UNIT 16 • STAGE 2 OF 7

The Policy

Add the policy section: the Meriam Report, the IRA, the constitutional process, and the vote

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UNIT
STEP 1

Stage 2: The Policy

Stage 1 built your hero. The hero frames the era. Stage 2 builds the first content section: The Policy. This is where you document the legal and political framework that defined the Indian Reorganization Era.

The policy section in this unit covers four moments: the Meriam Report of 1928, which documented what the allotment era had done and set the conditions for change; the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which ended allotment and offered a new framework; the constitutional process the IRA authorized, which produced documents written largely in Washington rather than from within each Tribe's own governing traditions; and the vote, which shows that Tribal nations did not uniformly accept or reject the IRA.

The CSS structure introduced in this stage is the same section and policy card pattern you have used in Units 13 and 14. The structure is already part of how you think about the page. The work in this stage is filling each card with accurate, sourced content.

Why the Meriam Report Matters

The Meriam Report, formally titled "The Problem of Indian Administration," was commissioned by the federal government and published in 1928 by the Institute for Government Research at the Brookings Institution. It documented widespread poverty, disease, inadequate housing, and a collapsed land base across Indian Country after 40 years of allotment policy. It was the federal government's own evidence that allotment had failed. John Collier, who became Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1933, used it as the basis for what became the IRA.

STEP 2

The New CSS

The starter code carries all of Stage 1's CSS compressed to single-line rules. The new CSS in Stage 2 is the section layout and the policy card grid. Both patterns come from Units 13 and 14.

Section structure

// Three classes that together build every content section. .section { padding: 96px 48px; }
.section-alt { background: var(--bg-section); }
.section-inner { max-width: 1160px; margin: 0 auto; }
  • .section: Sets the padding for every full-width content section. 96px vertical, 48px horizontal. The generous padding gives historical content room to breathe.
  • .section-alt: Adds --bg-section (Prussian Blue, #1B263B) as the background. Alternating sections between --bg-main and --bg-section creates depth across the page without introducing new colors.
  • .section-inner: Constrains content to 1160px centered. The outer .section stretches full width; this inner container keeps text readable.

Policy card grid

// Four-column grid of context cards. .policy-grid {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr);
  gap: 24px;
}
  • grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr): Four equal columns. Each card gets the same width regardless of how much text is inside. The repeat() shorthand writes 1fr 1fr 1fr 1fr as one clean declaration.
  • gap: 24px: Consistent gutters between every card. The gap applies both horizontally (between columns) and vertically (if the grid ever wraps to a second row).

Policy card

// Each card: dark background, faint gold border, rounded corners. .policy-card {
  background: var(--bg-card);
  border: 1px solid var(--gold-border);
  border-radius: 12px;
  padding: 28px 24px;
}
  • background: var(--bg-card): The card sits on --bg-main (Ink Black), and the card itself is also --bg-main. The card is defined by its border, not a different background color. This is the same layering logic you used in Units 13 and 14.
  • border: 1px solid var(--gold-border): --gold-border is Lavender Grey at 22% opacity. It is visible enough to define the card edge without competing with the content inside.
  • border-radius: 12px: Consistent with the rounding across all era units.
STEP 3

Research Resources

Use these sources to fill in the four policy cards with accurate content. You are looking for specific details: what the Meriam Report documented, what specific provisions the IRA included, what the constitutional process produced, and how many Tribes voted yes or no.

▶ National Archives: Indian Reorganization Act (1934) (opens in new tab) ▶ Indian Land Tenure Foundation (opens in new tab) ▶ Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (opens in new tab)

About the Constitutional Process

The IRA encouraged Tribes to organize governments and adopt written constitutions. The Bureau of Indian Affairs drafted a model constitution as a template. Many of the constitutions adopted under the IRA in the 1930s and 1940s followed this template closely, including provisions for elected councils, written bylaws, and approval authority from the Secretary of Interior. These structures were often at odds with traditional governance systems that operated by consensus, hereditary leadership, or ceremonial authority. Many IRA-era constitutions remain in effect today across Indian Country.

STEP 4

Fill In Your Content

Find the <!-- REPLACE: ... --> comments in the editor. Five places to fill in:

  • Section intro paragraph: Write 2 to 3 sentences in your own words introducing the policy section. What changed in 1934 and why?
  • Card 1: The Meriam Report (1928): What did the report document? Who commissioned it? What did it conclude about the allotment era?
  • Card 2: The Indian Reorganization Act (1934): What did the IRA authorize? What specific provisions did it include?
  • Card 3: The Constitutional Process: What was the boilerplate constitution? How did it differ from Tribes' own governing traditions?
  • Card 4: The Vote: How many Tribes voted to accept or reject the IRA? Which nations voted no and why does that matter?

Replace, don't delete

The placeholder text in each card shows what kind of information belongs there. Read it as a model: where it describes a concept, replace it with the specific facts you found in your research. The structure of each card is correct. Only the text changes.

STEP 5

Why This Section Matters

The Policy section gives the rest of the site its framework. A reader coming to your site for the first time encounters the legal and political context before they see the land numbers in Stage 3 or the constitutional analysis in Stage 4. That sequence is intentional: policy first, outcomes second. Understanding what the IRA authorized is what makes the limits of what it restored comprehensible.

Card 4 in this section, The Vote, carries particular weight. The IRA is often described as if Tribal nations accepted it uniformly. They did not. The vote tells a more complicated story about sovereignty, skepticism, and the difference between federal intention and Tribal decision-making.

Stage 2 Complete!

The Policy section is built. Stage 3 adds The Land: a section documenting the land that was and was not restored after 1934. Checkerboard ownership, fractionation, and the limits of trust land restoration are the focus. You will add new CSS for the land data layout.

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