NAs Gilded Age Flashcards
Positive view
This was a period of positive change. The Plains Wars came to an end, and NAs benefitted from assimilationist policies which provided, education, cultural development and the opportunity to own land, as well as a process towards political citizenship
Paul Johnson
Considers assimilation a positive development
Battle of Little Bighorn
Victory against Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) convinced some of the need for a more moderate approach towards NAs
Boarding schools
Schools like Carlisle Indian School (est. 1879) provided children with a better education, with students going on to form the first civil rights groups
Better jobs
Education and vocational training provided NAs with the opportunity to find better jobs, with some working in Indian agency officers, interpreters or army scouts
Healthcare on reservations
Reservations gave NAs the opportunity to access better healthcare - necessary given low life expectancy and incidence of death and disease
Preservation of culture
The reservations, despite assimilationist intentions, allowed tribal life to continue, which perpetuated their culture and sense of belonging
Navajo success
The Navajo tribe made considerable gains from reservation life, growing a herd of 15,000 sheep and goats to 1.7 million. They were rewarded by the government with 10.5 million additional acres of land
Land ownership
The Dawes Act turned some NAs into landowners, each with 160 acres, giving them a mechanism through which citizenship could be achieved
Courts
Reservations in 1890 had their own courts where minor crimes were tried by Indian judges
Helen Hunt Jackson
Her 1881 book ‘A Century of Dishonour’ was a scathing indictment of government policy towards NAs, improving knowledge of the cause and demonstrating the existence of a sympathetic sect
Mixed view
In some ways, this period represented progress from what went before it as Americans were no longer trying to exterminate NAs. however, the policies implemented were paternalistic and generally unwanted, with the Dawes Act crucially undermining self-determination.
Philanthropic organisations
White philanthropic organisations proliferated in the closing decades of the 19th century, one of the most famous being the Indian Rights Association (est. 1882). However, membership was largely motivated by their own religious beliefs and considered NAs as existing in an earlier stage of civilisation.
Motivations for Dawes Act
Henry Dawes was convinced that the ownership of land would be a civilising influence on NAs. Many people agreed and were consulted about the policy
Negative view
This was a period of regress, as NAs lost much of their independence, tribal land erosion was accelerated and cultural traditions significantly damaged.
Medicine Lodge Treaty
In 1867, at the Treaty of Medicine Lodge the Cheyenne and Arapho tribes agreed to be removed and placed on reservation land
Buffalo War
The ‘Buffalo War’ of 1873-4 was a last desperate attempt of the Arapho, Cheyenne, Comanche and Kiowa to save the few remaining buffalo herds from white hunters in Oklahoman and Texas
Ghost Dance
In 1890 the Ghost Dance spread across the Sioux Reservation, disturbing BIA agents
Wounded Knee
In the massacre of Wounded Knee, troops opened fire on a band of Lakota Sioux, killing over 200 men, women and children
Failure of schools
Reservation schools offered very poor quality education - low level and geared towards trade and manual work only. Most of those educated in boarding schools found no employment opportunities so returned to reservation life, but were considered ‘untrustworthy’ by those on the reservation
Appropriation act
The 1871 Indian Appropriation Act abandoned treaty-making and converting NA policy to a unilateral process
Failure of reservations
Denied civil rights as ‘wards of the state’, segregated from society, land was poor and often impossible to cultivate, many Indians became dependant on aid which fluctuated due to corrupt officials
Reservation illness
Numerous epidemics and starvations, including droughts in the 1880s, meant that by 1900 only 100,000 of the 240,000 Plains Indians remained
Reservation social issues
NAs were encouraged to adopt Christianity and deny traditional religion, and easy availability of alcohol led to alcoholism becoming rife
Unimportance of citizenship
Those who gained citizenship often did not appreciate it due to the discrimination they faced when they attempted to assert their rights
Dawes Act loss of land
Between 1887 and 1900, reservation land was cut from 150 million acres to 78 million due to a clause which allowed sale of spare land to whites. In 1890 alone 13 million acres were sold. Land ownership was a foreign concept to most NAs, meaning they often accumulated debt and had to sell land
Matriarchal erosion
Women in tribes with matriarchal structures (e.g. the Iroquois) lost their status following allotment policy, where land was given to the male head of the family
Sun Dance ban
In 1884, the Federal Government prohibited the Sun Dance, further restricting cultural rights
Dawes Act restructuring
The Dawes Act completely restructured NA society by creating family units rather than supporting communal living
Grant
Sent troops to the Great Sioux Reserve in 1876
Harrison
Dismantled the Great Sioux Reserve in 1890
Rations
In 1890, over 20% of NAs received rations
White River War
Waged between Army and White River Utes in 1879. Even though the Utes won at the Battle of Milk Creek, they surrendered and agreed to be moved to Uintah reservation
Tribal structures
Assimilationist policy devastated tribal structures irreversibly, inhibiting self-determination rights, Reservation policy replaced tribal chiefs with Indian Agents - often corrupt
Buffalo hunting
1873-1874 - 3 million buffalo killed each year. By the 1880s only a few hundred remained of the estimated 13 million in 1850
US v. Kagama
(1886) - upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act which gave federal courts jurisdiction in certain cases of Indian-on Indian crime, even those committed in reservations
