Native American Resistance to U.S. Policies
After the Civil War, the U.S. government expanded its control across the West—often at the direct expense of Native American nations. Policies were passed that took Native land, broke up communities, and tried to erase Indigenous cultures. In response, Native peoples resisted through political action, cultural preservation, and armed defense. Despite overwhelming pressure and military force, many Native communities fought to protect their ways of life, lands, and sovereignty.
Federal Policies and Loss of Land
One of the most harmful policies was the Dawes Act of 1887. This law broke up Native-held land into small plots for individual families. Any land left over after this division was sold to white settlers.
While it claimed to help Native Americans become “self-sufficient,” the Dawes Act actually weakened tribal nations by destroying communal ownership of land, which was central to many Native cultures and economies. By dividing land and encouraging individual farming, the Dawes Act also supported the U.S. government’s goal of assimilating Native people into white American society. The law resulted in the loss of millions of acres of Native land and caused lasting harm to tribal communities.
Boarding Schools and Cultural Erasure
Alongside land policies, the U.S. government supported the growth of boarding schools for Native children. These schools, many run by religious groups, were designed to force Native children to adopt white language, clothing, religion, and customs. Children were often taken from their families—sometimes against their parents’ wishes—and sent hundreds of miles away.
At these schools, children were punished for speaking their own languages or practicing their cultures. Many suffered emotional, physical, and sometimes sexual abuse. Although some Native students later spoke of finding pride or opportunity through education, many more remembered the schools as places of loss, trauma, and forced separation from their heritage.
Military Action and Forced Removal
When Native nations resisted U.S. expansion, they were often met with military force. One example is the Red River War of 1874–75. In this conflict, the U.S. Army launched a campaign to remove Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho people from the Southern Plains and move them onto reservations. Despite strong resistance, the U.S. military destroyed food supplies, homes, and horses—forcing Native groups to surrender due to starvation and exposure.
Other campaigns followed the same pattern: punishing Native resistance by targeting communities' ability to survive off the land. But even in these harsh conditions, resistance continued. Leaders like Quanah Parker of the Comanche negotiated fiercely to protect their people and retain cultural autonomy. Others, like Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache, resisted U.S. forces for years—using knowledge of the land and guerrilla tactics to avoid capture and continue the fight for sovereignty.
Political and Legal Resistance
Not all resistance was military. Native nations also resisted through diplomacy, petitions, and legal action. Leaders wrote letters to Congress, protested broken treaties, and refused to give up tribal governance. The Loyal Shawnee, for example, refused to abandon their cultural identity even after being relocated to Indian Territory. In the 1880s, Standing Bear, a Ponca chief, sued the U.S. government for the right to return to his homeland and won a landmark court decision recognizing that Native people were legally considered "persons" under U.S. law. These political acts were powerful and deliberate efforts to assert Native identity and resist U.S. control through official channels.
Reservations and Ongoing Resistance
By the late 1800s, most Native Americans had been forced onto reservations—land set aside by the federal government, usually in isolated or less fertile areas. Life on reservations was often marked by poverty, hunger, and strict government oversight. Agents controlled food distribution, movement, and religious practices. Treaties were frequently broken or ignored.
Even so, Native communities found ways to resist quietly but persistently. Elders preserved oral traditions. Parents taught languages in secret. Ceremonial dances and spiritual practices were held despite government bans. Resistance became a daily act of cultural survival.
Spiritual Resistance and the Ghost Dance
One of the most visible spiritual responses to U.S. violence was the Ghost Dance, which spread across many Native nations in the late 1880s. The movement called for a return to traditional ways and promised that, through prayer and peaceful living, Native peoples would be reunited with their ancestors, and white control would vanish.
The Ghost Dance gave hope to communities under extreme oppression. But U.S. officials viewed it as a threat. Tensions escalated, leading to the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, where more than 200 Lakota men, women, and children were killed by U.S. troops. The tragedy at Wounded Knee was not the end of resistance—it was evidence of how threatened U.S. authorities were by Native resilience and unity.
Persistence and Survival
Despite loss, violence, and forced assimilation, Native resistance never ended. It shifted. It evolved. And it endured. Communities found ways to protect their cultures, languages, and families. Elders taught traditions. Leaders pushed for land rights, sovereignty, and treaty recognition. Activism took place in both quiet and visible ways.
The resistance of this era laid the groundwork for future generations—from 20th-century legal victories to the rise of the American Indian Movement and present-day land and water protectors. Native nations have continually demanded to be seen not as victims of history, but as makers of it.