Final answer:
The reservation system confined American Indian tribes to federal lands where they struggled with inadequate resources and were forced into cultural assimilation. Relocation and treaties severely reduced their sovereignty and access to traditional livelihoods. Despite resistance and legal battles, these policies led to significant tribal land loss and cultural destruction.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the American reservation system, American Indian tribes were confined to assigned lands. Post the Civil War, Natives found themselves displaced yet again by white Americans and European immigrants, leading to the creation of reservations. These were federal lands reserved exclusively for the tribes, where settler occupation was illegal. Unfortunately, reservation land was typically unfit for traditional European farming or livestock, which were not indigenous practices for many tribes in western regions.
As a result, tribes depended on the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for support. The integration of Native Americans into American society also involved the forcible assimilation of their culture. Children were sent to boarding schools and prohibited from speaking their native tongue or practicing their culture. Treaties and federal policies over the years devastated tribal lands and sovereignty, leading to poverty and legal battles to reclaim treaty rights.
Sovereignty and self-governance were issues of continuous struggle, including the controversial Allotment system that imposed private land ownership on communal societies. The government's efforts to push assimilation while tribes resisted through various forms of collective action and legal battles marked a dark chapter in U.S. history, leading to the loss of both physical land and cultural identity for many Indigenous peoples.