of small reservation. Under the policy, different Indian tribes inhabiting the Great Plains were laced in close proximity with the other. However, the nave policy did not recognize that there were hostilities between Indian tribes.  The woes of Native American worsened when gold was discovered in Black Hills right inside the Dakota Sioux reservation. The government then pursued the Dawes-Severalty Act of 1887 which was aimed at total destruction of the Native Americans tribe (Whittaker, 1996). The warrior class of the Native Americans was turned into farmers and each given land equal to 160 acre plot.  They were not given farming tools and the land was not suitable for farming. Consequently, missionaries entered and set up schools and churches which just taught the native children to grow up as whites. This was the last nail to their culture and cohesion as the government polices destroyed them completely. This policy also showed the ethnocentrism of the whites as they taught Native American children to grow to be whites. The Dawes Act completely destroyed the Native Americans culture and remained in force until the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 which reaffirmed the rights of the Native Indians to own their land. Consequent policies that were engraved in a number of acts like Indian Self-determination Act of 1975, American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, and others reaffirmed the government commitment to recognize Great Plain Indians as part of larger American society (Whittaker, 1996).

As has been reviewed in the above policies, it is evident that initially, the United States government policies towards Native Americans recognized the equality of Great Plan Indians. However, consequent policies dealt a blow to social organization and integration of the Indians as they affirmed the ethnocentric nature of Whites. The policies were just aimed at destroying the Native American tribes culture. Subsequent policies however recognized Native Americans as part of United States society.