Happy Friday!

Take out a sheet of paper and…

Title your notes: Native Americans

Native Americans and Western Settlement

Focus Question: How did the pressures of westward

expansion impact Native Americans?

Decline of Native American Culture By the end of the

Civil War, around 250,000 Native Americans lived west of the Mississippi River

What do we already know

about how Native Americans are treated by the

U.S. Government?

The Great Plains The large grassland extending through

the west central portion of the United States

The Buffalo Clothing, food, shelter, shoes, and blankets

Buffalo Population

1800 65,000,0001850 15,000,0001870 1,0002000 260,000

The loss of the Buffalo due to massive over-hunting by American Settlers led to the demise of many Plains tribes

Main Difference between American Settlers and Native Americans:

LAND!!!• Native Americans did not believe in private ownership of land

• American Settlers believed that Natives gave up their rights to the land because they didn’t “improve” it (farm, build, etc)

When gold was discovered out West – millions move west – come in contact with Native Americans

Sand Creek Massacre 1864 US Militia attacked Native Americans

at Sand Creek 150+ Native Americans were killed

(mainly women and children)

Lt. Colonel John Chivington

Chivington became violently angry at them and brought his fist down close to LT Cramer’s face. “Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians!” he cried. “I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians.” ~ from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Warm-up: Read the quote and reflect…

[We] have been taught to hunt and live on the game [buffalo]. You tell us that we must learn to farm, live in one house, and take on your ways. Suppose the people living beyond the great sea should come and tell you that you must stop farming, and kill your cattle, and take your houses and lands, what would you do? Would you not fight them?

1. Who do you think wrote this?2. When do you think it was written?3. Who is the audience?

Reservation or Resistance Friendly tribes were forced onto

reservations Resisting tribes were met with violent

force

Reservations: Specific areas setaside by the government forIndians to live.

Problems for Native Americans:

Loss of freedom

Little $ (Poverty)

Disease from white men

Problems for Native Americans:

Loss of freedom

Little $ (Poverty)

Disease from white men

Sitting Bull: Sioux Chief General Custer: US Army

Battle of Little BighornJune 25, 1876

Underestimating Sioux strength, Custer attacked the Sioux encampment on the banks of the Little Bighorn River

Led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the Sioux force totaled over 1,200 warriors

In less than one hour, all the 220+ members of Custer’s military were dead

Sitting Bull After the victory at Little Bighorn, the

weakened Sioux began to suffer losses in 1876

He took his people to Canada to avoid destruction by the US Army

Because of starvation, Sitting Bull led his people back to surrender in the US in 1881

Assimilation

Defined: A plan for Native Americans to give up their beliefs and way of life and become part of white culture

Dawes Act (1887) ~ Broke up large reservations and gave the land

to individual Native Americans to farm (160 acres to every family)

Critics of Assimilation

Helen Hunt Jackson wrote A Century of Dishonor- said the government should treat the Native Americans fairly and make up for past wrongs.

Wounded Knee Massacre In 1890, the army collected 350+

starving Sioux into a camp at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota

The US demanded the Sioux give up all their weapons

A shot was fired in the camp somewhere and the US Soldiers opened fire killing everyone to include women and children

Chief Big Foot dead in the snow at Wounded Knee

Wounded Knee ended Native American resistance

Why do you think forced assimilation

doesn’t work?

a) According to the textbook, what caused conflict between the Lakota Siouxand the U.S. government?

b) Who started the Battle of Little Bighorn?

c) Why did Custer lose?

d) Do you think this account is an accurate description of the Battle of LittleBighorn? Why or Why not?

Title the questions: Textbook Questions

Pick One…or do all 3 for EXRTRA CREDIT!!

Write a letter to a friend about forced assimilation(pick a POV). ½ page min.

Make a cartoon comic w/ at least 4 slides demonstrating the demise of the buffalo(pick a POV).

Write a newspaper article detailing one of the battles we talked about today. Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee…(pick a POV or give an unbiased account) ½ page min.

This will be due at the end of class today!