A Trail of Broken Promises: Unpacking the US Government’s Dispossession of Native Lands and What Justice Looks Like Now
Today, we walk a difficult path together – one etched with the scars of broken promises and profound injustice. It’s a journey into the heart of Native American history, not just to recount past wrongs, but to understand the systematic tactics used by the United States government to dispossess Indigenous peoples of their ancestral lands, and crucially, to explore what a meaningful path toward healing and justice might look like now.
This isn’t a story of isolated incidents, but a pattern woven through centuries of deliberate policies, often cloaked in legalistic language, designed to expand a burgeoning nation at the expense of sovereign Indigenous peoples. The echoes of these actions still reverberate through Native communities today, shaping their realities and their ongoing fight.
Let’s look at the tactics, the false promises, and the reconcilition process needed.
The Architect of Dispossession: Tactics and Broken Treaties
From the earliest colonial encounters, the drive for land fueled expansion. As the United States grew, its approach to Native American nations evolved, but the underlying goal – land acquisition – remained constant.
1. Treaties as Tools of Convenience (and Deception):
Initially, the U.S. government recognized Native nations as sovereign entities, entering into treaties. However, these treaties were frequently signed under duress, coercion, or outright fraud. Often, U.S. representatives would negotiate with individuals who had no legitimate authority to speak for an entire tribe, or they would misrepresent the terms of the agreement, leaving Native signatories unaware of the vast land cessions they were supposedly agreeing to.
- Example: The Treaty of New Echota (1835) with the Cherokee Nation. Despite the vast majority of the Cherokee Nation rejecting its terms, a small, unauthorized faction signed this treaty, ceding all Cherokee lands in the Southeast. This “false treaty” provided the legal pretext for the infamous Trail of Tears, forcing the Cherokee people from their ancestral homelands in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Thousands died from disease, starvation, and exposure during this brutal forced march. The Cherokee’s highly developed society, their written language (thanks to Sequoyah), and their attempts at assimilation were no match for the government’s insatiable desire for their land, particularly after gold was discovered.
2. The Indian Removal Act and Forced Migration:
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 formalized the policy of relocating Native Americans from their traditional lands east of the Mississippi River to lands further west. This wasn’t about “relocation” but about ethnic cleansing, using both legal maneuvers and military force.
- Example: The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole. Alongside the Cherokee, these “Five Civilized Tribes” of the Southeast were systematically dispossessed. The Choctaw Nation was the first to be removed, beginning in 1831, facing a brutal winter journey with inadequate provisions. The Seminole in Florida fiercely resisted removal in a series of prolonged and costly wars (the Seminole Wars), demonstrating incredible resilience and knowledge of their swampy homeland, but ultimately many were also removed or forced into hiding.
3. Allotment and the Assault on Communal Land (The Dawes Act):
Later, the General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) of 1887 aimed to “civilize” Native Americans by breaking up communally held tribal lands into individual parcels. This policy was devastating. Allotments were often too small to be economically viable, and vast “surplus” lands were then sold off to non-Native settlers, further diminishing tribal land bases.
- Example: The Lakota and other Plains tribes. After their lands were guaranteed by treaties like the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 (which, notably, granted the Lakota perpetual ownership of the sacred Black Hills), the discovery of gold led to a new wave of encroachment. The Dawes Act further fragmented their reservations, leading to immense land loss. The Lakota, traditionally nomadic buffalo hunters, were forcibly confined and expected to become farmers, undermining their entire way of life. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the taking of the Black Hills illegal, offering monetary compensation, which the Lakota have steadfastly refused, maintaining “the land is not for sale.”
4. The Buffalo Slaughter:
While not a direct land taking by policy, the deliberate extermination of the American bison by the U.S. government and settlers was a tactic aimed at starving Plains tribes into submission and off their lands. Without their primary food source and cultural keystone, nomadic tribes were forced onto reservations, making land acquisition easier.
- Example: The Cheyenne and Arapaho. These tribes, alongside the Lakota, were utterly dependent on the buffalo. The systematic slaughter effectively dismantled their economic independence and cultural practices, leaving them vulnerable to government control and land loss.
Dispossession, Tribe by Tribe, Loss by Loss:
The tactics varied, but the outcome was consistent: massive land loss for nearly every Indigenous nation across the continent. From the Wampanoag in early New England to the vast territories of the Apache in the Southwest, Indigenous peoples lost over 99% of their ancestral lands through a combination of treaties, force, and legislative action.
- Pacific Northwest Tribes: Treaties often promised fishing and hunting rights in exchange for land, but these rights were frequently violated, leading to “fish-ins” and decades of legal battles to affirm treaty rights.
- California Tribes: The California Gold Rush led to brutal massacres and rapid land dispossession, often without any formal treaties, leaving many tribes completely dispossessed and decimated.
- The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole (Southeast): Lost millions of acres through coerced treaties and the Trail of Tears.
- Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho (Plains): Lost vast hunting grounds and had sacred sites like the Black Hills illegally taken, despite treaty protections.
- Nez Perce (Northwest): Forcibly removed from their Wallowa Valley homeland after Chief Joseph’s epic resistance.
Broken Circles, Lingering Pain: The Unkept Promises of a Nation
As we draw this journey through the history of land dispossession to a close, we must confront a stark and painful truth: the relationship between the U.S. government and Native American nations is fundamentally defined by a vast web of broken treaties. This isn’t merely a historical footnote; it’s a living wound that continues to impact Indigenous communities today.
The Staggering Number of Broken Promises
Between 1778 and 1871, the United States government entered into over 500 treaties with various Native American nations.3 Of these, approximately 374 were formally ratified by the U.S. Senate.4 This era of treaty-making officially ended in 1871 when Congress unilaterally declared that it would no longer recognize Native tribes as independent nations with whom treaties must be made.5
The grim reality? Virtually every single one of these treaties was violated in some way, or outright broken, by the U.S. government.6 From the earliest agreements meant to define boundaries and foster peace, to later treaties designed to confine tribes to ever-shrinking reservations, the pattern of disregard was consistent. Lands guaranteed “as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers shall run” were routinely seized, resources promised were plundered, and rights enshrined were ignored.7
The Weight of Betrayal: Native Voices on Broken Treaties
The emotional toll of these broken promises on Native peoples is immeasurable. It represents a profound betrayal of trust, a continuous assault on their sovereignty, and a systematic dismantling of their cultural and economic foundations. The feelings are encapsulated in the words of countless leaders and elders throughout history:
“We were told to walk the white man’s road, and we tried, but then they put fences across it and charged us a toll.” This sentiment reflects the constant shifting of rules and the closing of opportunities once promised.
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, after his grueling retreat and surrender, famously articulated the devastating impact of deceit: “I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises.” His words echo the exhaustion and disillusionment felt by generations who witnessed their sacred agreements rendered meaningless.
The broken treaties created a cycle of poverty, disease, and disempowerment, stripping away not just land, but also dignity and self-sufficiency.8 The psychological impact of living under a government that consistently disrespects its own sworn agreements breeds deep-seated distrust and anger, passed down through generations. It’s a wound that refuses to heal because the source of the pain – the unfulfilled promises and unaddressed injustices – persists.
Marlon Brando’s Stand: A Moment of Amplified Frustration
In 1973, at the height of the American Indian Movement’s (AIM) activism and amidst the ongoing standoff at Wounded Knee, a surprising moment brought the issue of broken treaties and Hollywood’s misrepresentation of Native Americans to a global stage: Marlon Brando’s refusal of his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather.9
Brando, a staunch supporter of civil rights and Native American causes, chose not to attend the Academy Awards ceremony. Instead, he sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an Apache activist and actress, to decline the award on his behalf. Dressed in traditional Apache attire, Littlefeather delivered a powerful, brief speech, stating that Brando could not accept the “very generous award” due to “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry and on television, and in movie re-runs, and also because of the recent happenings at Wounded Knee.”
This act, while met with a mix of applause and boos from the live audience, was a calculated and impactful move. It leveraged Brando’s considerable celebrity to thrust Native American issues, including the long history of broken treaties and harmful stereotypes, into millions of living rooms worldwide. It was a raw, unfiltered moment of protest on a highly commercialized platform, designed to shock and demand attention. For many Native Americans, it was a profound moment of validation, seeing their grievances publicly acknowledged by a prominent ally, despite the controversy it generated.
Righting the Wrongs: A Path Forward
The path to rectifying centuries of broken promises is complex, but it must be walked with genuine commitment and practical action. As explored previously, these steps include:
- Meaningful Land Back Initiatives: Not just symbolic gestures, but substantial returns of federal and state lands, especially those of cultural significance, to tribal trust or under co-management.
- True Treaty Enforcement: The U.S. government must honor existing treaties as the supreme law of the land, protecting and enforcing all rights guaranteed within them without reservation. This means protecting water rights, hunting and fishing rights, and resource access.
- Robust Economic Development & Resource Control: Investing in tribal economies and ensuring Native nations have full control over the resources on their lands, allowing for self-sufficiency and prosperity.
- Deep Cultural Revitalization & Healing: Providing sustained funding for language preservation, cultural programs, and initiatives that address the intergenerational trauma caused by historical policies like boarding schools.
- Mandatory Education Reform: Implementing comprehensive, accurate, and tribally-informed Native American history education across all levels of schooling, ensuring that future generations understand the true history of this land and its peoples.
The echoes of broken promises continue to reverberate. It is only by facing these truths, committing to genuine repair, and respecting the inherent sovereignty of Native nations that the United States can begin to heal the deep wounds of its past and move towards a future built on honor and justice.
Righting the Wrongs: A Path to Practical Justice
The legacy of these historical injustices is not merely historical; it’s a living reality for Native American communities, manifested in systemic poverty, health disparities, and cultural loss. So, what can the U.S. government do, in a practical way, to begin to right these wrongs?
1. Land Back and Co-Management:
This is perhaps the most fundamental step. While returning all ancestral lands is likely impossible, significant portions of federal and state lands (like national parks, forests, and military bases) that hold cultural, spiritual, or historical significance to specific tribes should be returned or placed under co-management agreements. This means:
* Direct Land Transfers: Where feasible, return federal lands to tribal trust.
* Co-Stewardship/Management: Partnering with tribes on the management of public lands that were once their homelands, incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) into conservation and land use.
* Funding for Land Repurchase: Provide substantial federal funds to tribes to repurchase ancestral lands currently in private hands.
2. Upholding and Honoring Treaties:
The U.S. must fully recognize and uphold its treaty obligations, not as historical relics, but as living documents. This involves:
* Restoring Treaty-Guaranteed Rights: Actively protect and enforce tribal hunting, fishing, water, and resource rights guaranteed by treaties.
* Consultation and Consent: Require genuine, free, prior, and informed consent from tribal nations on any federal projects or policies impacting their lands, resources, or cultural heritage.
* Expediting Treaty Claims: Prioritize and fairly resolve outstanding land and resource claims stemming from broken treaties or fraudulent agreements.
3. Economic Empowerment and Resource Access:
Addressing the economic devastation caused by dispossession is crucial. This includes:
* Investment in Tribal Economies: Robust federal investment in infrastructure, education, and sustainable economic development on reservations.
* Resource Access and Control: Ensuring tribes have full control and beneficial use of natural resources within their remaining territories, and fair compensation for resources extracted from historical lands.
* Water Rights Settlement: Expedite and fairly settle tribal water rights claims, which are essential for survival and economic development in many arid regions.
4. Cultural Revitalization and Healing:
The policies of assimilation, particularly boarding schools, caused immense intergenerational trauma. Practical steps include:
* Federal Funding for Language Revitalization: Dramatically increase funding for Native language immersion programs and cultural preservation initiatives.
* Support for Historical Trauma Healing: Fund tribally-led programs addressing the intergenerational trauma caused by historical policies.
* Repatriation of Ancestral Remains and Sacred Objects: Fully support and expedite the return of ancestral remains and sacred cultural items held by museums and institutions.
5. Education and Awareness:
A fundamental shift requires a more honest and comprehensive understanding of Native American history.
* Mandatory Indigenous History Curricula: Implement accurate and thorough Indigenous history education in schools nationwide, taught from Native perspectives.
* Public Awareness Campaigns: Support and fund initiatives that educate the broader public about Native American contributions, challenges, and contemporary issues.
The Path Forward
Righting historical wrongs is not about assigning blame to current generations, but about acknowledging historical truth and building a more just future. It’s about recognizing the enduring sovereignty of Native nations and supporting their self-determination. This is a long and complex journey, but it’s one that America, if it truly seeks to embody its ideals of justice and equality, must embark upon with humility, respect, and unwavering commitment.
Let us listen to the echoes of the past, not with shame, but with a determination to create a future where the promises made are finally kept.