At the start of the twentieth century there were approximately 250,000 Native Americans in the USA – just 0.3 per cent of the population – most living on reservations where they exercised a limited degree of self-government. During the course of the nineteenth century they had been deprived of much of their land by forced removal westwards, by a succession of treaties (which were often not honoured by the white authorities) and by military defeat by the USA as it expanded its control over the American West.
With the end of colonial rule in U.S. A, its desire to expand westward brought it in direct conflict with native Americans. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the government justified its move to make native pushing westward to help them stay in peace, not disturbed by the white settlers. The government policy involved stick and carrot policy, giving concession by making treaties and force them to adapt to American culture at the same time.
