Why was the assimilation policy introduced?

[alexandramarie]

Please help me guys i need to know why the assimilation policy was introduced thank you
sorry i should have said aboriginal- assimilation sorry!

 

[Diogenes]

To assimilate new arrivals into one culture.

 

[?Comrade Good Looking?]

Australians at the time were really racist and wanted people to be more white. Hence the policy.

 

[gatita]

This is the period in United States Indian policy known for an overt push for assimilation of native peoples. The time span following the American Civil War to the start of the Indian New Deal in 1934 is referred to as the era of assimilation for American Indians. Most of the Indians in the United States felt some aspect of the impact of the policy, some more than others.

In the period following the American Civil War, so-called reformers sought to halt alleged corruption in the Indian Service and to end Plains warfare with a policy of assimilation. After all, they reasoned, it had worked as a policy for their own ancestors and neighbors who came from Europe. The European immigrants had become Americans.

Under the watchful eye of prison commander Richard Pratt, the volunteers taught the basic Three R's to the Indians inside the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, from 1875 to 1878. Pratt pointed out in his memoir that “the end to be gained . . . is the complete civilization of the Indian and his absorption into our national life . . . The Indian [is] to lose his identity as such . . . The sooner all tribal relations are broken up; the sooner the Indian loses all his Indian ways, even his language, the better it will be for him and the [U. S.] government.â€￾ He fervently hoped after their education “they are permitted to become like whites.â€￾

Learning English language skills and conversion to Christianity were two aspects of assimilation. Mission schools provided boarding school training for Indian children. If closer to their homes, the school attracted Indian kinfolk to live nearby and help their child. If the school was far away, then there were tearful farewells as the child traveled a long distance to a boarding school and might not return home for years. In some instances, Indian children were kidnapped and shipped off to boarding schools.

Alterations to tribal government were also a part of the assimilation policy. Indian agents aggressively altered the traditional voting and governance patterns on their reservations. They undermined the influence of traditional chief councils and the role of religious leaders. As Anglo-American demand for land increased during the era, Indian agents also worked to further the diminishment of reserved land bases. Pressure mounted to “openâ€￾ reservations to settlers. Indian agents implemented the policy of individual allotment. Reservations for Indians were carved into single farm allotments and the remaining land was then opened to Anglo-American settlers, calling the available real estate “surplus.â€￾ Shortly afterward through sale, tax liens, and fraud, much of the Indian allotted land passed to non-Indians. The land loss occurred under the veil of platitudes about helping the nation's wards, but furthered graft and corruption. Loss of traditional tribal structure combined with loss of tribal land to thrust the American Indians into abject poverty.

Rapid change thrust on the Indians led to a variety of reactions. Some Indians accepted the changes. They took up farming. Others resisted and refused to change or actively fought against the pressures. Still other native peoples bent with the new wind. Using trial and error, they selectively adapted aspects of the mainstream culture but made those aspects “Indian.â€￾ They underwent warfare, surrender, confinement, education, conversion, reservation life, allotment, and statehood. All in the name of assimilation.

gatita

Degree in History (focus Jewish studies) and Spanish, New Mexico State U. 1990

 

[ScorpioHoplite]

Australians at the time were really racist and wanted people to be more white. Hence the policy.

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