Native American Civil Rights 1865-1992 Flashcards
1
Q
4 and a quote
Events and policies that affected Native Americans
A
- Building of railroads - 30M buffalo in 1800 - but in 1886 - Smithsonian could only find 18 good specimen
- Dawes Act - 86M acres of land lost, no more tribes
- American Indian Boarding Schools - cultural genocide, children indoctrinated
- Irrigation projects in the Great Plains - necessitate large capital investment, farming, fertile
‘Kill the Indian, save the man’
2
Q
3
Westward expansion description
A
- US gov content to let Indians live freely on land white Americans didn’t want
- Mid 19th century - started a ploy to attract settlers - trails across America to the west coastal plain encouraged wagon trails of settlers to head west to fertile Oregon
- Gold later discovered in California
3
Q
2
Westward expansion impact on Native Americans
A
- Gradually removed from their traditional lands - a large, forced migration of tribes nature to Mississipi, Virginia, Florida in the Removal Act 1830 - 70k NA gone from the outcome of this
- Displaced many tribes in California and Oregon - lost their right to fish - people perished from not having the skills to hunt for food
4
Q
3
American Civil War description
A
- 1865- several tribes - notabely Sioux and Cheyenne were hostile t o white encroachment - powerless to US gov - signed federal treaties - units of military stationed in a series of forts along the West to protect wagons
- Gov appointed Indian agents were corrupted and sold the food
- Led to Sand Creek Massacre 1864 - warfare on plains 1862-68, and Homestead Act 1862 - released land in 160 acre plots, 20K homesteaders
5
Q
American Civil War impact on Native Americans
A
- Restricted freedom to follow herds of buffalo and therefore potentially cut sole food supply
- Essential aid did not reach them - led to hostility
- 1864 - Navago and Apache were moved onto reservation land to fulfill gov’s idea of Indians as farmers and children recieved white man’s education
6
Q
1
Union Pacific Railway description
A
- Built to develop existing railway network in the east and from coast to coast - part of the policies of firmly establish gov law and order in the new territories of the west but also encourage settlement
7
Q
2
Union Pacific Railway impact on Native Americans
A
- Railroad companies allocated land by the gov to cover cost of enterprise, unshamedly lure settlers onto the Plains - with ‘Buy now, Pay Later’ schemes
- The train disturbed the buffalo herds and also bought even more land hungry settlers into the Plains
8
Q
3
Comment from General Carleton
A
- Believed in Manifest Destiny - ‘it was their destiny, too,’ to ‘give way to the insatiable progress of our race’
- Called the Plains ‘princly realm’ and ‘stupendous canyons’ making it magic, mystical thing that should inevitably be given to white americans
- This was from a military report - they took this seriously
9
Q
And example
Manifest Destiny definition
A
The idea that the United States is destined - by God, to expand its dominion and spread democracy and captialism across the entire North American continent
James K. Polk - 11th US president (1795-1849) - in his tenure, America’s territory grew by more than 1/3 and extended across the continent for the 1st time
10
Q
2
Mining Frontiers
A
- The California Gold Rush created a situation where people from a range of different nationalities had descended to the west to make their fortunes
- Bozeman Trail created when gold was discovered in Montana across prime buffalo land - the US Army established forts to protect the miners and the Ogala Sioux chief Red Cloud prepared to fight to evict them - 3 years of fighting defeated most American forces and ‘Great Sioux Reservation’ in the treaty of Fort Laramie 1868 established (from Missouri river through to Black Hills)
11
Q
Sioux Treaty of 1868
A
- Background rumours circulated of another big gold strike in Black Hills on Sioux reservation - town of Deadwood was swarming with 10K miners
- Required the army to keep the miners and settlers off the reservation but officers deliberately looked the other way hoping the miners would force the Sioux to sell the land
12
Q
4
The Reservations Policy
A
- Tribal bonds and traditional communal lifestyle had to be destroyed
- Many tribes forced to relocate onto small portions of their former homelands
- Late 19th century Indian was based on the assumption that Native Americans would become farmers, Christians and citizens
- 1870 SC ruled that Congress had the power to supersede or even annul the treaties with the Indian tribes
13
Q
American Indian Attitude and US government solution
Property and Land
A
- Occupied communally by tribe rather than owned by individuals or families - nomadic
- Solution was the Reservation Policy - tribal rivalries prevented a unitied against white racism, power of tribal chiefs replaced by an Indian Agent
14
Q
American Indian Attitude and US government solution
Role of the Buffalo
A
- Roamed freely, hunted for meat and hide to make teepees
- 1886 - most buffalo had been wiped out, forced starvation, not enough supplies/bunnies and humiliating to get white charity, agents corrupt and sold supplies and federal gov cut money when tight
15
Q
American Indian Attitude and US government solution
Religion
A
- Worshipped spirits of ancestors, relied on medicine men who were often leaders of the tribe, worshipped nature and elements and believed all living things were watched over by guardian spirits
- Saw this as pagan and uncivilised - needed Christianity
