Third Party System [1854–1890s] IV Flashcards

Question

\*The Loss of American Indian Life and Culture (A)\*

Answer 1

The interaction of the American Indians with white settlers during the western expansion movement was a painful and difficult one. For settlers raised on the notion of Manifest Destiny and empty lands, the Indians added a terrifying element to what was already a difficult and dangerous new world. For the Indians, the arrival of the settlers meant nothing less than the end of their way of life. Rather than cultural exchange, contact led to the virtual destruction of Indian life and culture. While violent acts broke out on both sides, the greatest atrocities were perpetrated by whites, who had superior weapons and often superior numbers, as well as the support of the U.S. government.

Answer 2

The death of the Indian way of life happened as much at the hands of well-intentioned reformers as those who wished to see the Indians exterminated. Individual land ownership, boarding schools, and pleas to renounce Indian gods and culture were all elements of the reformers’ efforts. With so much of their life stripped away, it was ever more difficult for the Indians to maintain their tribal integrity.

Answer 3

By the 1860s, most Native Americans had been transplanted west of the Mississippi River as a result of the ‘Indian Removal Act’ 30 years earlier. Most tribes forced onto reservations never received what they were originally promised because of corruption in the system and lack of oversight caused by the Civil War. Resources became more scarce and white setters further depleted farmland, water, and game, especially American bison that some tribes had relied for their survival. Some tribes cooperated with the U.S., while others resisted. The violence spread and escalated throughout the West in a series of conflicts collectively referred to as the ‘Indian Wars’ in the late 1800s, with famous names and battles, such as ‘Wounded Knee’, ‘Geronimo’, and ‘Crazy Horse’ in American folklore.

Answer 4

In 1862, frustrated and angered by the lack of annuity payments and the continuous encroachment on their reservation lands, Dakota Sioux Indians in Minnesota rebelled in what became known as the Dakota War, killing the white settlers who moved onto their tribal lands. Over one thousand white settlers were captured or killed in the attack, before an armed militia regained control. Of the four hundred Sioux captured by U.S. troops, 303 were sentenced to death, but President Lincoln intervened, releasing all but thirty-eight of the men. The thirty-eight who were found guilty were hanged in the largest mass execution in the country’s history, and the rest of the tribe was banished.

Answer 5

Crazy Horse was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by white American settlers on Native American territory and to preserve the traditional way of life of the Lakota people. He lead famous battles against the U.S. Army, such as 'Fettermans Massacre' (1866) and the 'Battle of Little Big Horn' (1876).

Answer 6

The Lakota Sioux were involved in several well-known conflicts. In ‘Fetterman’s Massacre’ (1866), Crazy Horse and a small party of warriors ambushed and killed an entire group of American soldiers sent to remove them from land and resources associated with the ‘Bozeman Trail’ in Wyoming. This challenged many American’s assumptions that the army would always win.

Answer 7

The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations which occurred in 1876 and 1877 between the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and the United States. The cause of the war was the desire of the U.S. government to obtain ownership of the Black Hills in western South Dakota where gold had been discovered. Among the many battles and skirmishes of the war was the 'Battle of the Little Bighorn', often known as 'Custer's Last Stand', the most storied of the many encounters between the U.S. army and mounted Plains Indians. That Indian victory notwithstanding, the U.S. leveraged national resources to force the Indians to surrender, primarily by attacking and destroying their encampments and property.

Answer 8

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance to United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement.

Answer 9

In the 'Battle at Little Bighorn' (1876), the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe banded together after the federal government was trying to force them onto reservations permanently. In ‘Custer’s Last Stand’, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and their allied tribes decimated five out of seven army units, in eluding Colonel George Custer and his men.

Answer 10

The Nez Perce faced similar difficulties as the Lakota. In 1855, Chief Joseph the Elder signed a treaty with the United States and the Washington Territory establishing a 7.7 million-acre reservation, but later gold was found in their territory and they were forced to relinquish ~90% of their land, including traditional burial grounds. After a long struggle between factions in the tribe and the government, Chief Joseph the Younger and 800 followers in 1877 decided to escape to Canada where they could join the Sioux and Chief Sitting Bull in Canada. The U.S. Army pursued them for six months and in the end Chief Joseph the Younger surrendered.

Answer 11

Unlike the Nez Perce and Lakota (and other tribes), in the Southwest the federal government was more aggressive in forcing Apaches onto reservations in order to give whites their land. For decades the Apache were well-known for raiding Mexican/American towns and for their horrific methods of execution. Starting in 1858, Geronimo led brutal raids in the New Mexico Territory, terrorizing American settlers living in their land. Buffalo soldiers, all-black cavalry units, were sent to protect the settlers and capture Geronimo. He evaded arrest for nearly 30 years and at one point a quarter of the U.S. Army pursued him and his band of 36 followers. He finally surrendered in 1886 and lived the rest of his life as both a prisoner of war and an infamous celebrity.

Answer 12

After the Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890), federal policy switched from conquest to assimilation. The Dawes Act (1887) sought to achieve this by splitting up reservations so that land was owned by individuals, not the nation. Over about 50 years, nearly two-thirds of all tribal land was lost. 'Excess' land (often the best parcels) was sold at a profit to white settlers. Tribes struggled to transition from their own culture to mainstream American culture. Children were the targets of forced assimilation, first through boarding schools and later through adoption into white families. Roughly 35% of all Indian children were removed from their homes before a 1974 law gave broad jurisdiction over child welfare back to tribal governments.

Answer 13

The last battle of the ‘Indian War’s’ was the ‘Massacre at Wounded Knee’ (1890). Agents thought by arresting Sitting Bull and other chiefs they could quell the ‘Ghost Dance’ religious movement. Instead his supporters protested and Sitting Bull was accidentally killed, along with a few other Indians and police officers. His supporters were captured without being disarmed and led to camp near Wounded Knee Creek. The following morning uncertainty and miscommunication led to a massacre in which U.S. soldiers gunned down at least 150 Sioux.

Answer 14

In the nineteenth century, the Hispanic, Chinese, and white populations of the country collided. Whites moved further west in search of land and riches, bolstered by government subsidies and an inherent and unshakable belief that the land and its benefits existed for their use. In some ways, it was a race to the prize: White Americans believed that they deserved the best lands and economic opportunities the country afforded, and did not consider prior claims to be valid.

Answer 15

Neither Chinese immigrants nor Hispanic Americans could withstand the assault on their rights by the tide of white settlers. Sheer numbers, matched with political backing, gave the whites the power they needed to overcome any resistance. Ultimately, both ethnic groups retreated into urban enclaves, where their language and traditions could survive.

Answer 16

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned all Chinese workers from entering the U.S., and it effectively banned most Chinese from entering the U.S. for any reason. It was the first time American immigration policy directly stopped a single ethnic group from entering the country. The Exclusion Act was motivated by a struggling economy that made it harder to find work and a fear that immigrants would take American jobs. Discrimination against the Chinese was so bad that it affected political relations between the United States and China. However, when the United States needed China as an ally in World War II, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. The Chinese Exclusion Act had notable influences on American culture, including the tendency to blame immigrant or ethnic groups for social and economic problems.

Answer 17

The states and territories of the West became a laboratory for women's suffrage during Reconstruction. Due to the hardships of the West, Women in the West tended to have more opportunities and a higher social status than women in the East. After meeting in the abolition movement, early feminists worked to secure voting rights - first in Wyoming in 1869. While women in the East were split in their support for female suffrage, 13 Western states granted women the right to vote before the 19th Amendment (1920) protected the same right nationwide, and the trend moved east from there.