Plains Indians Basics

Many agreements between Native Americans and the federal government fell apart because

• Native Americans and settlers had differing concepts of land ownership.

• Native Americans wanted to work as tenant farmers or sharecroppers.

• Many settlers objected to the reservation system.

• Most of the treaties were never signed.

What reason was given by settlers as to why they had a greater right to western lands than the Native Americans?

• The government already owned all the land of the West.

• The Native Americans did not want the land.

• Settlers produced more food and wealth than Native Americans.

• Native Americans had already agreed to give away their lands.

As American settlers moved west in search of land, many Native American nations

• formed the Indian Territory.

• settled east of the Mississippi.

• settled in farming villages.

• were weakened or destroyed.

The United States government encouraged attempts to

• preserve Native American traditions.

• protect Native American rights.

• take Native American lands.

• record Native American heritage.

The experiences of Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé illustrate how

• the U.S. government allowed some Native Americans to keep their homelands.

• Christian missionaries converted Native Americans.

• violent conflicts arose among settlers, the federal government, and Native Americans.

• most Native Americans moved peacefully onto reservations.

What happened at the Massacre at Wounded Knee?

• American soldiers killed more than 200 unarmed Sioux.

• General Custer’s cavalry was completely wiped out.

• The Nez Percé fought for possession of their homeland

• The last buffalo of the Great Plains were killed.

An “Indian rights” movement grew out of outrage over

• government treatment of Native Americans.

• Native Americans’ misuse of the land.

• establishment of Christian schools on reservations.

• passage of the Dawes Act.

One way the government sought to change Native Americans was by

• teaching them to hunt buffalo.

• requiring them to farm individual plots.

• finding them jobs on the railroads.

• requiring them to move to growing cities.

Many white reformers believed that Native Americans should

• give land to settlers.

• sign treaties with the federal government.

• live on reservations.

• be “civilized” and adopt white culture.

In 1889, Congress responded to pressure from squatters and other would-be settlers by opening up

• the Indian Territory.

• Wounded Knee.

• Little Bighorn.

• the Great Plains.