The destruction of the Plains Indians' way of life, 1876-90 Flashcards
Give two ECONOMIC reasons for the extermination of the buffalo
1) Increased demand for buffalo skin to be turned into machine belts in factories in the East
2) Cattle ranchers could move into the lands and make more money
Give three POLITICAL reasons for the extermination of the buffalo
Any three from:
Would force Plains Indians to move to reservations
Would force the Plains Indians to learn to farm
Treaties with the Plains Indians that included them leaving reservations to hunt buffalo could be ended
Easier to build railroads and achieve Manifest Destiny
Would make the Plains Indians more dependent on the US government
How much was a single buffalo hide worth from 1871? What impact did this have on the number of buffalo exterminated?
$1-3
People rushed to kill as many as they could
Between 1872 and 1874, how many buffalo were killed by:
White Americans
Plains Indians
White Americans: 4.5 million
Plains Indians: 1 million
How were the Plains Indians controlled physically on reservations?
US army forts and troops were present in and around the reservations
Other than through military means, how else were Plains Indians controlled on reservations?
Forced to live on government rations due to poor farming land
Indian agents controlled the supply of food, clothing and other essentials
What changed about the distribution of resources on reservations in the 1880s?
Previously, supplies were given to the tribal chiefs who distributed them to their people
The government encouraged families to go directly to the agent, weakening the power of the chiefs
How did the Major Crimes Act (1885) reduce the power of Plains Indian chiefs?
Gave the US government the power in cases involving major crimes such as murder, rape or arson
What would Plains Indian leaders receive if they co-operated with the authorities on reservations?
Special privileges or extra supplies
Why did some Plains Indians join the Indian Police on reservations?
Gave them power and prestige over other Plains Indians
What happened to dances and rituals on reservations?
They were banned
Why were Plains Indian warriors left in despair on the reservations?
There was no way to gain status through hunting buffalo or war
How many day schools and boarding schools were set up for Plains Indian children off the reservation by 1895?
110 day schools
117 boarding schools
How were Plains Indian children treated at boarding schools?
Forbidden from using their own language or Indian names
Taught to reject their own culture and to value Christian American ideals
Strict discipline and severe punishments
What did it mean to “kill the Indian, and save the man”?
Remove all Plains Indian culture from a person and make him “civilised”
Why did the US President Grover Cleveland believe that Plains Indians were not prospering on the reservations?
The land of the reservations was owned by the whole nation and controlled by the chiefs - it should be broken up so that individuals owned individual plots
What happened to reservation lands in the Dawes Act (1887)?
Massively reduced and broken up into individual plots
What were individual Plains Indians given a chance to do as a result of the Dawes Act (1887)?
Leave the reservation and take up their own plots, or sell their plots to white settlers
What happened to the Plains Indians who left the reservation to take up their own plots under the Dawes Act?
Struggled to adapt to living and working as individual farmers since the land was so poor
How much land was each Plains Indian family allotted under the Dawes Act (1887)?
160 acres
Under the Dawes Act, how much land was given to:
Single Plains Indians
Orphans under 18
Single Plains Indians: 80 acres
Orphans under 18: 40 acres
What would happen to the reservation land left over in the Dawes Act?
It could be sold to whites
What would happen to the costs of running the reservation system as a result of the Dawes Act?
They would be reduced
How much land had the Plains Indians lost by 1890 compared to what they had in 1887?
50% of their lands
What happened to the land kept by Plains Indians under the Dawes Act?
Passed it onto their children, diving up the land into smaller plots that were even harder than before
What was announced about the Permanent Indian Frontier in 1890?
It was closed - settlement had been so rapid that “there can hardly be said to be a frontier line” anymore
What was set up in 1890 to protect the US’s “wilderness areas”?
Yosemite National Park
What was the situation on the Sioux reservations by the summer of 1890?
Crops had failed and rations had been cut
What did Wovoka claim to have had a vision of in 1889?
If the Plains Indians rejected white ways of life and danced the Ghost Dance, the Great Spirit would bring all the dead Plains Indians and buffalo back and carry away the white people
How did Indian agents respond to the Ghost Dance?
They were worried - tried to ban it and brought in troops
What happened when Indian reservation police went to arrest Sitting Bull?
A fight broke out and he was shot dead
Whose band did many of Sitting Bull’s followers join when he was shot dead?
Big Foot (a Lakota Sioux chief)
Who took Big Foot and his followers to a camp at Wounded Knee on 28 December 1890?
The Seventh Cavalry
What did the troops order the Plains Indians to do on the morning of 29 December 1890? How did the Plains Indians respond?
Give up their weapons
They resisted
How many Sioux were killed in the space of 10 minutes at the Wounded Knee Massacre?
250 (many of them women and children)
In what year did the US Congress apologise for the massacre at Wounded Knee?
1990
How did the white American public react to the massacre at Wounded Knee?
They were relieved that the Ghost Dance was over and were pleased the Seventh Cavalry got their revenge for the Battle of the Little Bighorn
