Five Civilized Tribes

White settlers first used the name Five Civilized Tribes in the 19th century to refer to five southeastern Native American tribes: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee (Creek), and Seminole, residing in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. These tribes were considered “civilized” by European standards because they adopted European values and customs, such as attending Christian churches, sending their children to school, and farming, and because they had generally good relations with their European neighbors.

The term civilized needs to be understood as part of the larger U.S. policy toward Native Americans, encouraging the assimilation process whereby they would adopt European American customs and as such would be treated as members of American society. This began with George Washington's policy of culturally transforming American Indians to European American ways of life. Washington's civilizing policy was undertaken as his six-point plan, which included impartial treatment of, or justice for, American Indians; regulated purchase of their land; promotion of commerce; endorsement of experiments aimed at civilizing or “improving” American Indian society; presidential authority to offer gifts; and punishment of those found in violation of American Indian rights. Later, government-appointed agents and missionaries were often placed on reservations, and children were sent to government-run boarding schools to aid in the process of assimilation.

Despite this designation, the five tribes were forced to relocate under the 1830 Indian Removal Act, as the U.S. government claimed their land for white settlement and development. In a series of removals made between 1830 and 1842, known as the Trail of Tears, all five tribes were moved to what was then called Indian Territory in parts of present-day Oklahoma. The westward migration of the Five Civilized Tribes was a devastating and tragic experience for each group, resulting not only in the loss of property, possessions, and their ancestral homelands but also in significant loss of life.

However, once situated in their new lands, each tribe developed thriving communities that included the creation of their own constitutions, governments, school systems, and successful economies. Despite their status as sovereign nations, which should have secured their new territory from further encroachment by settlers or U.S. authorities, their Oklahoma lands were opened up for white settlement in the late 19th century. In 1895, the Dawes Commission began negotiating allotment agreements with the Five Civilized Tribes. Communally owned tribal land was allotted to individual members registered with the Dawes Roll. Finally, the Curtis Act of 1898 put an end to tribal sovereignty by terminating tribal governments, courts, and laws. In 1907, Indian Territory was merged with the Oklahoma Territory to form the state of Oklahoma (which is a Choctaw word meaning Red People), where all five tribes have a strong presence today.

In the 1920s, assimilation and allotment policies came under attack, leading to changes that resulted in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and new ideas about cultural pluralism. The key initiatives of the act included stopping allotment and establishing procedures for the creation of tribal governments and business corporations, the latter of which many tribal groups did successfully in the late 20th century. The 1950s reflected another policy change: termination, which entailed ending services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The 1960s began the era [Page 882]of self-determination, allowing Native Americans to have more control in policy-making matters.

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