Toward the end of the nineteenth century a series of legal opinions and court rulings had determined that American Indians were not citizens and furthermore they could not attain citizenship unless Congress enacted specific legislation granting them citizenship. In other words, American Indians could not claim birthright citizenship.
In 1887 Congress passed the General Allotment Act (also known as the Dawes Act) which provided the legal mechanism for Indians to become citizens. Ideally, Indians who became Christian, English-speaking farmers could become citizens. Citizenship, in the minds of non-Indians, was directly associated with private land ownership.
During World War I, Indians were not liable to be drafted because they were not American citizens, but they enlisted in large numbers. An estimated 10,000 Indians served in the military during the war. In 1919, Congress passed an act which provided citizenship for all Indians who served in the military or in naval establishments during World War I.
In 1924, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act. This was viewed as a continuation of the assimilation program that had begun with the unsuccessful allotment policy of the Dawes Act. Passage of the act was promoted by progressives who were concerned about the constitutional rights of Indians and who wished to free Indians from federal control. In his chapter in American Indian Nations: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, law professor Kevin Grover (Pawnee) reports:
“The performance of Indian soldiers in World War I was valiant and demonstrated a perfectly fine compatibility to deal intelligently with circumstances well beyond the Indians’, or anyone else’s, prior experience. The valor of these soldiers combined with the policy objective of ending federal supervision of Indians produced the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.”
In response to the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act, the New York Times reported:
“The white race, having robbed them of a continent, and having sought to deprive them of freedom of action, freedom of social custom, and freedom of worship, now at last gives them the same legal status as their conquerors.”
Historian Lawrence Kelly, in his book The Assault on Assimilation: John Collier and the Origins of Indian Policy Reform, writes:
“The passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924 brought with it an expectation that Indians would be brought in line with other Americans in the areas of civil and criminal law.”
In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 4: History of Indian-White Relations, Lawrence Baca writes:
“The grant of citizenship to Indians did not terminate the duty of the United States to pass laws for the protection of Indians and their property under the principle of wardship or trust responsibility.”
Lawrence Baca also writes:
“Citizenship did not extend state jurisdiction into Indian country, although federal citizenship made Indians citizens of the states in which they reside.”
In her book Nampeyo and Her Pottery, Barbara Kramer, notes that this act gave Indians:
“…the privilege to vote and the obligations to perform compulsory military duty when called and to pay taxes on off-reservation revenues.”
In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 4: History of Indian-White Relations, Robert Berkhofer sums up Indian citizenship this way:
“Although other persons born on American soil were considered citizens under law, Indians who were native to the United States had to wait for special laws or the Indian Citizen Act of 1924 to achieve full citizenship, and even then states continued to curtail their privileges.”
With regard to voting, however, a number of states restricted Indian voting by using racial restrictions. In her chapter on voting rights in American Indian Nations: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Janine Pease reports:
“The change in federal law regarding Indian citizenship did little to rectify the racial attitudes these requirements had perpetuated during the years of their enforcement.”
Lawrence Baca reports:
“It has been held that Indians who reside on an Indian reservation and therefore not be subject to state laws nevertheless have the right to vote for and to run for state and county offices. State laws denying Indians the right to vote because of their status as wards of the federal government or because they maintain tribal membership have been struck down by the courts.”
Many of those who promoted Indian citizenship felt that it would give the Indians the freedom to practice their traditional religions under the Bill of Rights. In reality, however, both the federal government and many state governments continued to suppress traditional practices.
Some Indian nations, such as the Iroquois League of Six Nations, did not recognize the Citizenship Act because they did not feel that one sovereign nation had the right to impose citizenship on the citizens of another sovereign nation.
Many state governments and federal agencies ignored the Indian Citizenship Act either because they were unaware of it or because they disagreed with it. The federal agency most closely associated with Indian affairs is the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) within the Department of the Interior. In one of his chapters in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8: California, anthropologist Edward Castillo notes that:
“… the BIA interpreted the granting of citizenship as not affecting its authority over the tribal and individual property of Indians and therefore insured its continual control over Indian lives, property, and resources by extraconstitutional means.”
While citizenship is generally associated with the right to vote, many states continued to restrict American Indian voting rights.
It is estimated that two-thirds of the Indians had acquired citizenship before the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act.
Eastern Cherokees
Two days after passing the Indian Citizenship Act, Congress passed a bill to allot the Eastern Cherokee land in North Carolina. The bill provided that the Eastern Cherokee would become citizens only after receiving and registering their allotments. The State Attorney General took the position that the Eastern Cherokees were not citizens because this state bill superseded the Indian Citizenship Act. The Bureau of Indian Affairs took the position that Indians were citizens. Local registrars assumed that the Cherokees were not citizens and did not allow them to register to vote.
Voting
A century after American Indians were given citizenship, the battle over the right to vote continues. In some states, registering to vote requires a street address and since many Indians living on reservations don’t have street addresses, they are not allowed to vote. In some states, tribal IDs are not allowed thus excluding some Indians. Gerrymandering crosscuts many reservations thus diluting the impact of the Indian vote. On many reservations, there are only limited polling places, and it is a long drive, often over undeveloped roads, to vote. And the list goes on.
More Twentieth-Century American Indian Histories
Many American history books relegate American Indians to the the ghettos of the past and rarely mention American Indians after 1890. Twentieth-century American Indian histories are scarce and are often not popular with a general audience.
Indians 101: American Indians and the federal government 100 years ago, 1923
Indians 101: The U.S. Government replaces the Navajo Council in 1923
Indians 201: The Hoover Commission Report on American Indians
Indians 101: the 1923 Posey's War in Utah
Indians 101: The Grand Coulee Dam and the Colville Indians
Indians 101: Hopi Indians as tourist attractions in the early 20th century
Indians 101: World War II Veterans Come Home
Indians 101: American Indians and the Korean War