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- The chessboard of empire: the late 17th to the early 19th century
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By the late 19th century the removal of the eastern tribes, the decimation of California peoples, a series of epidemics in the Plains, and the high mortality rates at boarding schools seemed to confirm that Indians were “vanishing.” The belief that Native Americans would not survive long as a “race” provided a fundamental justification for all assimilationist policies. It also supported rationalizations that indigenous views on legislation and public policy were immaterial. When it became obvious after about 1920 that Northern American’s aboriginal populations were actually increasing, the United States and Canada found themselves unprepared to acknowledge or advance the ...(100 of 34941 words)