Lesson 7: Native American Citizenship

Even though Native American people were the original inhabitants of what is now the present day United States, their road to gaining full, legal citizenship status has been nothing short of arduous. Native peoples were first officially, and unanimously, recognized as US citizens with the passing of the Indian Citizenship Act, also known as the “Snyder Act,” in 1924. This lesson will examine the rationale for the passing of the Act in 1924 as well as the reasons that Indian citizenship remained such a contentious topic for the US government throughout the 18th century. There were many motivations behind not allowing Native Americans to be fully seen as US citizens. Today, it seems foolish to not view Native peoples as American citizens. However, in the latter portions of the 19th and into the 20th century the US Government used Native American citizenship in attempt to control Native Tribes.