The General Allotment Act of 1887 in US History Essay Example

Throughout the 19th and the early 20th century, the United States government and Native American tribes, including the Osage, had an interdependent yet increasingly tense relationship. From pre-colonial times, Native Americans had felt growing pressure from the American colonists and government to adopt their ways and share valuable land. In 1887, the Allotment Act was passed, allowing the US government to divide Native land into 160-acre parcels, eventually making it easier for the government to gain control over it. However, the Osage were in a unique position that put them in peril with the US government. The Osage had purchased their lands previously and were able to negotiate with the government, desperate to make Oklahoma a state, for a modified Allotment Act passed in 1906, resulting in various concessions, including 657-acre allotments. The tribe believed that they had secured their property rights and the power of self-determination.  Slowly, however, this deal led to unforeseen consequences as the white population’s lust for the valuable Osage land, problems arising with managing the money surplus from land deals, biases and preconceptions about Osage behavior, and the vaguely worded agreement made it easy and encouraged the white population to get away with crimes, including theft and murder. 

During the period after the 1906 Allotment Act, the Osage became increasingly wealthy and powerful with the discovery of a huge oil deposit on their territory, and this made them a target of US government and settlers’ efforts to gain control of these riches. Under the Act, the Osage had received a “head right” or mineral trust fund for the land that was inheritable. Regretting their decision to grant minerals rights to the Osage, the Federal Government imposed systems of control, specifically Guardians, on the Osage to manage their finances:

“The law mandated that guardians be assigned to any American Indians whom the Department of the Interior deemed "incompetent." In practice, the decision to appoint a guardian—to render an American Indian, in effect, a half citizen—was nearly always based on the quantum of Indian blood in the property holder, or what a state supreme court justice referred to as “racial weakness.” 

The government and the Guardians spread the impression that "Indian blood" was a severe weakness; although, the so-called disadvantage was probably more of an excuse to create a system to allow guardians to exploit Native Americans, stealing millions of dollars, charging items at unreasonable prices, and gaining control of property. 

The Government likely saw wealthy Osages as a threat: 

“members of Congress would gather in wood-paneled committee rooms and spend hours examining in minute detail the Osage’s expenditures as if the country’s security were at stake.” 

The government’s initiatives to counter this threat not only resulted in imposing initiatives, but these programs made it easier to paint the Osage as careless and incompetent land managers. It seems that the Government was using the Guardians as a method to convince the settlers in the surrounding areas that the Osage were powerless and easily exploitable. However, it is important to highlight the misconception that the Osage did not realize what was occurring, and while they did understand the situation, there was little they could do:

“An Osage, speaking to a reporter about the guardians, stated, “Your money draws ‘em and you’re absolutely helpless. They have all the law and all the machinery on their side. Tell everybody, when you write your story, that they’re scalping our souls out here.” 

Soon after, the white population in Osage county devised ways to get access to the trust funds by using the inheritance rule to obtain them through deception and even murder. “They’re scalping our souls out here,” can be interpreted as a plea for help, with scalping referring to the acquiring of Osage money, prized as a trophy. 

In addition, the wording of the Allotment Act slowed down investigations into crimes committed by White settlers to gain land, leaving the Osage with no recourse. The Osage had been placed into a disadvantaged situation that allowed for continued criminal acts:  

"As with many crimes against American Indians, the question of which government entity had jurisdiction over the Osage murders was confounding. If a murder occurred on Indian territory, then the federal authorities could claim jurisdiction. The Osage territory, however, had been allotted, and much of the surface land where the murders had occurred.......was no longer under the tribe’s control.”

With this jurisdiction policy, people could freely target Osages on unowned lands without worrying about consequences. The US government was able to give power to the settlers in the surrounding area through the allotment acts and the prior knowledge of the preconceptions of Native Americans that even investigators of the murder cases had: 

“The Indians, in general, are lazy, pathetic, cowardly, dissipated…..the only way to make “any of these dissolute, stubborn Osage Indians talk and tell what they know is to cut off their allowance…and if necessary, throw them in jail.”

Despite their role as investigators who should be focused on finding the truth, they acted underhandly, encouraging the use of force to procure information, which was similar to the murder cases in terms of methods used to get what they want from the Native Americans. Even during the cases, they viewed the Osage to acquire praise from the investigation department and earn money, rather than as people to help.  This shows the deep prejudices ingrained in the community towards the Osage, helping to explain the reason why there was little regard to protecting the Osages and property agreements took precedence in the trials.

Spurred on by greed and desire for land and through restrictive laws as well as anti-Native-American stereotyping and propaganda, the US government asserted control over the Osage who slowly lost their lands and rights. These efforts depleted the tribe and set them up for exploitation by settlers, investigators, and trusted loved ones alike.