Gilded age 1877 - 1900

Question 1

What did the 1871 Indian Appropriations act do?

Answer 1

It ended the recognition of NA tribes as sovereign nations, making them subject to US federal laws and eliminating treaty-making

Question 2

What was the impact of 1886 Geronimo’s surrender?

Answer 2

• Geronimo, a Chiricahua Apache leader, had resisted US forces for decades
• in 1886 Geronimo and his remaining 36 followers (including women and children) surrendered
• Marked the end of armed NA resistance

Question 3

What was the economic impact of the 1887 Dawes act

Answer 3

• divided reservations into individual allotments of 160 acres
• Many NA lost their land due to lack of understanding of land ownership and the poor farm ability of the land

Question 4

How did the railroad expansion affect NA economically?

Answer 4

• The expansion led to increased white settlement, destruction of buffalo herds and forced relocation of tribes

Question 5

How did NA resist assimilation socially

Answer 5

• The Ghost Dance Movement (1889-1890) emerged as a spiritual resistance to US control
• The movement frightened the US gov leading to the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, where over 250 Sioux were killed

Question 6

Why was the 1890 Census significant socially for NA

Answer 6

• declared that the American frontier was ‘closed’
• meaning there were no more unsettled lands
• showed complete subjugation of NA and the loss of control over lands and autonomy