Department
History
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
Determining post-Civil War national policy regarding American Indians was a tedious process. Many entities could describe themselves as stakeholders in the process, stakeholders who were beholding motivations which they would describe as significant. Those motivations would, to varying degrees, take the interest of Native Americans into consideration. It was in the liminal environment of volatile policy adjustments that American Indians were compelled to make decisions regarding their future. The Dakota (Sioux) represented a crucible for the recently approved General Allotment Act of 1887. The rise of progressive tribal leadership was a primary reason for the sudden passage of the Sioux Act of 1889 on the Standing Rock Agency. Within the progressive element of the Dakota (Sioux) of Standing Rock, the oration skills and pragmatic sensibility of Chief John Grass launched him into the position of spokesperson for the Dakota (Sioux) during the Sioux Commissions of 1888 and 1889. Indian Agent Colonel Steen of Mandan, ND recollected in 1919 “He was a leader of great influence and did it with no flourish or calling attention to himself.”[1] However, the influence of progressives only explains part of the story. Tiered historical events and policies directly impacted the opportunity for progressives to assume the mantle of tribal leadership. Examples of the types of pressures include historically dynamic Federal/American Indian policy, capital investment and industrialization in response to western migration, the drive for Dakota Territory statehood, the successful lobbying effort of Eastern reformers known collectively as the Friends of the Indians, the ability of Agent James McLaughlin to influence tribal leaders, and the ostracization of Sitting Bull from the tribal decision-making hierarchy are examples of pressures that acted as antecedents to the referendum on the Standing Rock reservation in 1889.
[1] “Brillance Attested to by Indian Agents,” Welch Dakota Papers, accessed April 29, 2025, https://www.welchdakotapapers.com/2011/11/chief-john-grass-2/#brilliance-attested-to.
Keywords
Western Migration, Nineteenth Century, Guilded Age, Hegemony, Benjamin Harrison
Advisor
Dr. Juti Winchester
Date of Award
Summer 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Recommended Citation
Smith, Richard Keith, "A Crucible for Allotment and Assimilation: The Referendum for Ratification of the Sioux Act of 1889 on the Standing Rock Agency" (2025). Master's Theses. 3270.
DOI: 10.58809/GANN8018
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/3270
Rights
© The Author
