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EVOLUTION OF INDIAN-US POLICY 1787-1900

Section 2: The Evolution of U.S. Policy: 1787-1900 Because "health" and "health care" were not concrete concepts in 18th and 19th century policies, very little on health issues is specifically found in documents or legislative actions during that time period. Early Indian policy, however, plays an important part in shaping future health policies.

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided a philosophical construct for Indian affairs, stating that "the utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians"(Deloria, 1971, p. 1). While the utmost good faith wording appears altruistic, its interpretation in practice remained paternalistic. A landmark State Supreme Court case, Caldwell v. State of Alabama, 1 Stew. & Potter (Alabama) 327 (1832) brought forth this opinion by Justice Taylor:

That on account of their liability, from their ignorance...they shall be protected by suitable laws to be enacted for the purpose. They shall be viewed somewhat as minors, and as wards of the State, receive that degree of care and attention which their situation and peculiar liability requires (Deloria, p. 34).

In 1832, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Elbert Herring justified acts of paternalism stating "in consummation of this grand and sacred object rests the sole chance of averting Indian annihilation" (Federal Indian Policies, [BIA], 1976, p. 6). In 1849, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was transferred from military control (War Department) to civil control (the newly created Department of the Interior). In 1862, Secretary of Interior Caleb Smith declared a need for a "radical change in the mode of treatment of Indians" (BIA, p. 8).

Commissioner Frances Walker (1871-73) set the tone for these new "enlightened" times. In health jargon, the Reservation under the auspices of the U.S. government was to be the Provider. Aid toward subsistence and civilization would be the Medicine, but the prescribed dosage was up for interpretation. The concepts of "entitlement", and "conferred rights" to aid and public assistance found many of its roots in this time period. The prevailing concept of the "deserving poor" also found itself reflected in Indian policy. While access to aid was supposedly universal, there existed "eligibility requirements" that were simplistic, subjective and harsh. Those Indians who "went wrong" were "harassed and scourged without intermission" (BIA, p. 8). Those who "went right" were "protected and fed" through a new practice of furnishing food rations and clothing. The rationing practice was the forerunner of special aids to Indians in the future. Ironically, Walker defended this practice on moral grounds as follows:

Can any principle of national morality be dearer than that when the expansion and development of a civilized race involve the rapid destruction of the only means of subsistence possessed by members of a less fortunate race, the higher is bound as a simple right to provide for the lower some substitute for the means of subsistence which it destroyed? (BIA, p. 8).

A contrary view to this otherwise moral welfare found its spokespersons even as those same arguments are presented today. An Indian Agent, V.T. McGillicuddy on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, counters Walker with:

What reason or inducement can be advanced why an Indian should go to work and earn his own living by the sweat of this brow, when an indulgent Government furnishes him more than he wants to eat and clothes him for nothing? (BIA, p. 9).

These were the prevailing ideas of the late 19th century, setting the stage for the next period. The emerging issues appear to be a move toward self-sufficiency (with government assistance) and the maintaining of the inter-governmental relationship that existed but with more equality in the partnership.