64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



Witli the ultimate failure of both their accommodative and assimi- 

 lative efforts, the Federal authorities \yere forced to adopt the sole 

 remaining alternative : The Indians became simple wards of the State. 

 Under this new policy, the several Indian tribes were no longer re- 

 garded as independent nations, subject to the treaty provisions nor- 

 mally established between sovereign states. Instead, they were reduced 

 to dependency status, to be concentrated in designated areas where 

 their needs would be administered by tlie Indian agencies established 

 for this purpose. Meanwhile, the allotment system in practice since 

 1853 was given official recognition in the Dawes Severalty Act of 1879. 

 Under the provisions of this Act, the territories formerly reserved for 

 Indian occupancy were rapidly reduced in size, from 138 million acres 

 in 1871 to 29 million acres in 1933.* 



The Navalio fell into dependency status under the Federal authori- 

 ties of Fort Sumner at a highly inopportune moment. The Civil War 

 was in full progress, leaving very few resources for the rehabilitation 

 of newly defeated Indians. The period immediately following the 

 war was certainly no better from the viewpoint of reestablishing a 

 functional social and economic system among the Navaho. In the 

 renewed pressure toward western expansion followmg the Civil War, 

 all other considerations were swept aside. Increasing numbers of 

 Indians were forced to assume the posture of dependents if they were to 

 survive at all. Thus the policy prevailing during the first 30 years 

 that the Navaho spent on the reservation after the Fort Sumner inter- 

 lude can be characterized as a policy of "minimal maintenance." 



It is remarkable that the Navaho experienced so little of the social 

 deterioration and general apathy which plagued so many Indian tribes 

 at this time. The peculiar location of the Navaho must probably be 

 credited with preserving them from further inroads on the part of 

 Wliite settlers at a time when such encroachments were widespread 

 elsewhere. As noted previously, the reservation was actually increased 

 in size while most Indian lands were being reduced or eliminated 

 entirely. The relative isolation of the Navaho actually produced, in 

 effect, the kind of segregated Indian society which was envisaged in 

 the first policy directives of the early 19th century. However, this 

 segregation could not be maintained indefinitely. By the end of the 

 First World War, the increasing cost of maintaining Indians as wards 

 of the State was creating renewed pressure for the assimilation of all 

 Indians into the general society. 



With this renewal of interest in assimilation came intensified efforts 

 at educating the Indians for a fuller participation in the outside soci- 

 ety. Once more, the isolation of the Navaho delayed the impact of 

 these efforts for a time, so that significant progress in Navaho educa- 



* See footnote 41, p. 24. 



