•Conflicts with the American Indians

Native American Culture

• Indian tribes are not one people, although many tribal philosophies and concepts are similar—

• Nearly every tribe's beliefs have reference to a – Supreme Being; – refer to the earth as “Mother Earth” and sky as “Father Sky”; – have a belief that all things in creation must have balance and

harmony; – and have respect for all animals, sea life, and birds, and for all things.

• By 1850, some 75,000 Natives lived on the Plains

• There were 560 federally recognized Indian tribes and bands, as of January 2000

NATIVE AMERICANS VS.

WHITES

NATIVE AMERICANS• Nomadic• Polytheistic• Communal property

AMERICANS (WHITES)• Sedentary • Monotheistic• Private property

Native American CultureFor survival, the Plains Indians depended on two animals: (1) Horse (2) BuffaloWhile on horseback, Plains Indians used the short bow and arrows to shoot Buffalo.Plains Indians used buffalo for food, shelter, clothing, utensils, and tools.Women dried buffalo meat to make jerkyThey made tepees and clothing from buffalo hides, and cups and tools from buffalo horns

HANDOUT: Visual Chart of the uses Made of the Buffalo

Slaughtered buffalo lying dead in the snow in 1872,

courtesy National Archives

”Two years ago, I came upon this road following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm, and we have not known which way to go.”

Comanche Chief Ten Bears

Slaughtered For the Hide, Harper's Weekly, 1874

When the railroad pushed westward through the plains, buffalo were often shot for sport as the trains passed by, the carcasses left to rot upon the prairie.

This war did not spring up on our land, this war was brought upon us by the children of the Great Father who came to take our land

without a price, and who, in our land, do a great many evil things... This war has come from robbery - from the stealing of our land."

-Spotted Tail

I have no more landI am driven away from home

Driven up the red watersLet us all go

Let us all go die together 

-- Anonymous Creek Woman

"Let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo is exterminated, as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance."

- General Philip Sheridan

“OLD” INDIAN POLICY 1816-1865

The basic policy was centered around moving Native Americans from the East to the areas of the unsettled West.

Move the natives out of the fast growing East

Place them on the huge unsettled Western lands where no white settlers lived.

This allowed the Natives to retain some of their culture, or to adapt in the large areas granted to them.

CHALLENGES TO “OLD” INDIAN POLICY

After the Civil War, thousands of people move westward.

Many immigrants coming to America went to the West for cheap land. (Homestead Act of 1862)

Miners, Ranchers, and Farmers wanted private property.

Government had to respond to armed conflict between Natives and White settlers.

Reservations In 1858, the discovery of gold in what is now Colorado brought thousands

of miners to the West.

In 1861, the U.S. govt. negotiated new treaties with Plains Indians calling for reservations, areas of federal land set aside for Native Americans.

In many cases, the lands granted to tribes were not ideal for agricultural cultivation, leaving many tribes who accepted the policy in a state bordering on starvation.

Reservation treaties sometimes included stipend agreements, in which the federal government would grant a certain amount of goods to a tribe annually. The implementation of the policy was erratic, however, and in many cases the stipend goods were not delivered.

Wars with Native Americans

• Sand Creek Massacre– Two readings – The Battle of Sand Creek & The Fort

Lyon Affair• Red River War• Battle of Little Big Horn– Youtube video –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJFz4NxqVV8b• Battle of Wounded Knee– Chief Joseph & The Flight of the Nez Perce

“NEW” INDIAN POLICY 1865-1887

Tribes of Indians were put on smaller reservations, and treated as independent nations.

They had rights to the reservation property, and the white man could not trespass.

This helped, but in the end, the white man wanted even more land, and system was again changed.

INDIAN POLICY POST 1887THE DAWES ACT

Indians were offered 160 acre pieces of land to settle on.

The government built and ran schools on Indian reservations to teach them American ways.

Reservations that were left were even smaller than before.

Overall, the plan was to break the Native culture and make them into Americans.

EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN INDIAN POLICY ON NATIVE LIFE

Offering free land broke the communal property idea of the Natives

American schools taught the natives about the market economy and science, both of which broke the Traditional and Religious beliefs of Natives (http://www.uen.org/indianed/videos/boarding_school_56k.html )

Smaller reservations broke the Nomadic part of Native culture.