Western Expansion and the American Indian Experience

• What is Destiny? Define it in your own words.– Fate to which a particular person is destined– A predetermined course of events beyond human

control• What is Manifest?

– Clear or apparent– Obvious

• America in the mid 1800?s believed we had a "clear destiny” to expand from sea to shining sea--it was the will of God.

Painting by John Gast called American

Progress (circa 1872)

“It is our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty."

John O’Sullivan, 1845

• Argument that the United States was destined to expand across North America– Had a divine mission to spread liberty across the

continent.

• Used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions

• A belief in the natural superiority of what was then called the “Anglo-Saxon race.”

• Promoted and justified westward expansion

The spread of American values to all people and places from coast to coast:

1. Democracy

2. Education

3. Language

4. Capitalism

5. Religion

Reasons for Westward Expansion

1. To acquire Wealth

a. Cheap Land

b. Gold and Silver

c. Land Speculation

Land Speculators: people who bought up large areas of land in the hope of later selling it for a profit

Reasons for Westward Expansion

2. Lack of Foreign Threat

a. European nations were gone

b. Mexican Wars were over

Reasons for Westward Expansion

3. Homestead Act of 1862• 160 acres of land:

–21 years of age or older–American citizen–Pay $10 fee–Build a home and live in it for 6 months

out of every year–Land had to be farmed and improved upon

**Once all requirements were met the land was theirs to keep.

Daniel Freeman's Homestead Application

Daniel Freeman's

Proof of Improvements

Daniel Freeman's Certificate of Eligibility

• By 1900, individual homesteading families had filed 600,000 claims for more than 80 million acres

• Problems: – Settlers could not meet all requirements– Some could not survive economically– Most settlers had no farming experience– Fraud was problematic: speculators would

establish “fake” homesteads and land office agents rarely visited claims

Reasons for Westward Expansion

• Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862– Provided support for state

colleges– Millions of acres given to

state governments who sold it to land speculators at .50/acre.

– States used the money to build colleges.

Ours for the Taking?

• For generations, Americans viewed the West as…– Wild--an empty expanse– Available to ambitious Americans– Ignored the presence of Native Americans and their claims

to the land

What Happened to the Native Americans?

• Prior to Columbus (1492), between 1-10 million people lived in present day U.S.

• By 1800, the number of natives dropped to about 600,000

• By 1850, the number was on 250,000—the population of most other groups was rising in America.

Causes….

• Disease & Starvation: Settlers brought diseases including smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria, & mumps.– Natives had no natural defenses/immunity

– Many starved because they lost hunting grounds & other food sources—buffalo heard was lost

• Warfare: Some contacts with settlers led to violence (settlers had modern weapons) over hunting land, religious practices, etc.

• Loss of Lands: Natives lost land to settlers through trades, treaties, & some was taken by force (by settlers & government)

American Indian PolicyPolicy toward NA have shifted and changed over the past 150 years:

1. Assimilation: 1800s &

early 1900s

2. Cultural Pluralism:

1930s & 1940s

3. Termination: 1950s –

1970s

4. Self Determination:

1970s - today

Contact and ConflictDifference in values•Community means more than the individual.

– Wealth is spread equally

– Decision making made by tribe not one person.

Contact and Conflict

Difference in values:• Land values

– Sacred vs. Exploitation:• NA = sacred. Land was not meant to be plowed or

disturbed.– Sacred land: burial grounds, dance, sacrifice,

vision quests, prayer.• Americans = Exploitation.

– Farms, roads, trails, grazing herds

Indian Relocation

• 1830s–1840s: – Land in the West was given to Native Americans in

exchange for land in the East. – All tribes East of the Mississippi were relocated to Plains

states.

Indian Relocation

• Bureau of Indian Affairs was created by the Federal Government to handle relations with Native Americans.

• 1850s–1890s: gold and silver discoveries created the need to move Indians again.

Treaty ProcessTreaties: Agreements with other nations.•Treaties were used to solve the “Indian problem.”•Early treaties (1860s):

– Restricted hunting grounds and promised food rations.– Failed solution: Squatters would settle on Indian land

breaking the treaty.

Treaty of Medicine Lodge 1867.• Treaty of Medicine Lodge 1867:

– Federal government promised to protect Native Americans from loss of hunting grounds, provide Indians with food rations, and protection from white lawlessness.

– Led to Red River War: • The failure of the government to uphold its

promises led to war between Kiowas, Comanches and settlers and buffalo hunters.

Due to the lack of advanced weaponry many Native Americans were killed. This was the last act of Indian resistance in the Southern Plains.

Treaty Process• Second treaties are known as the “reservation

treaties”– Restricted Indian land to reservations with promises of the following:

1. Food rations 2. Traditional hunting allowed3. Education4. Health Care5. Housing6. Rights to energy sources

Treaty Process• Reservations: small areas of

land within a group’s territory, land was reserved exclusively for their use– Natives were encouraged to farm

& have livestock—be more “civilized” & adopt Christianity

• The Federal Government never intended reservations to last forever.

• The goal was to assimilation Native Americans into model American citizens.

Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868

• Restricted the Federal Government from taking more land from the Northern Plains Indians for railroads and settlers in exchange for Indian agreement to leave the Plains and settle on the reservation.

Tribal Acceptance of Reservations1. Buffalo was almost

gone.

2. Offered some protection of tribal lands

3. Were not told the long term goal of reservations was to completely assimilate them into American society.

Indian Resistance

• Hundreds of battles, wars, and massacres took place on the Plains between 1865-1890 in an effort to resist reservations and preserve the Indian way of life:1. Sand Creek Massacre2. Red River Wars3. Battle of Little Big Horn4. Massacre of Wound Knee

The Indian Wars

• Sand Creek Massacre (1864)– Around 450 Cheyenne men, women, & children killed in

village– One year later: Cheyenne surrender all claims & agree to

move onto reservations—turning point in resistance

Battle of Little Bighorn

• 1876, in present-day Montana

• Between Sioux (put up greatest resistance) led by Chief Sitting Bull and U.S. cavalry led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer

Battle of Little Bighorn• Custer & more than 200 soldiers killed• Marked the Indian’s final victory • Sioux returned to reservations

Battle of Little Bighorn also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”

Treaties and Reservations Failed

1. Created a system of Indian dependence on the Federal Government

2. Americans continued to violate treaty terms with no punishment.

3. March 3, 1871 Federal Government ended all treaty making policies.

4. Ended tribal sovereignty

5. Removed all political power from tribes and forced them to remain on reservations.

Allotment Period

In 1871 U.S. Government states Native American

tribal groups are no longer independent nations

General Allotment Act (Dawes Act)

• Passed in 1887

• Gave natives land to “civilize” them as farmers & ranchers

• Divided reservations & reduced amount of land controlled by natives Senator Henry Dawes

Dawes Act

Dawes General Allotment Act

• Dawes Act: Aimed to end the reservation system by implementing an allotment system. – Divided reservations into 160 acre homesteads for

farming.– Federal government held the land in trust for 25

years.– Native Americans would gain American citizenship for

giving up tribal status.

Allotment Period• Worked to assimilate natives into American

society:– Practice of traditional spiritual ceremonies

forbidden– Children sent to day & boarding schools

React to these two pictures: Are they the same person? Is one more acceptable, why? How would you feel if you were asked to change who you are?

In the White Man’s ImageGroup of Omaha boys in cadet uniforms, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880.

• In 1875, Captain Richard Pratt escorted 72 Indian warriors suspected of murdering white settlers to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Once there, Pratt began an ambitious experiment which involved teaching the Indians to read and write English, putting them in uniforms, and drilling them like soldiers. "Kill the Indian and save the man," was Pratt's motto.

Carlisle School

A Cultural Experiment• News of Pratt's

experiment spread. With the blessing of Congress, Pratt expanded his program by establishing the Carlisle School for Indian Students to continue his "civilizing" mission.

Apache children on arrival at the Carlisle Indian School (Pennsylvania) wearing traditional clothing.

Apache children at the Carlisle School four months later.

Cheyenne woman named Woxie Haury in ceremonial dress, and, in wedding portrait with husband. Two studio portraits; on left she poses with her hair down, in a beaded & fringed dress, necklace, and beaded moccasins. On right she wears a western-style wedding dress

Before and After

Learning finger songs at Carlisle Indian School, ca. 1900.

Frances Benjamin Johnston photo

Response to Allotment: Sitting Bull

• Proud Lakota Chief• Led Sioux in

resistance to U.S. Government policies designed to strip his people of their identity, their dignity and their sacred land -- the gold-laden Black Hills of the Dakotas

• Hope rose for the Sioux in the form of the prophet Wovoka (Studi) and the Ghost Dance– a messianic movement that promised an end of

their suffering under the white man.

• This hope is all but obliterated after the killing of Sitting Bull and….

Massacre at Wounded Knee(1890)

• Following the death of Sitting Bull, U.S. cavalry tried to arrest his followers

• While surrendering and handing over weapons, a shot rang out=soldiers opened fire

• Killed more than 200 unarmed Sioux, including around 70 women & children

Results of the Dawes Act

• 1928 Meriam Report: 1. Allotment was a dismal failure. 2. Huge loss of NA land holdings.

(98 million acres in 40 years)3. Created huge Indian bureaucracy. 4. Furthered issues of poverty

A Friend on the Federal level John Collier: 1930s: Took over the BIA and worked to reverse the damage done

to Native American society and reservations. • BIA began to support:

1. Indian religions 2. Native languages 3. Traditional customs

** Native American reservations were the hardest hit by poverty during the Depression.

Lack of political voice

• By the 1920s & 1930s the Federal Government continued to want to end the dependence of Indians on the Federal Government.

• Problem was tribes had no political or legal voice or power to move towards self sufficiency.

Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Provisions:1. Reverse the Dawes Act policies2. Provide for Indian self-government3. Allow Indians to create corporate

business councils to regulate their own energy, ranching, and farming interests. 4. Restored tribal lands

5. Set up provisions for purchasing land for Indian communities.

Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Indian Reorganization Act

Fostered a new perspective on the “Indian Problem”

1.Multiculturalism: Both Indian and American cultures contributed to each other.

Many Americans supported this as a hope to make tribes self sufficient and would sever ties with the Federal government.

Indian Sovereignty

Tribal Constitutions:

1.IRA helped tribes form constitutions based upon the American constitution and established tribes governments and autonomous societies.

2.Tribes used former treaties as basis for tribal rights.

Termination: 1953• Many Americans

misunderstood the goals of tribal sovereignty under the IRA as an end to the reservation system and Federal government involvement in Indian affairs.

• Because of this a push to terminate both the federal trust relationship and the institution of the tribe itself began.

Meeting with Government officials on Pine Ridge Reservation to discuss termination.

Termination 1953

• Termination Policy (public Law 280) provisions:

1.State agencies would take over both federal and services and jurisdiction of all tribes.

2.Indians would no longer be recognized as Indians on any political level.

Termination 1953• This left tribes with no political voice since all

political provisions had been set up through with the Federal government.

• Menominee tribe in Wisconsin was selected as the first tribe to be terminated.

- Spiraled the tribe into poverty within a few short years.

• By 1958 the Federal Government no longer forced tribes to accept Termination.

Self-Determination Period• Inspired by the civil rights movement,

Native Americans sought equality & control of their own lives

Self-Determination• In 1970 President Nixon ends

Termination and puts in a policy of Self Determination– Tribal control over:

1. Social Programs 2. Law enforcement 3. Education 4. All other services

traditionally controlled by the Federal Government.

• Creates an awkward balance between Federal trust in the form of funding and tribal sovereignty in the form of self government,

• Self Determination has been the cornerstone of federal Indian policy ever since.

Self-Determination Period• In the summer of 1968, over 200 members of

the Native American community came together for a meeting to discuss various issues that Indian people of the time were dealing with on an everyday basis: – Police brutality, high unemployment rates, poverty,

alcoholism, suicide, low life expectancy, violence against women and children and the Federal Government's policies

– From this meeting came the birth of the American Indian Movement, commonly known as AIM.

Modern Native American Resistance

• 1961 National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) formed– Goal to preserve native fishing rights in WI, MI

and MN– Spear fishing

Modern Native American Resistance

• 1971 MI announced they would no longer allow spear fishing breaking the treaties made with the Chippewa between 1836-1855.– Albert LeBlanc, Chippewa tribe, was arrested

for spear fishing.• local fishermen cut Indian nets, slashed tires,

destroyed boats, and fired shots at Indian fishers. • Wanted posters offering bounties for NA fishers

appeared all along the Great Lakes

Modern Native American Resistance

• American Indian Movement (AIM)– Formed in 1968 in

Minneapolis, MN– Denise Banks

(Chippewa Tribe)– Focused on urban

poverty, Civil Rights, Land acqusion, legal rights, and self determination.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

• Fought for autonomy, or self-government with respect to local matters:– Use of natural

resources• Sought restoration of

lands they believed had been taken illegally

American Indian Movement marches in San Francisco October 1992, to

commemorate 500 years of resistance.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

• AIM became instrumental in Native American treatment

• Famous protests include:– Occupation of

Alcatraz– Trail of Broken

Treaties– Siege at Wounded

Knee

Occupation of Alcatraz

Occupation of Alcatraz 1969• Multi-Tribal Treaty Rights Demonstration

• 78 protestors claimed the 13-acre former federal prison under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868:– Treaty provision stated NA had rights to

unused Federal land.– Protestors attempted to establish an

educational & cultural center

• Occupation lasted 1 ½ years– Drew national attention to Native American

grievances

Trail of Broken Treaties

• The “Trail of Broken Treaties” caravan:– 1972 multi-tribal demonstration to force awareness of treaty

rights with the hope to renew the treaty relationship. – NA from across the country drove to Washington DC.

The Twenty Points

• The foundation of NA demands were written in a document called “The Twenty Points”– More social programs– Legally enforced equality

or integration– Return to the terms of

treaties

The Twenty Points1. Restoration of treaty making (ended by Congress in 1871). 2. Establishment of a treaty commission to make new treaties (with sovereign Native Nations). 3. Indian leaders to address Congress. 4. Review of treaty commitments and violations. 5. Unratified treaties to go before the Senate. 6. All Indians to be governed by treaty relations. 7. Relief for Native Nations for treaty rights violations. 8. Recognition of the right of Indians to interpret treaties. 9. Joint Congressional Committee to be formed on reconstruction of Indian relations. 10. Restoration of 110 million acres of land taken away from Native Nations by the United States. 11. Restoration of terminated rights. 12. Repeal of state jurisdiction on Native Nations. 13. Federal protection for offenses against Indians. 14. Abolishment of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 15. Creation of a new office of Federal Indian Relations. 16. New office to remedy breakdown in the constitutionally prescribed relationships between the

United States and Native Nations. 17. Native Nations to be immune to commerce regulation, taxes, trade restrictions of states. 18. Indian religious freedom and cultural integrity protected. 19. Establishment of national Indian voting with local options; free national Indian organizations

from governmental controls 20. Reclaim and affirm health, housing, employment, economic development, and education for

all Indian people.

Trail of Broken Treaties • What started out as a peaceful demonstration turned militant when the Federal Government tried to put down the march.• NA in response took control of BIA building and renamed it the Native American Embassy in effort to show that NA were not given equal consideration in American government.

Question: Why did it occur?!?

Answer: AIM wanted to force the government to review broken treaties &

end severe poverty on Indian reservations

Wounded Knee Confrontation: 1973

• Lasted 71 days• Means, Banks, and over

200 AIM members took over village

• Occurred at site of Wounded Knee Massacre

• Conflict over the 1868 Sioux treaty of the Black Hills

• Pine Ridge reservation around the village was one of the country’s poorest– ½ living on welfare

Russel Means and Dennis Banks

• AIM refused to leave reservation until the governemtn agreed to investigate:– The treatment of Indians– The poor conditions on reservations– Review 371 treaties they believed had been broken

• Lasted 3 months, government agreed to review treaty rights

Indian Law

• Over time NA have learned to use the American court system to fight for Treaty Rights.

• Many NA have gone on to become lawyers.

Indian Law• NA have continued to fight for what

was promised to them in Treaties and for equality within America.

• 1970s saw many legal victories for NA– 1976 ruled NA could spear fish and that

MI was in the wrong to arrest NA fishers– NA can set their own regulations for

hunting, hold legal ownership of limited water resources, and can exercise law enforcement over certain criminal activities on their reservations.

Indian Law• 1980s saw major set backs in Indian

success– Reagan Administration cut almost all funds to

support NA reservations– Removed all government jobs on reservations– Shift NA toward accepting private sector

offers that wanted strip mining and toxic waste dumps put in Indian reservations

Strip Mining on Navajo Reservation in Arizona

Effects of slashed Government assistance

• No protection for practice of traditional religion or religious lands

• Unemployment soared to 70 - 90%• Desperation led to increase in crime,

vandalism, domestic abuse, alcoholism, poor education, and health care.

• New government policies forced tribes to consider ending the balance of self determination and work toward sovereignty.

Typical Native American Housing on Indian Reservations

Native American Poverty

Move toward Sovereignty• As tribes were forced to

find other funding and to become more reliant on the private sector new policies reflecting tribal sovereignty were created:– Taxation on reservation

property, sales, and resources

– strengthening of local jurisdiction of highways and criminal prosecutions.

– Tribal license plates and automobile registration

– Indian hiring preference rules for reservation work

– the opening of gaming industries.

Move toward Sovereignty

• This change reflected a move from Indian tribes forming balanced relationships with the Federal Government to Indian based solutions to the problem of surviving in non-Indian society.

Indian Gaming Act of 1988

- Law that allows Indians to open casinos.

- Links the ability to open a casino to the decision of the State.

- Links the oversight and law enforcement to the responsibility of the State

Indian Gaming Act of 1988• Many tribes are using

casinos as a way to generate funds for their tribes.

• Casinos offer:– Employment– Reduced welfare

dependence– Money for tribal needs– Resources to expand

education, culture, and fight effects of poverty