West Immigraion
Hellen Hunt Jackson
- Was a United States writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government. She detailed the adverse effects of government actions in her history
- Her mother died in 1844 when Helen was fourteen, and her father three years later. Her father provided for her education and arranged for an aunt to care for her. Fiske attended Ipswich Female Seminary and the Abbott Institute, a boarding school run by Reverend J.S.C. Abbott in New York City
- Helen Hunt began writing after the deaths of her family members. She published her early work anonymously, usually under the name "H.H."Emerson admired her poetry and used several of her poems in his public readings.
- She was involved Indian reform movements, the involvement of various Christian organizations, and Jackson's early endeavors on behalf of American Indian groups
Dawes Act
- The Morrill Act of 1862 was also known as the Land Grant College Act. It was a major boost to higher education in America.
- To get on the Dawes Rolls, Native Americans had to "anglicize" their names. Rolling Thunder thus became Ron Thomas and so forth. This bit of "melting pot" chicanery allowed agents of the government, sent to the frontier to administer the Act, to slip the names of their relatives and friends onto the Dawes Rolls and thus reap millions of acres of land for their friends and cronys.
- By 1954, it had become clear that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was failing. Implementation of the Act was plagued by the same incompetance and corruption created by the Dawes Act.
Morrill Act
- There were several of these grants, but the first passed in 1862. This bill was signed by Abraham Lincoln on July 2. This gave each state 30,000 acres of public land for each Senator and Representative. These numbers were based on the census of 1860. The land was then to be sold and the money from the sale of the land was to be put in an endowment fund which would provide support for the colleges in each of the states.
- The land-grant has improved the lives of millions of Americans. This was not the case in the early stages. At the time the grants were established, there was a separation of races. In the South, blacks were not allowed to attend the original land-grant institutions. There was a provision for separate but equal facilities, but only Mississippi and Kentucky set up any such institution. This situation was rectified when the Second Morrill Act was passed and expanded the system of grants to include black institutions.
- The Morrill Acts have become a major educational resource for our nation. This program is available to all people who are in search of higher education. Over the years it has proven to be an important part of our educational system. This Act changed the course of higher education. The purpose of education shifted from the classical studies and allowed for more applied studies that would prepare the students for the world that they would face once leaving the classroom.
Pendleton Act
- Following the assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disgruntled job seeker, Congress passed the Pendleton Act, establishing a merit-based system of selecting government officials and supervising their work. It was signed into law on January 16, 1883, by President Chester A. Arthur, who had become an ardent reformer after Garfield’s assassination.
- The Act was sponsored by Senator George H Pendleton, Democratic Senator of Ohio, and written by Dorman Bridgeman Eaton, a staunch opponent of the patronage system who was later first chairman of the United states civil service commission . However, the law would also prove to be a major political liability for Arthur.
- The law applied only to federal government jobs, not to the state and local jobs that were the basis for political machines