U.S. Policy "Break Up The Tribal Mass"
Rudolph C. Rÿser, Ph.D.
Volume 1, Number 2 (1985) 1 (2): 135-145
Keywords U.S. Indian Policy, Tribal sovereignty, Assimilation policy, Indigenous rights, Genocide Convention, Termination Era (1960s), Incrementalist Strategy, Tribal Land Confiscation, Treaty Rights Violation, Government-to-government relations
Abstract
The United States has cultivated an international image as a champion of human rights and self-determination while systematically pursuing a policy to dismantle Indigenous nations through dismemberment, land confiscation, and assimilation. Despite public declarations of "New Indian Policies" (e.g., Nixon’s "Self-Determination" and Reagan’s "government-to-government relations"), these serve as strategic subterfuges to obscure the enduring goal of liquidating tribal sovereignty. Historical tactics include the Termination Era (1960s), which aimed to dissolve treaties and expropriate resources, and the Incrementalist Strategy (1970s–1980s), which methodically eliminates federal support for tribal continuity. The U.S. employs economic intimidation, political denial, and legal encroachments—such as unilateral taxation of treaty-protected resources—to force assimilation, revealing a persistent "cold war" against Indigenous survival.
Rudolph C. Rÿser, Ph.D.
Published January 1, 1985
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rudolph C. Rÿser, Ph.D. (Author)
U.S. Indian Policy, Tribal sovereignty, Assimilation policy, Indigenous rights , Genocide Convention,
Termination Era (1960s), Incrementalist Strategy, Tribal land confiscation, Treaty rights violation, Government-to-government relations
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