The American West

1. How was the “Indian Problem” dealt with? The American West

2. How would you solve the Problem? Person living in East: You live in the East and are worried that aggressive tactics could make the problem worse. You remember the Civil War and do not want anymore fighting You are a homesteader: You have the most to gain for their removal: land and a life without threat from attack. As far as you are concerned they are savages who are getting in the way of your manifest destiny, you want the army to sort the problem as you believe that only soldiers can control them. You are a miner, you want rid of the Indians as they make your journey too hard. As the gold industry is drying up you are thinking about going into business selling supplies to the army..... Getting rid of the Indians could help your new venture...... You are a former fur trapper, you have got to know the Indians and their way of life and now advise the government as an Indian advisor. You want responsibility to stay with the Bureau of Indian affairs and not given to the US army. You want everyone to live together peacefully.

3. Learning objectives: To be able to analyse the two differing opinions on the solution to the “Indian problem”. To be able to analyse and decide upon the reasons that the Indians, such as the Sioux, went to war over and over again. How was the “Indian Problem” Dealt With?

4. A permanent indian frontier? In 1832 a special US government was set up to deal with Indian affairs. It quickly decided that the whole of the Plains could be given to the Indian tribes. The Plains were to be one great reservation, to the west of the 95th meridian (above), which was to be a Permanent Indian Frontier. By 1840 all Indian tribes had been moved to the west of it. Bu this was not the end of the matter. As more people ventured onto the Plains in search of a new life the Indians became to be seen as a problem.

5. The person living in the East and the fur trapper would have ‘negotiators’. People who thought that aggressive tactics would only make the Indians more hostile. They believed that responsibility for the Indians should stay with the Bureau for Indian Affairs. The miner and the homesteader would have been ‘exterminators’. The Indians, they believed were lazy savages who were best dealt with by the army. It was the tension between these two groups that led to the Plains Wars being played out the way they were. Negotiators and exterminators

6. Copy the Conflict circle from page into your book

7. Place the events on page 76 into chronological order. Try and place the events onto your conflict circle- where do you think each one will fall? (Clue: look at the titles) Don’t worry if you don’t know them straight away, you can always change them later on. Getting an overview

8. Read page 76: What was the Fort Laramie Treaty? What shiny thing do you think could make the settlers want to take back their land? The Fort Laramie Treaty

9. Complete using pages 78-79

10. Read pages 79 to the top paragraph on page 80: Why was Red Cloud so successful? How was the stalemate resolved? The Solution

11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqHvAW3BGDU&p=B390A085E5FF05D4&index=4&feature=BFhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqHvAW3BGDU&p=B390A085E5FF05D4&index=4&feature=BF Watch this clip of the Sand Creek Massacre What do you think the government do next- how will they solve the ‘Indian Problem’? Into the west

12. All must be able to describe the two attitudes towards the “Indian Problem” and who was on each side, Most should be able to interpret why the conflict circle was repeated again and again. Some could be able to assess the options available to suggest a solution to the Indian problem. Learning Outcomes......