The Evolution of the Termination Policy

Virtually all federal Indian policy can be analyzed in terms of the tension between assimilation and separatism.Assimilationist pressures have persistently sought to limit or extinguish altogether the special federal-tribal relationship.'Among the most vulnerable elements of Indians' special status have been the separate land base, treaty rights, the governmental powers of tribes, federal health and education programs for Indians, and the tax-exempt status of reservation lands.The forces behind assimilation are many and varied, for the special status of Indians touches diverse sectors within our society.Business interests often seek to acquire the land, timber, water, gas, and oil on the reservations.Some fiscal conservatives wish to trim the federal budget.Tax administrators in most western states resent the tax-exempt status of Indian lands, while other state officials push to extend the full range of state laws onto the reservation.There are philosophical objections, based on generalized notions of "reverse discrimination," to the special, separate status of Indians in our legal system.Many self-styled supporters of Indians believe that poverty and lack of opportunity on the reservations can be eliminated only if Indians will leave the reservations and move into the mainstream of American society.The tribes, on the other hand, have consistently favored a measured separatism.It is founded upon a reservation system assisted by federal support and protection, but governed by Indian tribes free of most state and local controls.Thus Indians themselves have fought to preserve their separate land base, to protect their bargained-for treaty rights, and to maintain other elements of the special federal-Indian relationship.