Native American notes:
The progress and development of Native American rights
At the start of the period there were around 86 independent tribes – Large majority of tribes
wanted to continue to live by their customs and laws, under their tribal leaders: they wanted the
right of self-determination or independence and their own lands.
However, the US government wanted to assimilate the NAs into American society by destroying
tribal customs and culture. Failed to accept ‘nations within’.
NAs resisted the government’s policy of assimilation in its various forms.
Largest concentration of NAs was in the area was known as the Great Plains. (Nomadic tribes
following buffalo herds).
• They worshiped nature
• Had their own languages
• Nomadic
• Cultures and ceremonies
• Tribal laws and government
Westward expansion
Government encouraged setteler-colonits to move west to open the continent for the growing
population and because of a belief in manifest destiny.
The 1830 Removal Act had seen tribes moved from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi,
Tennessee and Viginia onto the Great Plains of Oklahoma.
This continued into the 1840s with trails – NAs were deprived of their fishing rights.
1851 – Fort Laramie Treaty – Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota.
1861 – Fort Wise Treaty – Arapaho, Cheyenne.
NAs were losing land and their ability to follow the Buffalo herds was affected. Driven by hunger
they revolted against the government causing the Plain Wars.
1862 – Little Crow’s War against the Lakota.
1867 – Red Cloud’s War against the Lakota.
Sand Creek Massacre 1864. Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890 when the calvary killed over 100
NAs.
The Government was determined to control the land in the west and created federal territories,
Homestead Act 1862 – encouraged even more farmers to move to the west, 20,000 settles on
the plains by 1865.
The railways
, Theses crossed over the Plains and rail companies encouraged US colonists to come and live
on the land they had been given by the government. The Rail lines disrupted the buffalo herds
white people would hunt theses which heavily affected the NAs.
The position of NAs before WW1
The FGs aim was to assimilate the NAs - ‘Kill the Indian Save the man’.
They would have to destroy tribal life through education, conversion to Christianity, turning NAs
into farmers and establishment of government reservations.
Reservation policy prevented the NAs from moving freely and pursuing what was left of the
buffalo herds allowing the government to:
• Polygamy had to be abandoned
• Braves could no longer demonstrate their skills
• Herbel remedies were forbidden
• Tribal laws were abolished
• Communal living was ended
• Power of the tribal chief was ended
They were forced to become farmers who inhabited a specified area of land. Parents were
forced to send their children to school where they were forbidden from speaking their own
language and were made to renounce their traditional beliefs.
Two off reservation Boarding schools were set up because the quality of education on the
reservations was poor. Some could find jobs such as working in Indian agency offices,
interpreters and scouts to army units.
Reservations
After 1871 NAs lost the right to decide on what happened on their land – congress was able to
set up reservations, relocate tribes and redraw any reservation boundaries.
Size of reservations was increased further by the defeat of General Custer and 200 of his men at
the Battle of Little Bighorn 1876.
Ways of life on the reservations
Land was unsuitable for farming - dependent on the government for food supplies, this resulted
in starvation. In the 1880s when drought hit their crops and disease killed many of the cattle.
Many died from infectious diseases such as measles; they couldn’t adapt to their new way of
life. Wide availability of Whiskey led to widespread alcohol addiction, by 1900 only 100,000 of
the original 240,000 NAs inhibiting the Plains in 1860 remained.
Lost their freedom and were denied civil rights and treated as ‘Wards of State.
Although, Navajo adapted new farming techniques, built up large numbers of sheep and goats,
increasing their own numbers – 8000 in 1868 to 22,000 by the turn of the century.
Dawes Act 1887
The progress and development of Native American rights
At the start of the period there were around 86 independent tribes – Large majority of tribes
wanted to continue to live by their customs and laws, under their tribal leaders: they wanted the
right of self-determination or independence and their own lands.
However, the US government wanted to assimilate the NAs into American society by destroying
tribal customs and culture. Failed to accept ‘nations within’.
NAs resisted the government’s policy of assimilation in its various forms.
Largest concentration of NAs was in the area was known as the Great Plains. (Nomadic tribes
following buffalo herds).
• They worshiped nature
• Had their own languages
• Nomadic
• Cultures and ceremonies
• Tribal laws and government
Westward expansion
Government encouraged setteler-colonits to move west to open the continent for the growing
population and because of a belief in manifest destiny.
The 1830 Removal Act had seen tribes moved from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi,
Tennessee and Viginia onto the Great Plains of Oklahoma.
This continued into the 1840s with trails – NAs were deprived of their fishing rights.
1851 – Fort Laramie Treaty – Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota.
1861 – Fort Wise Treaty – Arapaho, Cheyenne.
NAs were losing land and their ability to follow the Buffalo herds was affected. Driven by hunger
they revolted against the government causing the Plain Wars.
1862 – Little Crow’s War against the Lakota.
1867 – Red Cloud’s War against the Lakota.
Sand Creek Massacre 1864. Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890 when the calvary killed over 100
NAs.
The Government was determined to control the land in the west and created federal territories,
Homestead Act 1862 – encouraged even more farmers to move to the west, 20,000 settles on
the plains by 1865.
The railways
, Theses crossed over the Plains and rail companies encouraged US colonists to come and live
on the land they had been given by the government. The Rail lines disrupted the buffalo herds
white people would hunt theses which heavily affected the NAs.
The position of NAs before WW1
The FGs aim was to assimilate the NAs - ‘Kill the Indian Save the man’.
They would have to destroy tribal life through education, conversion to Christianity, turning NAs
into farmers and establishment of government reservations.
Reservation policy prevented the NAs from moving freely and pursuing what was left of the
buffalo herds allowing the government to:
• Polygamy had to be abandoned
• Braves could no longer demonstrate their skills
• Herbel remedies were forbidden
• Tribal laws were abolished
• Communal living was ended
• Power of the tribal chief was ended
They were forced to become farmers who inhabited a specified area of land. Parents were
forced to send their children to school where they were forbidden from speaking their own
language and were made to renounce their traditional beliefs.
Two off reservation Boarding schools were set up because the quality of education on the
reservations was poor. Some could find jobs such as working in Indian agency offices,
interpreters and scouts to army units.
Reservations
After 1871 NAs lost the right to decide on what happened on their land – congress was able to
set up reservations, relocate tribes and redraw any reservation boundaries.
Size of reservations was increased further by the defeat of General Custer and 200 of his men at
the Battle of Little Bighorn 1876.
Ways of life on the reservations
Land was unsuitable for farming - dependent on the government for food supplies, this resulted
in starvation. In the 1880s when drought hit their crops and disease killed many of the cattle.
Many died from infectious diseases such as measles; they couldn’t adapt to their new way of
life. Wide availability of Whiskey led to widespread alcohol addiction, by 1900 only 100,000 of
the original 240,000 NAs inhibiting the Plains in 1860 remained.
Lost their freedom and were denied civil rights and treated as ‘Wards of State.
Although, Navajo adapted new farming techniques, built up large numbers of sheep and goats,
increasing their own numbers – 8000 in 1868 to 22,000 by the turn of the century.
Dawes Act 1887
