Native Americans Flashcards
Who were the Native Americans?
Native American tribes named Indians by Christopher Columbus in 1492 inhabited the North American continent for thousands of years before the White European settlers arrived.
At the beginning of the 19th century 86 independent tribes many large enough to be considered ‘Nations’ existed.
What was impact of military expansion on the Native Americans?
Increasingly Native Americans were forced to change
What was the impact of white settlement from 1850 onwards on Native Americans?
1850s onward - took their lands and displaced them
What was the impact of the Treaty system ending in 1871 on Native Americans?
Stopped recognition of independent tribes
What was the impact of the Dawes Act in 1887?
Recognises Native Americans as families and not tribes
What was the impact of the Indian Affairs Policy on Native Americans?
Designed to ‘civilise’ Native Americans through boarding schools, to destroy their culture
What was Westwards Expansion?
White settlers pushed Westwards beyond the natural frontier of the Appalachian Mountains, the Indians were gradually removed from their traditional lands - this was a result of the Gold Rush in 1840
Displaces Native Americans to worse land, away from their ancestral land
What was the impact of Westwards Expansion on Native Americans?
The Westwards expansion of the US frontier from the early decades of the nineteenth century onwards was a significant factor in radically changing the way of life of the Indians
Displaced Native Americans to worse land, away from there ancestral land
What was the American Civil War?
Outbreak of the civil war in 1861 affected the tribal life of the Plains Indians by 1865
War increased federal territories
Homestead Act, 1862, - 160 acres owned by white Americans
What was the impact of the American Civil War on Native Americans?
Native Americans lacked protection and were restricted due to the war
What was the Union Pacific Railway?
By 1865, the construction of the Union Pacific Railway was underway
This was a result of the federal governments determination to develop and expand their existing railway network in the East so that it stretched from coast to coast
What was the impact of the Union Pacific Railway on Native Americans?
Effected he Native Americans as it cut through their ancestral land
Disrupted the buffalo herds - 300 million to around 300. This meant that many Native Americans were now without a food source and would die, fundamentally changing the way NA lived
What is ‘Manifest Destiny’?
The 19th century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the United States throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable
Conflicted with the view of Native Americans creating tension between conflicting races and cultures
What was Westwards Expansion?
White settlers pushed Westwards beyond the natural frontier of the Appalachian Mountains, the Indians were gradually removed from their traditional lands - this was a result of the Gold Rush in 1840
Displaces Native Americans to worse land, away from their ancestral land
What was the impact of Westwards Expansion on Native Americans?
The Westwards expansion of the US frontier from the early decades of the nineteenth century onwards was a significant factor in radically changing the way of life of the Indians
Displaced Native Americans to worse land, away from there ancestral land
What was the American Civil War?
Outbreak of the civil war in 1861 affected the tribal life of the Plains Indians by 1865
War increased federal territories
Homestead Act, 1862, - 160 acres owned by white Americans
What was the impact of the American Civil War on Native Americans?
Native Americans lacked protection and were restricted due to the war
What was the Union Pacific Railway?
By 1865, the construction of the Union Pacific Railway was underway
This was a result of the federal governments determination to develop and expand their existing railway network in the Easy so that it stretched from coast to coast
What was the impact of the Union Pacific Railway on Native Americans?
Effected he Native Americans as it cut through their ancestral land
Disrupted the buffalo herds - 300 million to around 300. This meant that many Native Americans were now without a food source and would die, fundamentally changing the way NA lived
What is ‘Manifest Destiny’?
The 19th century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the United States throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable
Conflicted with the view of Native Americans creating tension between conflicting races and cultures
Arguments Native Americans did benefit from the Gilded Age:
Education provided gave some NAs the opportunity to find better jobs with some working for the Indian Agency and others as interpreters or scouts in the army.
Some NAs used reservations to set up farming communities
Dawes Act turned some NAs into landowners giving them full rights as US citizens
Arguments that Native Americans didn’t benefit from the Gilded Age:
By 1885 the extinction of the buffalo and the seizure of most NA land had destroyed the NAs traditional lifestyle and confined them to reservations
Reservation life was a failure
Government subsidies were insufficient and were often cut when there were national priorities
Atrocities were committed like the massacres at Wounded Knee in 1890
Education on the reservations was often poor quality
Most NAs were unable to adapt to the allotment policy - women in tribes lost status after the allotment policy as land was given to men of the family
Arguments the New Deal did improve the position of Native Americans:
Indian Reorganisation Act of 1934 gave NAs greater role in the administration of reservations - act was turning point as first attempt by whites to protect NAs right to practice their own religion and assert their cultural identity
Children were allowed to attend local schools and learn about NA culture
Act ended the allotment policy
Federal government funding was provided to improve training in agricultural skills and better medical facilities
Reforms helped to create a greater respect for Native American culture and there were economic benefits too
When was the Indian Reorganisation Act?
1934 - also known as Wheeler-Howard Act
Argument the New Deal didn’t improve the position of Native Americans:
Poverty of NAs was so great that these measures did little to relive their situation
Only 39% of NAs voted for the IRA
Improvements were not maintained after WW2 so they were only short term
IRA was heavily diluted by Congress
Insufficient federal funds to buy back former reservations lands and seizures of land valuable to whites continued despite the IRA
When did the policy of termination begin?
1953
What did the policy of termination mean?
Returned Native American reservation land to local governments
When was the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) founded?
1960
When was the National Advisory Council on Indian Education founded?
1965
What was the National Advisory Council on Indian Education?
Aimed to increase literacy tests and any measures designed to prevent black people from voting
When did the policy of termination end?
1966
When was the Indian Resources Development Act?
1967
What was the Indian Resources Development Act?
Allowed Native American tribes to sell and mortgage their land
Arguments that the actions of Native Americans themselves contributed nothing to the advancement of their civil rights:
NAs were essentially at the mercy of whites’ policy towards them: westward expansion 1851-90 destroyed their traditional lifestyle by wiping out the buffalo and seizing most of their land.
NAs were divided about what “civil rights” actually meant
First attempt to set up an Indian Civil Rights Group, the Society of American Indians, failed in 1911 b/c of tribal divisions and those for and against assimilation
Whites ignored NAs views
Any rights they gained were the result of federal legislation or by favourable Supreme Court decisions
Red Power was arguably a less popular and less effective form of Black Power
Arguments that the actions of Native Americans themselves did contribute to the advancement of their civil rights:
NAs were attempting organised political resistance from an early stage like the Muskogee Convention
Federal government policy was often a reaction to Native Americans attitudes
Contribution of NAs in both World Wars is widely recognised
NCAI and NARF used legal action to promote NA civil rights
Red Power and the occupation movement of the 1970s proved AIM to be a strong force, gained international media attention and inspired many more NAs to fight for land rights
Arguments the policies of the federal government failed to support the civil rights of Native Americans:
Fed gov policy 1851-90 during the Indian Wars was to subject them militarily to white control and seize their land; this + the slaughter of the buffalo by 1885 destroyed NAs’ traditional lifestyle
Dawes Act 1887 - tried to break up their tribal structure by dividing up their land into individual or family allotments
Supreme Court decided in the Lone Wolf v Hitchcock case 1903 that whites could take NA land without consulting them
Indian Boarding schools like the one at Carlisle aimed to destroy NA culture by separating children from their families and forcing them to change their religion, language, clothes and lifestyle
Indian Citizenship Act 1924 was part of the assimilation policy and in any case the federal government made no effort that NAs’ right to vote was actually enforced in the states
Despite IRA land seizures continued
Government support for NAs declined when the USA entered WW2 in 1941, marking the effective end of the IRA
Termination policy of the 1950s marked a return to forcible assimilation after the more sympathetic IRA
Fed gov sympathy and support for NAs declined in the 1980s and NAs were hit by increased unemployment and poverty
Arguments the policies of the Federal Government did support the civil rights of Native Americans:
Indian Citizenship Act could be seen as a genuine effort by the fed gov to give NAs civil rights which were thwarted by states using poll taxes and literacy tests to disenfranchise them
Collier’s IRA ended the allotment policy, banned the further sale of NA land and said any unallotted land not yet sold should be retuned
From the end of Termination in 1968 fed gov policy became much more sympathetic, finally abandoning forcible assimilation
Supreme Court made a series of judgements in favour of NAs
How did the Federal Government force assimilation?
Reservation Policy - attempt to assimilate through education and other policies, controlled by fed gov as an Indian Agent was appointed to each reservation
When was the Dawes Act?
1887
What was the aim of the Dawes Act?
Tried to break up their tribal structure by dividing up their land into individual or family allotments
When was Lone Wolf v Hitchcock?
1903
What was Lone Wolf v Hitchcock?
Supreme Court decided in the Lone Wolf v Hitchcock case 1903 that whites could take NA land without consulting them
What was the purpose of Indian Boarding Schools?
Indian Boarding schools like the one at Carlisle aimed to destroy NA culture by separating children from their families and forcing them to change their religion, language, clothes and lifestyle
When was the Indian Citizenship Act?
1924
What was the Indian Citizenship Act?
Indian Citizenship Act 1924 was part of the assimilation policy and in any case the federal government made no effort that NAs’ right to vote was actually enforced in the states
What were the Plains Wars?
The Plains War was ultimately a series of clashes the main of which were Little Crow’s war (Sioux 1862), Cheyenne uprising of 1863, Red Clouds War 1867 (Sioux) and the Winter Campaign of 1868 against the Cheyenne
