Native Americans

Question 1

What was the position of Native American’s before/in 1865?

Answer 1

By 1864 Indians had been moved onto the reservations and were expected to farm them- but had no ability to do this.They also had little opportunity to trade with the army due to removal of troops.
This meant that they were reliant on the federal govt for food (which they weren’t getting due to war and then corrupt agents) and so left the reservations in search of food and then fighting the army.
The situation with Fort Laramie treaties also worsened the situation.

Question 2

What were the Fort Laramie treaties?

Answer 2

Fort Laramie treaties were treaties between the US govt. and the Native Americans. They were often in a cycle due to failures of behalf of the US govt. The treaty would be signed and then US obligations would be ignored (such as granting of food, recognition of land etc.) which would result in the Indians leaving the reservations and then fighting the army - leading to more treaties to be signed. Often these treaties included the loss of Indian Lands

Question 3

What was the policy of Manifest Destiny?

Answer 3

Early US policy that Americans were entitled to settle the plains and that they should in order to Americanise and ‘civilise’ the Native Americans. This was part of American Expansion westward and led to NA culture being destroyed and shaped the policy for the next 100+ years (getting NA’s Americanised).

Question 4

Describe the reservations policy

Answer 4

Started in the 1850’s the reservations policy aimed to control Indians and slowly enforce Americanisation upon them. This is because it made them dependent of the govt. for food and allowed the govt to control them by enforcing policy’s such as;
-Forbidding polygamy.
-Abolishing tribal laws,
-Forbidding herbal remedies
-Sending children off to boarding schools.
However they also served to enforce the tribal lifestyle and customs.