Citizenship for American Indians

When the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” including recently enslaved persons, were guaranteed the rights of citizenship. However, the amendment did not extend suffrage or grant citizenship to American Indians. The Dawes Act of 1887 was meant to prompt assimilation by establishing American Indian schools and distributing tribal land, but aspects of traditional American Indian culture were destroyed in the process. Things changed in 1924 when the Indian Citizenship Act, or Snyder Act, granted full citizenship to American Indians. However, because voting rights were left to individual states, decades passed before American Indians’ rights were fully protected throughout the nation.

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

The student will:

  • Define citizenship and discuss the struggles that minority groups have fought to obtain it.
  • Work in groups to analyze a political cartoon from 1871.
  • Read excerpted primary source documents
  • and answer corresponding questions.
Essential and guiding questions: 

How has federal policy shaped citizenship for American Indians?

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 
  • After the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 was passed, President Calvin Coolidge was adopted by the Sioux who called him “Leading Eagle, our greatest chief.” Have students investigate how other groups reacted to this legislation or how other presidents handled American Indian policy decisions.
  • Have students research current issues regarding American Indians:
    • Bear Ears National Monument Is Shrinking
    • Dakota Access Pipeline (2017) and (2018)
  • Discuss how U.S. citizenship impacted the sovereignty of tribal nations. Compare that to the ongoing debates about citizenship and statehood for U.S territories like American Samoa and Puerto Rico.

Helpful Hints

Materials:

  • “Move on!” Cartoon pieces
  • Image Analysis Form Excerpts from The Statutes at Large and [The Life of Henry Mitchell] 
  • Pen/ pencil