Native Americans Flashcards
Which animal is essential to the Indians way of life?
Buffalo
What did they use buffalo for?
Resources
Indians belived in a great spirit what was it called?
Wakan Tanka
Name one of the main Indian tribes.
The Sioux
Who was in charge of a tribe?
Chief
Name a famous tribal leader.
Crazy horse
What was the purpose of a brotherhood?
To train and protect eachother
What shape was important to Indians?
Circle
What did horses allow the Indians to do?
Travel and hunt
Why was land important to Indians?
They belived it was sacred
What activities of settlers did Indians find disrespectful?
Mining
What was counting coup?
Touching your enemy instead of killing them
When was the Indian Removal Act?
1830
What did the Indian Removal Act do?
Removed 46,000 Indians to the west of the Mississippi River
When was US victory in the Mexican-American War?
1848
How did victory in the war affect the plains?
Sandwiched them in the middle of the USA
What was the Permanent Indian Frontier?
Separated Whites and Indians
When was the Permanent Indian Frontier established?
1834
The Indians Appropriations Act of 1851 did what?
Gave Indians money to help them settle into new land
What employment did the US government hope the Indians would take up?
Farming
What was Manifest Destiny?
Gods fate allowed the Indians believe it was okay for them to own land
What was a tipi?
A nomandic lifestyle home
What is a travois?
A way of carrying tipis around when travelling
Indians practised polygamy, what does this mean?
Having more than one wife
Where did the Plain Indians find spirits?
In all living things
Why was high land (like mountains) important to the Plain Indians?
They believed it was closer to the spirit world
Give an example of land that was very sacred to the Plain Indians
The Black Hills of Dakota
Why were tipis round?
Tipis had a circle base and the circle was a very important shape to the Indians as they believed everything worked in circles.
How did the Plains Indians contact the spirits?
Through vision
How did boys gain their adult names?
They went to the sweat lodge, pray and fast for days
Why were dances important to the Plain Indians?
They believed they could reach the spirit world through dancing
What was the sun dance?
The sun dance was the most important ceremony of the year and was led by the medicine man. They tortured themselves and hoped to get guidance about they question they had asked.
Give an example of another name for a medicine man
Shaman - could interpet the visions of the younger men. Could contact the spirits of living things
What was the Indians attitude to land?
They believed they were part of the land. Such land owned could not be owned by individuals
What did Indians believe in dying in battle?
They did not believe that dying in battle was heroic. They believed it was more important to return back home alive.
What did the Indians take home as evidence to prove their success in battle?
Scalps
What would happen to a warrior if they lost their scalp?
They would be sent to the ‘afterlife’ and have to fight there
What sorts of weapons were used?
- Bows & arrows
- Spears
- War clubs
- Knifes
- Shields of buffalo hide
- Tomahawke (axe)
- Muskets
Give 3 examples for the importance of buffalos
- Provided resources
- Provided plenty of food
- Considered a gift from the great spirit
What sorts of resources was the buffalo used for?
- weapons
- sinews
- clothing
- shoes
- wool
- tipis
Who were the 3 m’s (people to emigrate west)
- Mountain men (first group to cross the plains)
- mormons
- miners
What was ‘The great emigration’?
900 pioneers made the dangerous journey west
Who was Joseph Smith?
Joseph Smith was the founder of the mormon religion. He found the gold plates with the testements on. He was believed to be visited by one of Gods angels (Moroni).
What were the 3 states the Mormons visited before reaching Salt lake city?
- Kirtland (economic crash)
- Nauvoo (polygony)
- Missouri (huge threat)
When was the California Gold Rush?
1848/9
What were the positives of the Gold Rush in 1848/9?
- Saloons (more money for the buisness and owners)
- Miners has somewhere to live
What were the negatives of the Gold Rush in 1848/9?
- Diseases (typhoid, cholera, dysentery and scurvy)
- Tough laws
- Violence was common
- Claim jumping was a very common crime
When was the Front Laramie Treaty?
17th September 1851
What was the Kansas - Nebraska Act?
2 new terretories behind the Permanent Indian Frontier was created by 1854
What was lowlessness?
A time of chaos because people we ignoring the law because there was no one there to enforce it
What was claim jumping?
Taking someone else’s claim to plot their own land or mine
When was the Oregon trail set up?
1836
What was the Plain Indians nomandic lifestyle?
Most Plain Indians followed the buffalo migrations through the summer and the autumn. This meant that they had a nomadic (travelling) lifestyle in these months
What were the pull factors for moving west?
- Freedom and independence
- Fertile land
- Space
- Oregon trail
- Gold
What were the push factors for moving west?
- Collapse of wheat prices
- Overpopulation
- Persecution
- Unemployment
Who was the Donner party led by?
Jacob and George Donner
Who was included in the Donner party migration?
The Donner party left Missouri for California in May 1846 with 60 wagons and 300 people. The wagon train was well equipped by had more women, elderly people and children then usual.
What disaster took place during the Donner Party migration?
At Fort Bridger, a smaller group of about 80 people tried to take a short cut. Four wagons broke, 300 cattle died and one man killed another. They arrived late in Sierra Nevada and were trapped by heavy snow.
Who became leader of the Mormons when Joseph Smith died in 1845?
Brigham Young
What were the main problems of farming the plains?
- Climate (very hot, dry summers and very cold winters)
- Grasshopper (plagues and other insect pests)
- Weather (thunderstorms and violent winds)
- Lack of trees (very little timber for fencing or building )
- Thick sod (the soil was a tangled mass of grass roots)
- Prairie fires (dry grass burned easily)
- Lack of water (very little surface water and very low rainfall)
When did The Fort Laramie Treaty take place?
1851
What did the government give the Indians (Fort Laramie)?
Money, $50,000 yearly
What did the Indians have to agree to? (Fort Laramie)
- White settlers were allowed to cross the Indian territory
- Railroad surveyors and military posts in Plains territory.
- Not allowed to fight other tribes otherwise money would be taken away
What was 2 consequences of Fort Laramie?
- Opened up the West
- Increased Indian reliance upon US government
What would Fort Laramie lead to for the Indians?
first step reservations
Where did Brigham Young decide to take the Mormons?
Salt Lake City
Why did Brigham Young decide to take the Mormons to Salt Lake City?
It was in Mexico, free from persecution, land no-one else wanted and he researched the route
How did Young plan and organise the journey for the Mormons?
- groups of 100 with a leader
- specific roles
- wagons into circles
- pioneer band
- enough food
- winter quarters
- faith
How many Mormons were travelling?
15,000
split into groups of 100
Who owned the Salt Lake land?
the church
