Westward & Native American

How did the Dawes Act (1887) mark a departure from earlier federal Indian policy?

• It led to conflicts between new settlers and Indian tribes on the Great Plains.

• It moved Indian tribes still on the Great Plains to reservations farther west.

• It permitted Indians to withdraw private plots from the tribal reservation.

• It encouraged the shooting of buffalo herds from new railroad lines.

According to the federal government, what was the objective of the Dawes Act of 1887?

• to grant immediate and full citizenship rights to Native Americans

• to move Native Americans into the cities to supply industrial labor

• to encourage assimilation of Native Americans into mainstream American culture

• to restore lands to the Native Americans tribes that had lost lands to white settlers

Many Native Americans relied heavily on the buffalo for many of their basic needs. In what way did industrialization affect the buffalo population in the United States?

• Due to fears that the buffalo population was threatened by westward expansion, the US government designated the buffalo as a protected species.

• The development of the steam engine resulted in decreased Native American reliance on the buffalo and the population quickly grew in size.

• The development of mass production techniques in the textile industry caused an increase in demand for buffalo hide and the population decreased dramatically.

• The buffalo were killed for their furs and to drive away Native Americans who occupied land that the federal government desired for the development of railroads.

What took land from Indian tribes and promoted assimilation?

• Homestead Act
• Morril Act
• Dawes Act
• Reconstruction Act

Where were Native Americans forced to relocate?

• east

• Towns

• Reservations

• Camps

Linked east and west; created markets!; created economic boom

• barbed wire

• transcontinental railroad

• telegraph

• steamboats

What impact did the Homestead Act have on the West?

• It permitted major companies to tap the region’s resources.

• It opened the land to settlement.

• It created roads for people to travel west

• It encouraged Native Americans to adopt European customs.

In 1875, the Black Hills Gold Rush had drawn prospectors to settle on Sioux land. When the Sioux, led by chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, had assembled to drive out the settlers, the U.S. Army decided to send in troops of their own, led by Colonel George Custer.The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty.

• Battle at Wounded Knee

• Battle of the Little Big Horn

• Sand Creek Massacre

• Battle of Washita River

Created to accelerate the process of assimilation, by replacing the reservation system with an allotment system. Congress hoped that younger natives would embrace farming and individual land ownership.

• Indian Reorganization Act

• Indian removal Act

• Dawes Act

• Homestead Act

To be absorbed into the main culture of a society.With the failure of the reservation system and the decline of the buffalo population, U.S. government policy makers hoped that Native Americans would become farmers and adopt the culture and civilization of the whites.

• Americanization

• Appropriation

• Assimilate

• Adaptation