American Indians on a Closing Frontier

In the 1870s, the US government took a new approach to American Indians by

• providing allotments of land.

• encouraging assimilation.

• confining tribes on reservations.

• forcing tribes to relocate west.

In the late 1800s, the purpose of the reservation system was to

• relocate American Indians and to provide land for white settlers.

• give American Indians more freedom to move from place to place.

• create a housing system to help American Indians assimilate.

• offer American Indians good farmland in exchange for relocation.

One major problem with the reservation system was that US government agents

• took land from settlers to give to American Indians.

• dealt directly with American Indian families.

• did not understand American Indian culture.

• gave land to settlers who battled American Indians.

Supporters of the Dawes Act of 1887 said the law would

• help American Indians become landowners and farmers.

• help American Indians by freeing them from reservations.

• harm American Indians by offering them unproductive land.

• harm American Indians by giving their land to homesteaders.

Many Plains Indians who were forced onto reservations had trouble adapting because they were

• not used to living within borders.

• used to hunting for their food.

• not used to living in communities.

• used to working in factories.

In the late 1800s, many more settlers moved to the West after the completion of

• the transcontinental railroad.

• the Indian Appropriation Act.

• the battle at Wounded Knee.

• the reservation system.

What was one of the aims of the Dawes Act of 1887?

• to stop American Indians from buying land

• to stop American Indians from assimilating

• to divide and distribute land to American Indians

• to divide and distribute land to white settlers

What was the main goal of the Dawes Act?

• to strongly encourage American Indians to sell their land

• to strongly encourage American Indians to speak English

• to strongly encourage American Indians to change religions

• to strongly encourage American Indians to become farmers

What was the government’s overall goal in passing the Indian Appropriations Acts?

• to open land for white settlers

• to open land for American Indians

• to confine white settlers to certain areas

• to give American Indians freedom to settle

The Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 changed how the US government treated American Indians. Under this policy,

• American Indians were treated as part of a tribe.

• American Indians were treated as individuals.

• American Indian groups became separate nations.

• American Indians became independent of the US.