Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Reproduction #LC-USZC4-1267
Free homes, Government lands, and cheap deeded lands in South Dakota. (Poster). Lithograph by Forbes Lith. MFG. Co., 1890. Reproduction number: LC-USZC4-1267 (color film copy transparency)
By the late 19th century, government officials implemented a new solution to the conflict, a new policy under the Dawes Act of 1887 would solve "the Indian problem:" Reservation lands would be established, broken up, and designated to individual tribal members who were no longer viewed as separate nations, but citizens. Non-designated lands would be sold to non-Indians. This "solution" left Native Americans impoverished, with even less land, and at the mercy of the federal government.
By the end of the 19th century, the Native American population had dwindled to less than 250,000.
By the end of the 19th century, the Native American population had dwindled to less than 250,000.