Time Line of the Development of the United States

  

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Date

Reference
28000 B.C. Early man begins to populate North America from Asia by the land bridge
6400 B.C. "Kennewick Man" was discovered to be living in what is now Washington.  Discovery 1996
4000 B.C. Humans living in North America begin to develop hunting-gathering abilities
700 A.D. The Mogollon Indians move into what is now known as the Southwestern United States
750-1150 A.D. The Anasazi, an early pueblo Indian culture develops in Southwestern United States.
October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus brings Europeans to the Shores of the "new world".
June 17, 1673 Jacques Marquete and Louis Jolliet reach Mississippi River and paddle to Gulf of Mexico
August 10, 1680 Pueblo uprising involving more than 20 settlements results in death of more than 400 Spanish settlers and Missionaries in NM
May 5, 1718 San Antonio is established by Martin de alrcon, the Spanish Governor of Texas
July 15, 1741  Aleksei Chirikov with Vitus Bering Expedition sights land - the Great Land is discovered. Chirikov, in command of the ship the St. Paul, sighted what is believed to be Prince of Wales Island of the Alexander Archipelago. Bering's ship, the St. Peter, had sailed a more northerly direction and came upon Kayak Island the next day.
1774 to 1791 Charles III of Spain fears Russian expansion; sends expeditions north along northwest coast of North America. Spain leaves few traces except place names such as Malaspina Glacier and Valdez.
May 28, 1754 The Battle of Jumonville Glen begins the French and Indian War, a conflict over land and fur.
February 10, 1763 The Seven Years War ends with the treaty of Paris.  The British received Canada, Louisiana went to Spain
February 15, 1764 French Workers begin to build the City of St. Louis
May 1, 1769 Daniel Boone, John Finley and four others set out to explore the land west of the Cumberland Gap.
1776 Captain James Cook of England searches for Northwest Passage. His maps of northern North America prove that America and Asia are separate land masses and remain the standard for over a century.
July 4, 1776 Adoption of the Declaration of Independence is signed at Philadelphia's Independence Hall
September 22, 1777 John Bartram Dies.  He was known as the father of American Botany.  He explored around Lake Ontario
July 17, 1781 Yuma Indians Kill several Spaniards on an overland trail between Mexico and California
1784 First permanent Russian settlement is established at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island in and attempt to stave off British inroads. Grigory Ivanovich Shelikov brings his wife Natalya to Kodiak: first European woman in Russian America. Shelikov, a Siberian fur merchant, established the first permanent Russian settlement on Kodiak Island as a means of restricting the British fur trade. He wanted to establish a monopoly of the fur trade in Alaska, but the Empress Catherine would not allow it. Shelikov did, however, force the Natives on the island into submission.
July 13, 1787 The  Confederation Congress passes the Northwest Ordinance.
July 13, 1787 Members of the Constitutional Convention take part in sea trials for the first steam boat.  Developed by John Fitch.
September 17, 1787 The Final Draft of the Constitution is signed.  Delaware is teh first state to ratify it in December.
1789 First American expedition sets out for northwestern North American to compete with British and Russians for fur trade.
November 3, 1791 More than 600 whites were killed by Indians near the upper Wabash River. 
1794  Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov builds first ocean-going vessel in northwestern America on the Kenai Peninsula at Voskressenski.
October 27, 1795 The Treaty of San Lorenzo established the Mississippi River and the 36th parallel as the boundary with Spanish territory.
1799 First Russian trading charter grants Russian-American Company sole trading rights in America for 20 years. Aleksandr Andreyevich Baranov establishes Russian post known today as Old Sitka. Violating order against doing business with foreigners Baranov made friends with James Shields, an English naval officer experienced in ship building. Baranov engaged Shields to construct a vessel. When it was finished the ship was christened the Phoenix. It was used in American waters and made two voyages to Siberia. Its chief value was symbolic, a demonstration of what the colony on Kodiak could accomplish.
October 1, 1800 France and Spain sign the treaty of San ildefonso, returning control of the Louisiana Territory to France.
1802 After the attack on Old Sitka, Baranov was forced to pay 10,000 rubles ransom for surviving settlers.1804 Baranov returned to Sitka with a large contingent of Russians and Aleuts, and the Russian warship Neva. The ship destroyed the Native village and its occupants. Baranov immediately began to build the settlement of New Archangel, now known as Sitka.
1805  First cargo of Russian furs from Russian America is delivered to Canton, China by Yuri Lisiansky. 1812 Napoleon invades Russia, increasing isolation of Russia from its distant colonies
1815 Otto von Kotzebue, an Estonian German, sets out on Russian round-the-world expedition; visits St. Lawrence Island and Unalaska during summer.
1821 Russian Trading Charter is renewed extending Russian jurisdiction to 51st parallel. During this period, the Hudson's Bay Company, chartered by the British, was trying to gain a foothold in the Alaska fur trade. The British made a deal with the Russians to lease the mainland south of Cape Spencer for 10 years at an annual payment of 2,000 land otter skins. The British were a presence in Alaska for the next 30 years.
December 2, 1823 President James Monroe, seeking to exclude European intervention in the New World, issues the Monroe Doctrine.
1824 Russia and USA sign a treaty accepting 54 degrees, 4 minutes as southern boundary of Russian America. 1848 Cathedral of St. Michael is dedicated in New Archangel (Sitka).
1834 Intercourse Act - Congress created Indian Territory in the west that included the land area in all of present-day Kansas, most of Oklahoma , and parts of what later became Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming . The area was set aside for Indians who would be removed from their ancestral lands which, in turn, would Indian be settled by non-Indians. The area steadily decreased in size until the 1870s when Indian Territory had been reduced to what is now Oklahoma , excluding the panhandle.
1834 The Oglala Tribe becomes more centrally organized with most bands following Chief Bull Bear and rest following Chief Smoke. This was a change from their previous more loosely governed bands with many leaders of comparable influence.
1835 Treaty of New Echota - A portion of the Cherokee nation agreed to give up Cherokee lands in the Southeast in exchange for land in and removal to Indian Territory. A larger group of the Cherokee did not accept the terms of this treaty and refused to move westward.
1835-1842  Seminole War - The second and most terrible of three wars between the US government and the Seminole people was also one of the longest and most expensive wars in which the US army was ever engaged. Thousands of troops were sent, 1,500 men died, and between 40-60 million dollars were spent to force most of the Seminoles to move to Indian Territory - more than the entire US government's budget for Indian Removal.
1836 In five groups, over 14,000 Creeks were forcibly removed by the US Army from Alabama to Oklahoma .
March 3, 1836 The battle at the Alamo, the loss that became the battle cry for Texas Independence from Mexico
1837 Two thirds of the 6,000 Blackfoot died of smallpox
1837 Trail of Tears - Despite the Supreme Court's rulings in 1831 and 1832 that the Cherokee had a right to stay on their lands, President Jackson sent federal troops to forcibly remove almost 16,000 Cherokee who had refused to move westward under the unrecognized Treaty of New Echota (1835) and had remained in Georgia. In May, American soldiers herded most into camps where they remained imprisoned throughout the summer and where at least 1,500 perished. The remainder began an 800-mile forced march to Oklahoma that fall. In all some, 4,000 Cherokee died during the removal process.
1838 On January 30, Seminole leader Osceola died from complications of malaria at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. He led a valiant fight against removal of his people to Indian Territory, but eventually the Seminoles were forcibly relocated.
1841 Forty-eight wagons arrive in Sacramento by way of the Oregon Trail, one of the earliest large groups to make this journey.
1842 Seminole Nation v. United States. The Court held officials of the United States were to be held to the "most exacting fiduciary standards" in performing their duties toward American Indians. Thus, it "has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust" towards American Indian Nations; i.e., upholding the trust responsibility.
1843 Second Seminole War ends. 
1847 Westward migration begins along the Oregon Trail through Plains Indian country.
1847 Thomas H. Hardy, Superintendant of Indian Affairs in St. Louis warns of trouble from declining buffalo herds
1849 The U.S. Government purchases Fort Laramie from the American Fur Company and begins to bring in troops.
1849 The Bureau of Indian Affairs (formerly The Indian Office) is transferred from the War Department to the newly-created Department of the Interior.
1849 Physician services were extended to Indians with the establishment of a corps of civilian field employees.
Jan. 24, 1849 James Marshall discovers gold near Sutter's Fort, California. News of the find begins the California Gold Rush of 1849.
1850 There are 20,000,000 buffalo on the plains between Montana and Texas.
Sept. 9, 1850 On September 9, California entered the Union. With miners flooding the hillsides and devastating the land, California's Indians found themselves deprived of their traditional food sources and forced by hunger to raid the mining towns and other white settlements. Miners retaliated by hunting Indians down and brutally abusing them. The California legislature responded to the situation with an Indenture Act which established a form of legal slavery for the native peoples of the state by allowing whites to declare them vagrant and auction off their services for up to four months. The law also permitted whites to indenture Indian children, with the permission of a parent or friend, which led to widespread kidnapping of Indian children, who were then sold as "apprentices."
1850-1875 Extermination of buffalo herds by sports and hide hunters, severely limits Plains Indians food supply and ability to survive.
1851 A series of Fort Laramie treaties were signed with the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Plains tribes delineating the extent of their territories and allowing passage across these territories in exchange for payments to the tribes. The extent of Lakota territories were clearly described. Thus began the incursions of miners and wagon trains on the Oregon and later the Bozeman trails, few at first but an onslaught after the end of the Civil War.
1851 Federal commissioners attempting to halt the brutal treatment of Indians in California negotiated eighteen treaties with various tribes and village groups, promising them 8.5 million acres of reservation lands. California politicians succeeded in having the treaties secretly rejected by Congress in 1852, leaving the native peoples of the state homeless within a hostile white society.
1853 Oil seeps in Cook Inlet discovered by employees of Russian-America Company.
1857 Coal mining begins at Coal Harbor on Kenai Peninsula to supply steamers. The Russian-American Company was suffering from financial difficulties and the Tzar wanted to revoke the charter. The company had been beaten by the Hudson's Bay Company in the fur trade. The British company had better and cheaper items to trade with the Natives for furs. The Company tried new business ventures. It opened a coal mine at Port Graham. By 1857 the mine produced enough coal to support the colony. Surplus coal was taken to San Francisco but it was sold at a loss. The company quit the venture. It also failed at whaling because it could not compete with the more efficient Americans. The ice trade prospered, but it was not enough to justify the company's existence. The company's long tenure in the Americas soon came to an end.
1861 Gold is discovered at Telegraph Creek at the Stikine River. 1867 March 30 - Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiates purchase of Russian America: 375 million acres for $7.2 million - less than 2 cents per acre. Many called this "Seward's Folly" because little was known about Alaska, other than its cold climate. Fur seal population, stabilized under Russian rule, declines rapidly. Major General Jefferson C. Davis, U.S. Army, assumes command of the Department of Alaska. A decade of military rule begins.
Sept. 22, 1862 Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
1865 General Patrick Conner organizes 3 columns of soldiers to begin an invasion of the Powder River Basin, from the Black Hills, Paha Sapa, to the Big Horn Mountains. They had one order: "Attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age." Conner builds a fort on the Powder River. Wagon trains begin to cross the Powder River Basin on their way to the Montana gold fields.
1865 "I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love." - Chief Red Cloud (Makhipiya-Luta) Sioux Chief
1865 "When a child my mother taught me the legends of our people; taught me of the sun and sky, the moon and stars, the clouds and storms. She also taught me to kneel and pray to Usen for strength, health, wisdom, and protection. We never prayed against any person, but if we had aught against any individual we ourselves took vengeance. We were taught that Usen does not care for the petty quarrels of men." - Geronimo [Goyathlay], Chiracahua Apache
1865 "Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike--brothers of one father and one another, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one government for all." - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
1868  First Alaska newspaper, "The Sitka Times," is published by Thomas Murphy.
June 26, 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, the end of General George Armstrong Custer
1877 Nez Perce War - This war occurred when the US army responded to some American deaths along the Salmon River, said to have been committed by the Nez Perce. To avoid a battle that would have resulted in being forced onto a reservation, about 800 Nez Perce fled 1,500 miles. They were caught 30 miles south of the Canadian border. Survivors were sent to Indian Territory in Oklahoma , despite the promise of the US government to allow them to return to their homeland.
Jan 15, 1877 Standing Bear, a Ponca chief, refused to move to a reservation because it was within lands already given to the Lakota.
Feb. 28, 1877 The U.S. Government seized the Black Hills from Lakota Sioux in violation of a treaty.
March 23, 1877 John D. Lee was brought to trial for his part in the Fancher Party Massacre of 1857.   He was convicted by an all-Mormon jury. On March 23 he was executed by firing squad at the site of the massacre, after denouncing Brigham Young for abandoning him. His last words are for his executioners: "Center my heart, boys. Don't mangle my body."
May 1877 Sitting Bull escapes to Canada with about 300 followers.
May 6, 1877 Crazy Horse finally surrendered to General George Crook at Fort Robinson, Nebraska on May 6, having received assurances that he and his followers will be permitted to settle in the Powder River country of Montana. Defiant even in defeat, Crazy Horse arrived with a band of 800 warriors, all brandishing weapons and chanting songs of war.
May 7, 1877 A small band of Minneconjou Sioux is defeated by General Miles, thus ending the Great Sioux Wars.
June 1877 The Ponca arrived at the Otto reservation. They were forcibly marched from their old reservation to Indian Territory . The Otto took pity on the Ponca and gave them some horses to help carry their people.
Sept. 6, 1877 By late summer, there were rumors that Crazy Horse was planning a return to battle, and on September 5 he was arrested and brought back to Fort Robinson, where, when he resisted being jailed, he was held by an Indian guard and killed by a bayonet thrust from a soldier on September 6. He was 36.
Sept. 1877 Congress passed the Manypenny Agreement, a law taking the Black Hills and ending Sioux rights outside the Great Sioux Reservation. The Sioux land - 134 million acres guaranteed by treaty in 1868 was reduced to less than 15 million acres.
Oct. 5, 1877 Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph surrendered his rifle at Eagle Creek in the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana after months in which his starving band eluded pursuing federal troops: "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
1877 US troops withdraw from Alaska.
1877-1888 Buffalo have disappeared and Lakota now live on handouts from the Federal Government.
1878 First Alaska fish cannery opens in Klawock.
1878 The Northern Cheyenne escape from their reservation in Oklahoma in an attempt to reach their lands in Montana Territory.
January 1878 A Commission finds the Indian Bureau permeated with "cupidity, inefficiency, and the most barefaced dishonesty." The department's affairs were "a reproach to the whole nation." Carl Schurz had already dismissed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Q. Smith on September 27, 1877. He now discharged many more Bureau employees and began a reorganization of the Indian agents. 
1879 The first students, a group of 84 Lakota children, arrived at the newly established United States Indian Training and Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a boarding school founded by former Indian-fighter Captain Richard Henry Pratt to remove young Indians from their native culture and refashion them as members of mainstream American society. Over the next two decades, twenty-four more schools on the Carlisle model will be established outside the reservations, along with 81 boarding schools and nearly 150 day schools on the Indians’ own land.
Jan. 14, 1879 Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Tribe addressed Congress about tribal lands stolen through treaties. He gave the analogy that it was like having horses that he doesn’t want to sell being sold by his neighbor, with the neighbor then letting the buyer take the horses.
Jan 1879 The U.S. Army rounded up 540 Paiutes in Oregon and, in what’s known as the Paiute Trail of Tears, forcibly took them to the Yakima Reservation in Washington. On February 2, they arrived at the reservation after a forced march through winter snows.
1880 Joe Juneau and Richard Harris discover gold on Gastineau Channel. Juneau is founded. In 1880, George Pilz, a German-born mining school graduate living in Sitka, grubstaked his employee Joe Juneau and another man, Richard Harris. The two men went prospecting in the vicinity of Gastineau Channel. Harris and Juneau named the creek where they found placer gold, Gold Creek, and they named Silver Bow Basin at the head of the creek. A mining district was established and called Harrisburg, and soon a town first named Harrisburg, then Rockwell, and finally Juneau began to flourish at a shallow bay called Miners Cove.
1880 Civilization Regulations - Congress set up a series of offenses that only Indians could commit.  These regulations outlawed Indian religions, the practices of "so-called" medicine men, ceremonies like the Sun Dance, and leaving the reservation without permission.  These regulations were in place until 1936.
1881 A Century of Dishonor publication. - Helen Hunt Jackson released her book detailing the plight of American Indians and criticizing the US government's treatment of Indians.
1881  Parris Lode claim staked near Juneau and by 1885 is Alaska's most famous mine -- the Treadwell. In 1881 John Treadwell, a promoter, obtained a claim from a prospector known as French Pete for a sum ranging from $5 to $400, depending upon one's source of information. The claim was located on Douglas Island. A Geologist had said the site contained only low-grade ore. It was worthless to French Pete, who did not possess the capital to develop it. Treadwell recognized its potential and developed a very profitable enterprise. The year-round employment at the mine gave the town an economic base. Eventually, four mines were opened -- the Treadwell, the 700, the Mexican, and the Ready Bullion -- and five stamp mills.
Jan 18, 1881 The Spokane Indian Reservation was established.
July 18, 1881 Sitting Bull and 186 of his remaining followers surrender at Fort Buford. He is sent to Fort Randall for two years as a prisoner of war instead of being pardoned, as promised.
1882 First Alaska salmon canneries are built in central Alaska. First commercial herring fishing begins at Killisnoo.
1884 Steamers begin bringing first tourists to Alaska.
1884 Congress passes First Organic Act; $15,000 appropriated to educate Alaska Native children.
1887 Congress creates the Indian Reservation of Metlakatla on Annette Island. Around 1887, Reverend William Duncan brought 1,000 Tsimshian followers from Metlakatla in British Columbia to Annette Island. On land obtained through a congressional grant he built a new Metlakatla, designed to make the Natives self-sufficient. They were taught trades such as carpentry, seamanship, and boat-building, built their own sawmills and a cannery, and engaged in other enterprises.
1890  First oil claims are staked in Cook Inlet.
1890 Sheldon Jackson introduces reindeer into Alaska.
1890  Large corporate salmon canneries begin to appear in Alaska
1893  Gold is discovered on Birch Creek; Circle City is founded.
1896  Klondike Gold Rush begins.
April 23, 1898  Libby Partners make first major gold strike on Melsing and Ophir Creeks; Nome Gold Rush begins.
1900 First exploratory well is drilled in Cook Inlet. 20,000 gold miners on Nome beach.
1900 Capital moves from Sitka to Juneau.
1900 White Pass and Yukon Railroad is completed.
1902  First oil production in Alaska.
1902 Felix Pedro discovers gold near Fairbanks. Pedro and merchant Barnette played leading role in the establishment of Fairbanks. Barnette, who had been a trader for several years in Circle, came down the Tanana River in 1901. He anchored the ship that his chartered ship on the Chena River, a tributary of the Tanana, in August of 1901. Persuaded by Pedro of the area's potential, he established his store there. A town grew up and named for the vice president of the United States at that time, Charles Fairbanks.
1902  President Theodore Roosevelt establishes the Tongass National Forest.
1903  Lone Wolf vs. Hickcock Supreme Court decision - The Kiowas and Comanches sued the Secretary of the Interior to stop the transfer of their lands without consent of tribal members which violated the promises made in the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge. The Court ruled that the trust relationship served as a source of power for Congress to take action on tribal land held under the terms of a treaty. Thus, Congress could, by statute, abrogate the provisions of an Indian treaty. Further, Congress had a plenary - or absolute - power over tribal relations. 
1903 Alaska-Canada border is settled.
1904 Washington Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS) begins to lay submarine cable between Seattle, Sitka, and Valdez linking Alaska to "Outside."
1905 First message is telegraphed from Fairbanks to Valdez.
1906 Native Allotment Act passes; first opportunity for Natives to obtain land under restricted title.
1906 Antiquities Act - This Congressional Act declared that Indian bones and objects found on federal land were the property of the United States
1906 Burke Act - This act amended the Dawes Act to give the secretary of the interior the power to remove allotments from trust before the time set by the Dawes Act, by declaring that the holders had "adopted the habits of civilized life." This act also changed the point at which the government would award citizenship from the granting of the allotment to the granting of the title.
1907 State of Oklahoma - Congress established the State of Oklahoma by merging Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. The former Indian Territory was opened to additional non-Indian settlement.
1908 Winters v. United States Supreme Court decision. Indians from the Fort Belknap reservation in Montana sued to prevent a white settler from damming the Milk River and diverting water from their reservation. The Court found that when Congress created reservations, it did so with the implicit intention that Indians should have enough water to live. Thus, Indians had federally reserved and protected water rights.
1910 Act to Provide for Determining the Heirs of Deceased Indians ("and other purposes").  This act altered the Dawes Act by dealing with inheritance and leasing of allotments and with the allotment of land that could be used for irrigated farming, among many other things.
1911 Society of American Indians - The Society - the first step in the direction of pan-Indian unity - was established and managed exclusively by American Indians, most of whom were well-known in non-Indian society and well-educated. Although members favored assimilation, they also lobbied for many reform issues, especially improved health care on reservations, citizenship, and a special court of claims for Indians.
1913 US v. Sandoval Supreme Court decision. The Court upheld the application of a federal liquor-control law to the New Mexico Pueblos, even though Pueblo lands had never been designated by the federal government as reservation land. The Court ruled that an unbroken line of federal legislative, executive, and judicial actions had "...attributed to the United States as a superior and civilized nation the power and duty of exercising a fostering care and protection over all dependent Indian communities within its borders..." Thus, once Congress had begun to act in a guardian role toward the tribes, it was up to Congress, not the courts, to determine when the state of wardship should end.
1917 World War I - When the US entered the war, about 17,000 Indians served in the armed forces. Some Indians, however, specifically resisted the draft because they were not citizens and could not vote or because they felt it would be an infringement of their tribal sovereignty. In 1919, Indian veterans of the war were granted citizenship.
1918 Native American Church - This Indian church was organized in Oklahoma to combine an ancient Indian practice - the use of peyote - with Christian beliefs of morality and self-respect. The Church prohibits alcohol, requires monogamy and family responsibility, and promotes hard work. By 1923, 14 states had outlawed the use of peyote and in 1940, the Navajo tribal council banned it from the reservation. In1944, the Native American Church of the United States was incorporated.  Today, the Church continues to play an important role in the lives of many Indian people.
1924 Indian Citizenship Act - This Congressional Act extended citizenship and voting rights to all American Indians. Some Indians, however, did not want to become US citizens, preferring to maintain only their tribal membership.
1924 Indian Health Division - Congress established the Division to operate under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1928 The Meriam Report "The Problem of Indian Administration."  - The report, commissioned by the Department of Interior in 1926, focused on the poverty, ill health, and despair that characterized many Indian communities. It recommended reforms that would increase the BIA's efficiency, and promote the social and economic advancement of Indians: the termination of allotment and the phasing out of Indian boarding schools.
1934 The Indian New Deal - The brainchild of BIA director John Collier, the New Deal was an attempt to promote the revitalization of Indian cultural, lingual, governmental, and spiritual traditions. This blueprint for reform was written by non-Indians who felt they knew how to champion Indian rights.
1934 Johnson-O'Malley Act - This Congressional Act stipulated that the federal government was to pay states between 35 and 50 cents per day for Indian children enrolled in schools.
1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) - The IRA was the centerpiece of the Indian New Deal. It encouraged Indians to "recover" their cultural heritage, prohibited new allotments and extended the trust period for existing allotments, and sought to promote tribal self-government by encouraging tribes to adopt constitutions and form federally-chartered corporations. In order to take advantage of IRA funding, tribes were required to adopt a U.S. style constitution.  Tribes were given two years to accept or reject the IRA. Tribes who accepted it could then elect a tribal council. 174 tribes accepted it, 135 which drafted tribal constitutions. However, 78 tribes rejected the IRA, most fearing the consequences of even further federal direction.
Dec 7, 1941 Japan invades US at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The Beginning of the Western Front of WWII
1941 World War II - During the course of the war, about 25,000 American Indians served in the armed forces; another 40,000 Indian men and women were employed  in wartime industries.  Key among the American Indians participating in WWII were the Navajo and Comanche Code Talkers.
1942 On January 9, a U.S. government press release said 40 percent more Native Americans have enlisted to fight in WWII than have been drafted. Altogether, 25,000 Indians served in the U.S. armed forces, including 800 women. In the Philippines, a Choctaw scout escaped from the Japanese at the battle of Corregidor, and led underground guerrilla forces until the war ended. The Oneidas, Chippewas, and Comanches blocked Japanese decoding of military information by dispatching messages in their tribal languages. Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in the landing at Guadalcanal, where they sent and received reports from field commanders.
1943   American forces retake the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska, from the Japanese.
1944 National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) - About 100 Indian People met to create the nationís first large-scale national organization designed to monitor federal policies.  Today, over 250 member tribes throughout the US work to secure for Indian People and their descendants the rights and benefits to which they are entitled; to enlighten the public toward the better understanding of Indian people; to preserve rights under Indian treaties or agreements with the United States; and to promote the common welfare of the American Indians and Alaska Natives.
1946 Indian Claims Commission Act - The Commission was created to do away with tribal grievances over treaty enforcement, resource management, and disputes between tribes and the US government. Tribes were given five years to file a claim, during which them they had to prove aboriginal title to the lands in question and then bring suit for settlement. The Commission would then review the case and assess the amount, if any, that was to be paid in compensation. Until the Commission ended operations in 1978, it settled 285 cases and paid more than $800 million in settlements.
1948 Trujillo v. Garley Supreme Court decision - In response to the allegation that many states had successfully prohibited Indians from voting, the Court ruled that states were required to grant Native Americans the right to vote.
1953 Termination - Under House Concurrent Resolution 108, the trust relationship with many Indian tribes was terminated. Terminated tribes were then subject to state laws and their lands were sold to non-Indians. Eventually, Congress terminated over 100 tribes, most of which were small and consisted of a few hundred members as most. The Menominee of Wisconsin and the Klamath of Oregon were exceptions with 3,270 and 2,133 members respectively.
1953 Public Law 280 - This Congressional law transferred jurisdiction over most tribal lands to state governments in California, Oregon , Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Alaska was added in 1958. Additionally, it provided that any other state could assume such jurisdiction by passing a law or amending the state's constitution.
1953 Relocation - In order to deal with increasing unemployment among American Indians, the BIA enacted a new policy to persuade large numbers of Indians to relocate into urban areas. Using the lure of job training and housing, brochures  depicting Indian families leading a middle-class life were distributed by the BIA.  While the initial response was enthusiastic, within five years the relocation program was counted a failure, with 50 percent of the participants returning to their reservations.  This was the first of many late 20th Century failures to "mainstream" the Indian population
1954 Public Law 83-568 - This Congressional law transferred responsibility for American Indians and Alaskan Natives' health care from the BIA in the Department of Interior, to the Public Health Services within the Department of Health and Human Services.
1958  Congress passes Alaska Statehood Act conveying ownership of 104 million acres.
1959 Alaska is admitted to the Union as the 49th state, and William A. Egan becomes Alaska's first governor.
1961 National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) - This organization sought, and still seeks, to resurrect a sense of national pride among young Indian people and to instill an activist message -  Indians were no longer to bow their heads in humble obedience to the BIA and other institutions of white society.  Instead, they were to look back to their own great cultural traditions and make decisions about their lives based upon such traditions.
1964 Good Friday earthquake at 5:36 pm; Richter Scale measures 8.6. Alaska's population reaches 250,000. Fortunately, the loss of life caused by the earthquake was relatively low; but property damage was estimated at almost $500 million. The earthquake was more than 10 million times the force of an atomic bomb. The town of Valdez was completely destroyed.
1965-1973 Vietnam War - At least 43,000 American Indians fought in the Vietnam War.
1968 Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA) - This Congressional Act revised Public Law 280 by requiring states to obtain tribal consent prior to extend any legal jurisdiction over an Indian reservation. It also gave most protections of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to tribal members in dealings with their tribal governments. ICRA also amended the Major Crimes Act to include assault resulting in serious bodily harm.
1968 American Indian Movement (AIM) - Shortly after the  Minneapolis Anishinaabeg formed an "Indian Patrol" to monitor police activities in Indian neighborhoods, AIM was co-founded by Dennis Banks.  The new organization was comprised primarily of young urban Indians who believed that direct and militant confrontation with the US government was the only way to redress historical grievances and to gain contemporary civil rights; and that the tribal governments organized under the IRA (1934) were not truly legitimate or grounded in traditional Indian ways. By the 1990s, AIM was still active in Indian affairs, but was less involved in militant confrontation
1969 "Indians of All Tribes" occupation of Alcatraz - A group of young Indians seized the abandoned Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco harbor. They issued a "Proclamation to the Great White Father" in which they stated their claim that Alcatraz was suitable as an Indian Reservation and thus, should be converted into an Indian educational and cultural center. The Indians of All Tribes continued to occupy Alcatraz until June, 1971.
1970 Nixon's "Special Message on Indian Affairs" - President Nixon delivered a speech to Congress which denounced past federal policies, formally ended the termination policy, and called for a new era of self-determination for Indian peoples.
1972 Trail of Broken Treaties - Over 500 Indian activists traveled across the United States to Washington, DC where they planned to meet with BIA officials and to deliver a 20-point proposal for revamping the BIA and establishing a government commission to review treaty violations. When guards at the BIA informed the tribal members that Bureau officials would not meet with them and threatened forcible removal from the premises, the activists began a week-long siege of the BIA building. The BIA finally agreed to review the 20 demands and to provide funds to transport the activists back to their home. Shortly thereafter, the FBI classified AIM as "an extremist organization" and added the names of its leaders to the list of "key extremists" in the US.
1972 Indian Education Act - This Congressional Act established funding for special bilingual and bicultural programs, culturally relevant teaching materials, and appropriate training and hiring of counselors. It also created an Office of Indian Education in the US Department of Education.
1973 Wounded Knee Occupation - At the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota , trouble had been brewing between the Indian activists that supported AIM, and tribal leaders who had the support of the BIA. After a violent confrontation in 1972, tribal chair Richard Wilson condemned AIM and banned it from the reservation. In February 1973, AIM leaders led by Russell Means and about 200 activists who were supported by some Oglala traditional leaders took over the village of Wounded Knee, announced the creation of the Oglala Sioux Nation, declared themselves independent from the United States, and defined their national boundaries as those determined by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The siege lasted 71 days, during which time federal marshals, FBI agents, and armored vehicles surrounded the village. AIM members finally agreed to end their occupation under one condition - that the government convene a full investigation into their demands and grievances.
1975 Pine Ridge Reservation Shootout - In June, two FBI agents entered the Pine Ridge Reservation ostensibly looking for a tribal member on theft and assault charges. Shots were fired under confusing circumstances, resulting in the death of the two agents and one AIM member. The violence that ensued was coupled with the criminalization of the AIM movement, the result of which was an undermining of the Indian movement for self-determination.
1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act - This Congressional Act recognized the obligation of the US to provide for maximum participation by American Indians in Federal services to and programs in Indian communities. It also established a goal to provide education and services to permit Indian children to achieve, and declared a commitment to maintain the Federal government's continuing trust relationship, and responsibility to, individual Indians and tribes.
1975 Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) - Leaders from over 20 tribes created CERT to help Indians secure better terms from corporations that sought to exploit valuable mineral resources on reservations.
1975 Leonard Peltier Arrest - Two years after the siege at Wounded Knee, conditions at the Pine Ridge Reservation had deteriorated. AIM activists and supporters continued to clash directly with tribal Chairman Wilson and his men. In 1975, two FBI agents were killed and AIM activist Leonard Peltier was arrested, tried, and convicted for the deaths. Sentenced to double life imprisonment, Peltier's arrest and conviction are still the subject of heated controversy among many American political activists.
1976 In November's General Election, Alaska's voters, by a vote of 75,588 to 38,518, approve constitutional amendment establishing the Permanent Fund. Article IX, Section 15 - At least 25 percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing payments and bonuses received by the State shall be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which shall be used only for those income-producing investments specifically designated as eligible for permanent fund investments. All income from the permanent fund shall be deposited in the general fund unless otherwise provided by law. Alaska's population passes 400,000.
1977 Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA) - This Senate resolution re-established the SCIA. The Committee was originally created in the early nineteenth century, but disbanded in 1946 when Indian affairs legislative and oversight jurisdiction was vested in subcommittees of the Interior and Insular Affairs Commission of the House and Senate. The Committee became permanent in 1984. Its jurisdiction includes studying the unique issues related to Indian and Hawaiian peoples and proposing legislation to deal with such issues - issues which include but are not limited to Indian education, economic development, trust responsibilities, land management, health care, and claims against the US. government.
1977 Report of the American Indian Policy Review Commission - The Commission, established in 1975, issued its report in which it called for a firm rejection of assimilationist policies, increased financial assistance to the tribes, and a reaffirmation of the tribes' status as permanent, self-governing institutions.
1978 Indian Child Welfare Act - This Congressional Act addressed the widespread practice of transferring the care and custody of Indian children to non-Indians. It recognized the authority of tribal courts to hear the adoption and guardianship cases of Indian children and established a strict set of statutory guidelines for those cases heard in state court.
1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act - This Congressional Act promised to "protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise" traditional religions, "including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonial and traditional rites." Although the enactment seemed to recognize the importance of traditional Indian religious practices, it contained no enforcement provisions.
1978 Santa Clara v. Martinez Supreme Court Decision - When a Santa Clara woman married a Navajo, the tribal council denied her children membership in the Santa Clara Pueblo based upon a 1939 tribal ordinance that denied membership to children of women who married outside the tribe. The woman sued to grant membership to her children. The Court held that Indian tribes are "distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights in matters of self-government." In short, the Court held that the Court itself did not have the right to interfere in tribal self-government issues such as tribal membership.
1978 US v. Wheeler Supreme Court Decision -  The Court considered the question of whether the power to punish tribal offenders is "part of inherent tribal sovereignty, or an aspect of the sovereignty of the Federal Government which has been delegated to the tribes by Congress." He concluded: "The sovereignty that the Indian tribes retain is of a unique and limited character. It exists only at the sufferance of Congress and is subject to complete defeasance. But until Congress acts, the tribes retain their existing sovereign powers. In sum, Indian tribes still possess those aspects of sovereignty not withdrawn by treaty or statute, or by implication as a necessary result of their dependent status."  In short,  Indian nations were sovereign, but such sovereignty was limited and subject to Congressional whim.
1978 Federal Acknowledgment Project - This Congressional Act established the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research within the BIA to evaluate the claims of non-recognized Indian tribes for Federal acknowledgement. The project created a uniform process for reviewing acknowledgement claimants with widely varying backgrounds and histories. In 1994, the Project regulations were amended.
1979 The Seminole Tribe of Florida and Gaming - The Seminoles were the first tribe to enter into the bingo gaming industry. Their endeavors encouraged other tribes to begin gaming enterprises on reservations as a step towards greater economic self-sufficiency.
1980 United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians - U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sioux Indians were entitled to an award of $17.5 million, plus 5% interest per year since 1877, totaling about $106 million in compensation for the unjust taking of the Black Hills and in direct contravention of the Treaty of Fort Laramie.  The Sioux have refused to take the money and sits in a trust fund in Washington, collecting interest.
July 9, 1981 The Lakota Times is first published.
1982 Indian Mineral Development Act.  This Congressional Act encouraged Indian tribes to mine their lands in a manner that would help them become economically self-sufficient.
1982 Seminole Tribe v. Butterworth Supreme Court Decision - The Court ruled that tribes have the right to create gambling enterprises on their land, even if such facilities are prohibited by the civil statutes of the state. The ruling enabled reservations to establish casinos, as well as gave reservations greater authority for tribal governments to levy taxes, own assets, and create judiciaries.
1987 California v. Cabazon Supreme Court Decision - The Cabazon tribe in Southern California operated a high stakes bingo game and card club on reservation lands. The State claimed that it had the legal authority to prohibit such activities on Indian lands located within California if such activities were prohibited elsewhere in the State. The Court found that states which permitted any form of gambling could not prohibit Indians from operating gambling facilities.
1988 Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Association Supreme Court Decision - The Yurok Indians and several other Northern California tribes argued that the construction of a 6-mile, two-lane paved road between the towns of Gasquet and Orleans (the G-O Road) and the implementation of a timber management plan would interfere with traditional tribal religions. The Court held that construction of the road did note violate their freedom of religion. Thus far, the road has not been built due to an administrative decision.
1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) - This Congressional Act affirmed the right of tribes to conduct gaming on Indian lands, but made it subject to tribal/state compact negotiations for certain types of gaming.
March 24,1989  The Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound
1990 Native American Languages Act - This Congressional Act made it US policy to "preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American languages." Consequently, the federal government encourages and supports of the use of native languages as a medium of instruction in schools; recognizes the right of Indian tribes to give official status to their languages for conducting their own business; supports proficiency in native languages by granting the same academic credit as for comparable proficiency in a foreign language; and encourages schools to include native languages in the curriculum in the same way as foreign languages. Today, many American Indian languages have been lost; less than 100 languages currently are spoken by Indians.
1990 Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) - The Congressional Act is intended to promote Indian artwork and handicraft businesses, reduce foreign and counterfeit product competition, and stop deceptive marketing practices.
1990 Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act - This Congressional Act required all institutions that receive federal funds to inventory their collections of Indian human remains and artifacts, make their lists available to Indian tribes, and return any items requested by the tribes.
1990 ndian Law Enforcement Act - This Congressional Act created a unified approach to the BIA's provision of law enforcement serives on reservations.
1992 Foxwoods Casino of Connecticut - The Mashantucket Pequots opened the first large casino in the United States
1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) - This Congressional Act stated that state governments "shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion" except if such exercise of religion conflicts with "a compelling government interest."  On June 25, 1997, the US Supreme Court declared RFRA unconstitutional as it applied to the states.
1994 American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Amendments - This Congressional Act protected the rights of American Indians to use peyote in traditional religious ceremonies.
1994 President Clinton's Executive Memorandum, April 29th - The president sought ìto clarify our responsibility to ensure that the Federal Government operates within a government-to-government relationship with federally recognized Native American tribes. I am strongly committed to building a more effective day-to-day working relationship reflecting respect for the rights of self- government due the sovereign tribal governments.
1996 National American Indian Heritage Month - President Clinton declared November of each year to be National American Indian Heritage Month.
1996 Executive Order, October 21 on Tribal Colleges and Universities - President Clinton  authorized a White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities within the US Department of Education to continue the support and development of tribal colleges into the 21st Century.
1999 Shannon County, South Dakota , home of the Oglala Lakota on Pine Ridge Reservation is identified as the poorest place in the country.

  



 
 



 

 

 

 

     
 

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