Blackfoot - History - Hardships of The Niitsitapi

Hardships of The Niitsitapi

During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were taking too many bison, and settlers were encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi could not hunt enough food and were forced to depend on the United States government for supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.

In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on their government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies and caused a stir with the United States Army. In January 1870, the army attacked a peaceful Niitsitapi village, killing 173 and leaving only 46 survivors.

The Cree and Assiniboine lived just like the Blackfoot by the dwindling herds of the buffalo and their hunters followed their prey, which was about 1850 found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi - “Many Dead”). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.

The winter of 1883–1884 became known as “Starvation Winter” because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.

The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.

In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a 160-acre (65 ha) farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.

In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfoot Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.