Topic 12 - Conflict with the Plains Indians and the destruction of their way of life

Question 1

Give three reasons as to why as the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 breached

Answer 1

1. Gold was discovered in the land given to the Sioux
2. Belief in Manifest destiny led to Whites wanting to expand further
3. The Sioux refused to sell the land in question

Question 2

Why did the buffalo start to decline in number?

Answer 2

• They were deliberately targeted by white settlers
• Horses competed with the buffalo for grass
• Cattle spread diseases to them

Question 3

Why did the US government support the active killing of the buffalo?

Answer 3

Because It destoyed the Indians’ traditional way of life

Question 4

What was the result of the decline in buffalo for the Indians and why did this happen?

Answer 4

• Indians had to live on reservations as it was difficult to find food otherwise

Question 5

List 3 features of the Indians’ lives on the reservations

Answer 5

1. They were reliant on the government for rations of food and other supplies
2. The land given to the Indians was usually poor and bad for farming
3. The Americans tried to convert the Indians into farmers and Christians in the reservations

Question 6

What was the result of the treatment of Indians on the reservations?

Answer 6

Many indians were unhappy and tried to resist/revolt

Question 7

Outline the result of the Battle of the Little Big Horn

Answer 7

Custer and all of his 265 men were killed by the Sioux

Question 8

How did the Americans respond to the Battle of the Little Big horn and how did this response affect the Indians

Answer 8

The Americans considered it to be massacre and wanted the punishment of exterminating the Indians

Question 9

How and why did the governments attitude to the Indians change after 1877?

Answer 9

1. The Sioux had been defeated and the US army declared all their land forfeit by right of conquest
2. The Indians were to be converted to farmers and adopt the American way of life

Question 10

What did the Dawes act do?

Answer 10

Broke up lots of the reservation land into individual plots

Question 11

Why was the Dawes act carried out?

Answer 11

• To encourage the Indians to farm

- To reduce the power of chiefs over bands

Question 12

What was the main problem encountered with the administration of the act?

Answer 12

Lots of land was appropriated by corrupt government officials, who sold it to white settlers instead

Question 13

What happened to the different tribes after 1877 and what was the result of this?

Answer 13

Different tribes wre kept apart, which meant that uniting in revolt was much harder

Question 14

Describe the events leading up to and including the Wounded Knee battle?

Answer 14

1. Hard life on reservations meant many Sioux were desperate
2. Started a ‘ghost dance’ to ward off whites, bring back dead sioux and for the return of the buffalo
3. US officially started to become worried of a revolt and killed many Indians
4. Sioux were surrounded by US cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek and were ordered to disarm
5. There was a misunderstanding during the disarming, which resulted in the anxious US troops to open fire on the Sioux and killed many women and children
6. The Wounded Knee Massacre ended the ‘ghost dance’ as well as the Plains Wars between the two sides. It also marked the end of independence/freedom for the Indians

Question 15

What was the significance of the closing of the Indian frontier in 1890?

Answer 15

It meant that the USA controlled all land from coast to coast and that the Indians had lost the war for the Great Plains