The Snyder Act of 1924

History of Native American Citizenship

To be born and raised in the United States of America but denied citizenship and the right to vote; this was the unfortunate reality for Native Americans all over the nation. Within their own communities, Indigenous Peoples were often based on chiefdoms, whether they were hereditary or through social status, which served as a type of self-government. Nonetheless, they were still barred from participating in the United States government and were not seen as citizens in the eyes of government officials. The Snyder Act, also called the Indian Citizenship Act, was put into action in 1924 and granted citizenship, and thus the right to vote, to Native Americans. The debate of whether Native Americans should be considered citizens in the eyes of the United States was still heavy in the air; so much so that the Snyder Act was left up to the states to decide if they would follow through with granting Native Americans the right to vote. While now Native Americans were recognized as citizens and taxed as such, they still could not use their voices in many states for decades after the Snyder Act was enacted. Several other laws sought out to privatize and distribute Native American reservation to white, non-Indigenous land owners for several years before the Snyder Act was passed. This became possible through the Dawes Act and later the Burke Act.

Through the Dawes Act, or General Allotment Act of 1887, the government divided Native American reservation into plots allotted for certain members of several communities. The government considered many Native Americans to be incapable of running their allotment, as well as all of the financial dealings that came along with it, and thus their land was seized and put back into the hands of the government. From there, it could be distributed and sold to private landowners who were not Ten years earlier, the Fifteenth Amendment barred the restriction of voting rights based on race. Even then, Native Americans were not included and could not yet take part in elections. Once the Snyder Act was passed, they were explicitly granted access to vote through the bill attached with a sneaky loophole; the state government had control over whether they would adopt voting rights for Native Americans. This led to many states still restricting Native Americans to vote, even though they should have had access. Their rights were never guaranteed nor protected by the government.

Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1868 and granted citizenship to all persons born within the US. Before this, the government had made it clear that Native Americans did not belong to any part of the United States government due to the fact that Native Americans had their own tribal legislation and government. Even if an individual were to leave his or her tribe to assimilate, they would most likely be unable to obtain rights as a U.S. citizen considering they were not white and not seen as equal.

The Fifteenth Amendment, however, was added to the Constitution two years later and stated that no citizen shall be denied the right to vote based on their race or skin color. Keeping in mind that the United States government did not see Native Americans as citizens, they still could not gain access to a seemingly inalienable right. It was not until many years later that an amendment would attempt to patch the division through the Snyder Act and even many years after that.

The Dawes Act and the Burke Act

Just seven years after the Fifteenth Amendment, in 1887, the government passed the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Act. This was a blatant division and destruction of Native land hidden under the guise of government aid, as control of the reservation was often taken away from the Native Americans and put into the hands of the government instead. Not only this, but the Dawes Act enabled the possibility white landowners to take control of Native American reservation instead of the intended owners. It privatized land ownership instead of being own by the tribe as a whole. This had been exacerbated in 1906 when the Burke Act passed and explicitly put the government in charge of determining the competence of Native American landowners. Once the government had determined the owner as fully able to control their own land, the land was then taxed which led to financial turmoil for many Native Americans and resulted in a mass loss of reservation. If the government deemed the owner unfit to care for their land, it was taken from them and put into other hands. This meant that Native American reservations were not always controlled by the rightful owner.

The Snyder Act

With so many amendments and bills passed with little to no change in Native American rights, the Snyder Act seemed like it would be a change headed in the right direction; and it was, for some Native Americans. The 1920s were proving to be a more progressive era than the nation had seen in the past. Social norms were changing rapidly and Americans were shifting their beliefs. As mentioned earlier, the policy varied from state to state, as the federal government left it up to the states to make the final decision. This meant that many states refused to grant voting rights to Native Americans for nearly forty years. An argument against suffrage for Native Americans was that since they still partially belonged to their tribe, then they could not be full United States citizens as their loyalty was already pledged elsewhere. It was an unfair ruling that left many Native Americans stuck between two worlds; their culture had been decimated and assimilated through colonization and the new nation responsible for this refused to see them as equals. They had little to no control of their land and, at every second, the government was seeking new loopholes to restrict them of their rights.

Protection of Native Americans

There was opposition to this discrimination; Zitkala-Ša, Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin, and Carlos Montezuma were all Native Americans who spoke out and made significant strides for suffrage and equality. They knew of the secrecy and deceit within the Constitution and amendments so they actively worked against it to move towards a nation that accepted everyone. Zitkala-Ša formed the National Council of American Indians in 1926, just two years after the passing of the Snyder Act. She worked tirelessly for Native American voters and equality for all through several different organizations that she established. The NCAI aimed to protect Native Americans and keep their culture and history alive. She was adamant on keeping the voice of Native Americans alive and strong through voting drives, lectures, and fundraisers.

Ša, Montezuma, and Baldwin worked together, as well, through the Society for American Indians which was formed in 1911 by Montezuma. The SAI deviated from other groups for suffrage, as it encouraged assimilation and submission of land when the Dawes Act first was enacted. It also focused on ways to provide health services and education to Native Americans as well as how they can invoke change in the government.

Relation to the 1920s

The 1920s are often thought to be a time of glamor and new-age ideals; women courted and wore short skirts, businesses began to adopt leisure activities, and there was a rise in the entertainment industry. While these were all true aspects of the 1920s, these luxuries only applied to a portion of the American population. Native Americans, even with the passing of the Snyder Act, could not vote in every state. There were multiple laws in action, leading up to the Snyder Act and following it, that intentionally kept Native Americans apart from becoming US citizens. The Snyder Act seemed to be a very progressive law that would ignite change for civil rights, especially within the Native American community, however it left many open gates for states to continue to deny suffrage to them. In states where Native Americans could vote, there was always the chance of voter intimidation or suppression tactics such as voting literacy tests and turning away Native Americans at the polls.

The Native American fight for suffrage in America rose during 1924 after the Snyder Act, as they had come so close to gaining the right to vote yet it was inaccessible to many. They gained citizenship in a country they spent their entire lives in, yet they could not vote.

Bibliography

“Carlos Montezuma.” Wassaja: A Carlos Montezuma Project. http://wassaja.lib.asu.edu/people-archive/carlos-montezuma

“Fighting for a Voice: Native Americans’ Right to Vote in Arizona.” Arizona Historical Society. July 15, 2020. https://arizonahistoricalsociety.org/2020/07/15/fighting-for-a-voice-native-americans-right-to-vote-in-arizona/

“History of Federal Voting Rights Laws.” The United States Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/crt/history-federal-voting-rights-laws

“Indian Citizenship Act.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/june-02/

“Land Tenure History.” Indian Land Tenure Foundation. https://iltf.org/land-issues/history/

Maltz, Earl M., “The Fourteenth Amendment and Native American Citizenship.” University of Minnesota Law School. 2000. https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1299&context=concomm

“Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/marie-louise-bottineau-baldwin.htm

“Society of American Indians.” National Historical Publications and Records Commission. https://www.archives.gov/nhprc/projects/catalog/society-of-american-indians

“Voting Rights for Native Americans.” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/right-to-vote/voting-rights-for-native-americans/“Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird/Gertrude Simmons Bonnin).” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/people/zitkala-sa.htm