D
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, was established December 13, 1769, through a charter from King George III.
The college had its antecedents in Moor's Indian Charity
School of Lebanon, Connecticut, founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock. Lack of support from Connecticut led Wheelock to open Dartmouth College in 1770 in a log cabin
in the New Hampshire wilderness. It was named after the second Earl of Dartmouth, benefactor and trustee of the original
endowment. Disputes between John Wheelock, second president, and the legislature of New Hampshire led to Dartmouth
College v. Woodward ( 1797), which prohibited states from
altering the obligations of contracts. The college is regarded
as a premier liberal arts college in New England. ( AMM)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Graham Robert B. The Dartmouth Story. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth, 1990. |
| McCallum James Dow. Eleazar Wheelock. New York: Arno Press, 1969. |
Dawes Act of 1887
The Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act,
was part of the late-1800s United States policy of assimilating Native Americans into the non-Indian mainstream. Named
after Republican Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts, the
act was designed to encourage Indians to farm by "allotting"
each head of household 160 acres of land, with smaller
amounts to other family members. The land was to be held as
private property. The Dawes Act was designed to break up the
collective land tenure that was common among native nations;
the act often served to disrupt traditional governments as well.
Reservation lands that were "surplus" after each individual
received his or her tract were sold, generally to non-Indians.Allotment was supported by a broad coalition of interests. Some people simply wanted native lands. Others believed
they were doing Native Americans a favor by creating private
ownership, which they thought would protect native lands from
mineral prospectors.Between 1887 and 1934, when the Indian Reorganization Act ended the allotment policy, Native Americans lost
control of about 100 million acres of land--representing two-
thirds of the land base they had held in 1887. Often, the lands
that left native control were the most prosperous reservation
lands--good for agriculture or timbering--while the lands
that were left were unsuitable for economically viable activities. In the western United States, where most reservation lands
were located, 160 acres of land were not nearly enough for
ranching, which was the main economic activity.Over the years, ownership of allotted lands has become
split among many heirs to the original allottees. It is not unusual for 100 people to have an ownership interest in one parcel
of land. This makes it difficult for Native Americans to make
a living--or even build housing--on many reservations. Allotment also increased the number of non-Indians living on
reservations, making tribal governance and legal jurisdiction
problematic. Some native nations rejected or avoided the Allotment Act and have relatively intact reservations, such as
the Red Lake Anishinabe within northern Minnesota and the
Hopi in the Southwest. See alsoBurke Act of 1906; Competency; Forced Assimilation; Friends of the Indian; Indian Land
Consolidation Act of 1893; Land and Water Rights. SeeDawes
Act ( 1887) in the Appendix 1. ( LCJ)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Ambler Marjane. Breaking the Iron Bonds: Indian Control of Energy Development. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1990. |
| Otis D. S. The Dawes Act and the Allotment of Indian Lands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973. |
| Prucha, Francis Paul. Indian Policy in the United States: Historical
Essays. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981. |
Declaration of Allegiance to the Government of
the United States by the North American Indian
While many tribal leaders believed that the declaration that
they signed and attested to was a treaty with the United States,
it was actually only a publicity stunt headed by Rodman
Wanamaker who convinced President William Howard Taft
to participate in a signing ceremony at Fort Wadsworth in New
York City. At the event, newly coined Buffalo nickels were
distributed.
The Declaration stated, "With our right hands extended
in brotherly love and our left hands extended holding the Pipe
of Peace, we hereby bury all past ill feelings and proclaim
abroad to all the nations of the world our firm allegiance to
this Nation and to the Stars and Stripes."
-608-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics.
Volume: 2.
Contributors: Jeffrey D. Schultz - Author, Kerry L. Haynie - Editor, Anne M. McCulloch - Editor, Andrew L. Aoki - Editor.
Publisher: Oryx Press.
Place of publication: Phoenix.
Publication year: 2000.
Page number: 608.
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