Native Americans Flashcards
5 Civilised Tribes
Cherokees, Choctaws, Chichtaws, Creek, Seminole
- lived in Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, Carolina and Alabama
- initially able to negotiate with whites
- however whites stopped adhering to treaties and NA were eventually moved to an ‘Indian Territory’ in Oklahoma
- US government helped force natives off the land
- NA being uncoordinated amongst themselves were unable to produce any resistance
Tecumseh’s confederation
Tecumseh - brother of prophet who predicted the overcoming of america by whites
- Tecumseh was the Shawnee leader and rejected white customs and goods
1811 -Tecumseh attempted to create a confederation of Native Tribes to protect the ancestral lands
- many of which had been sold in the treaty. of fort Wayne (1809)
Tecumseh had some success in the Northwest, but whilst he was trying to convince 5 civilised tribes in the south, William Henry Harrison the Governor of India Territories launched an attack on the Shawnee settlement in prophetstown
- retaliation by the prophet on Harrisons camp failed
- Harrison burned main Shawnee town and winter reserves down
Defeated Tecumseh went to fight in the war of 1812 with the British and Canadians
IMPORTANCE
- this is seen as the last attempt to unite NA against whites
War of 1812
Treaty of Fort Jackson forced seminole to cede 2/3 of their land, after being defeated, after being defeated by Jackson at the Horseshoe Bend in 1814
OUTCOME - W1812 weakened the position of NA as lost the support of the British
- Led to many NA ceding land in threats, bribes and treaties
IMPORTANCE
- NA lands were greatly reduced after 1812
First Seminole War and Moving of the Seminole
1816-19
- US forces under Jackson took Florida from the Spanish
1823
The Seminole were required to leave northern florida for a settlement in the centre.
Second Seminole War
1835-42
Treaty of Payne’s Landing - ordered SEminole to leave Florida altogether
- Seminole waged Guerilla warfare led by Chief Osceola
- US retaliated by burning farms and villages
- 3000 surviving seminole were moved to Oklahoma
The war cost the US $50 million and 1500 men
Third Seminole War
1855-58
US government sent scouting parties into Florida to encroach on Seminole and removing any Seminole stragglers
cutting off their food supply worked effectively to force them to leave
Indian Removal Act
1830
- IRA was passed
- The act provided Jackson with the funds to move NA west
- the government was to provide financial aid and assistance to help with the move west
Whites moved NA onto the plains land which the deemed impossible to cultivate
1835 - Jackson announced the Policy was being completed, - Cherokee refuse to leave
1831 - they appealed to the supreme court - lawyers argued that state law did not apply to them because they were ‘nation within a nation’
1835 - Cherokee signed the Treaty of `new Echota, handing over 8 million acres of land to US
1838 - they were forcefully removed in the trail of tears, on which 4000 died
Bureau of Indian Affairs
1824
- oversaw treaty negotiations with NA
- managed education and trade with tribes
- attempted post civil war to ‘civilise’ the tribes
- although it had been set up to protect NA
Reasons for Conflict between NA and Whites in 1860 and 70s
- arrival of settlers, miners and railway companies on the plains
- breaching of peace treaties
- actions of NA and Us forces
Little Crows War
1862
- known as the Dakota War
- followed by the Indian Appropriation Act, authorised the creation of reservations in Oklahoma in 1861
Violence broke out when Sioux crops failed
700 settlers were killed
US forces were withdrawn from the civil war to deal with Sioux, and captured and snetanfed to death many Sioux
- Lincoln however commuted their sentences
Remaining Sioux moved to Crow Creek a reservation by the MIssouri River
- however conditions were so harsh that 400 died within the first winter
Cheyanne Upriisings
1863-64
- Cheyenne had agreed to move to Sand Creek Reservation,
- land quality was to bad to farm
- they resorted to attacking wagons for food
Led to the Sand Creek Massacre
Red Clouds War
1866-68
Cause - discovery of gold in mountains of Montana
- miners trails encroached on Sioux land (this was a breach of the peace treaty)
- Government attempted to hold peace talks whilst building a series of Forts along the route
- Forts led Red Cloud to break off peace talks
- Red Cloud managed to take Fort Kearney which prevented the trail from being used
- he succeeded in aginga. campaign through winter
1868 - Government admitted defeat and opened different routes to mining areas
RESULT
- US troops withdrawn
- Great Sioux Reservation Created under the treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
- forbid non natives from entering NA land
Ghost Dance
- NA believed that performing the dance would cause whites to disappear from the land the Buffalo to re-emerge from beneath the grass
Impact of the the Civil War on the Sioux
Impact of war on Sioux
- government aid not properly provided = unrest
- US soldiers were drafted into civil war and replaced with ruffians
1862, Sioux and Dakota tribe were denied rations
Result = killed 800 whites between august and september, for which the lost and in Minnesota
Sand Creek Massacre
- Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho
- Colonel Chivington attacked their village claimed he killed 500 soldiers
- 150 people were actually killed and 2/3 were women and children
Civil War and rations
1862, Sioux and Dakota tribe were denied rations
Result = killed 800 whites between august and september, for which the lost and in Minnesota
Civil War destruction of the Buffalo
General Sheridan - instructed troops to kill the Buffalo
Reason - because it would make NA more reliant on the US government
Fort Lyon
Cheyenne and Arapaho accepted the treaty to move west during civil war others declined attacking trails and mining camps.
- the protestors were eventually gathered at fort lyon where they had been offered protection
but they were attacked by Colonel Chivington and his men
- 450 NA including women and children were killed
Cause of Great Sioux War and Initial Government Action
1874 - Breach of Treaty of Fort Laramie,
- due to discovery of gold in black hills of Dakota
Government could not stop settlers going. and so offered to buy the black hills of Dakota
The sioux refused as these were ancestral lands
Government ordered all sioux to return to reservation before January 1st or they would be seen as Hositle
- but sub-zero temperatures made this impossible
Sioux Reaction to Breach of Fort Laramie
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse raised 7000 men
Government - launched a campaign against them
= Battle of Little Bighorn
- NA defeated general Custer in June 1976, from 600 of Custer’s men 300 were injured or killed
US Government reaction to Battle of Little bIghorn
- built new forts and sent more soldiers to pursue the Sioux throughout the winter
Impact of Government reaction to little Bighorn on Natives
- Sioux unable to sustain war effort throughout the winter
- returned to reservations
As a result they were forced to sell the Black Hills of Dakota, Powder River Country and Bighorn Mountains
Sioux reservation was split into smaller reservation so more land could be take and the Sioux would be seperate
Wounded Knee
1890
-Reservation police shot Sitting Bull - as they thought he was responsible for the Ghost dance
led his followers to flee to band of Chief Big Foot
near Wounded Knee Creek
- here they became surrounded by US army and 200 unarmed men and women were massacred
This ended the plains wars
Big Elk - destroyed a nation, it was the last act of war between NA and whites
Acts and Impact of Assimilation
Indian Appropriations act of 1851 and 1871, allowed the government to reduce the size of Reservations
- as well as suspend tribal power
Dawes Act 1887 - strengthened this
1883 Code of Religious Offence
Polygamy was banned
and warriors no longer able to demonstrate their skill
Reservation Boarding Schools
1879 Carlisle Boarding School
‘KIll the indian save the man’
- attempt assimilate NA children
- attempts to prevent children going resulted in withdrawal of rations
- NA couldn’t get work after they were educated due to discrimination
Grants Peace Policy
- supported the reservation policy of 1850
It was a Failure
- because treaties with NA constantly broken, and NA didn’t have enough food
resulted in conflict eg First sioux war
Dawes Act
160 acre per mae head or 320 acres of grazing land
single males given 80 acres
Gave NA citizenship after 25 years but they didn’t want it
It undermined the belief that land belonged to all creatures and could not be owned
IMPACT
Social - women property owner roles destroyed, communal living destroyed
Political - gave NA citizenship they didn’t want, took away their tribal sovereignty
Economic - Lost 90 million acres of land in 1887, most NA ended up in poverty because the land was poor quality, they had no farming background
Population - 250,000 originally - to 100,000 - 1900
