The Legal Bookends
In short, while most racial/ethnic groups and women faced a forced exclusion from the American social contract, Indians, from the 1880s, faced a forced inclusion into the American polity.
- David Wilkins (2002)
US government policies and practices since independence served to take Indians' land and attempt to "civilize" them. Starting with the Dawes Act of 1887 and ending 37 years later, US government legislation and policies sped up this process, with the explicit goal of removing land and making Indians into US citizens.