At first, the US government confined American Indians to reservations. Reservations are designated pieces of lands that were given to American Indian groups. This began under the presidency of Andrew Jackson when he helped to pass the Indian Removal Act. This removed Cherokee members from their homelands in modern day Georgia to reserved pieces of land in modern day Oklahoma.
Next, they encouraged American Indians to assimilate. The American government developed Indian boarding schools where Native American children could be sent to learn more about American culture. This resulted in the destruction of many native cultures, as students were forced to learn English and were often punished for expressing their native language or culture.
Then, they divided up American Indian land into individual plots for family use. This was part of the Dawes Act of 1887, which resulted in land being held by individual families rather than the land being owned communally.