The First Americans

1. The First Americans

2. The United States was not always divided into 50 states. Many distinct Indian tribes originally inhabited each of the regions that are now part of the country.Currently, it is thought that the continent's original inhabitants arrived between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, after crossing a "land bridge" between Asia and North America. Adapted from learner.org

3. The Navajo was one of the largest tribes in Arizona and New Mexico, the Navajo farmed, hunted, and gathered wild vegetables. • The tribe came into contact with Spanish settlers in the early 1600s. The Navajo raided the settlers' livestock, acquiring horses, sheep, and goats. • These animals greatly improved life for the Navajo because they could be used for travel, clothing, food, and as trade goods. Adapted from learner.org

4. Highly skilled hunters, the Sioux lived in a vast stretch of land encompassing portions of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Nebraska. • Because they had to be mobile to follow the buffalo herds, the Sioux lived in teepees. • The Sioux allied with the British during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The U.S. government promised the Sioux certain lands, but the treaties were never enforced. • Settlers continued to pour into Sioux lands, bringing disease and overhunting buffalo. Adapted from learner.org

5. The Iroquois were a group of five allied tribes known as the Iroquois Confederacy who lived in New York along the St. Lawrence River. • They were farmers, growing corn, beans, and squash, but also hunted and trapped native animals. • Iroquois villages, which were permanent and moved every 20 years or so when the soil had been exhausted, consisted of longhouses that could hold 30-60 people. • In the early 1800s, the Iroquois began selling their land, and by 1838, they were forced onto reservations. Adapted from learner.org

6. The Cherokee lived along the fertile rivers of Georgia and the Carolinas and were primarily agricultural, growing corn, beans, sweet potatoes, and squash. • With the discovery of gold in Georgia and the signing of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by U.S. President Andrew Jackson, the Cherokee were forced to make a six-month trek to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in 1838. Known as the "Trail of Tears," it claimed the lives of 4,000 of the approximately 14,000 Cherokees who began the journey. Adapted from learner.org

7. In 1983, Vine Deloria and Clifford M. Lytle in American Indians, American Justice outlined six periods of federal Indian policy characterized by the impact of federal actions for trying to resolve the “American Indian problem.” Adapted from ruralinstitute.umt.edu

8. “In the second period, Removal and Relocation (1828-1887), began when the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed in order to move Indian people westward away from the approaching white civilization. • During this period, various treaties began establishing reservations. The structure of these agreements was repeatedly violated by westward expansion Adapted from ruralinstitute.umt.edu

9. Allotment and Assimilation (1887-1928) – The Third Period • During this time period, two-thirds of the reservation lands were reduced through allotment; jurisdiction over felony crimes became federal; the boarding school system was developed and other legislation was passed to promote assimilation. Adapted from ruralinstitute.umt.edu

10. Self-Determination (1961-Present) is a period in which many major pieces of legislation were enacted. • The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 essentially imposed the basic requirements of the Bill of Rights that were previously not applicable to American Indians. Adapted from ruralinstitute.umt.edu

11. 1968: President Johnson signs the Indian Civil Rights Act • Congress passes the Indian Civil Rights Act “to ensure that the American Indian is afforded the broad constitutional rights secured to other Americans … [in order to] protect individual Indians from arbitrary and unjust actions of tribal governments.” Adapted from ruralinstitute.umt.edu

12. "This war did not spring up here in our land. It was brought upon us by the children of the Great Father (whites) who came to take our land from us without price, and who do many evil things…It seems to me that there is a better way than this. When people come to trouble it is better for both parties to come together without arms, to talk it over, and find some peaceful way to settle." (Spotted Tail Brule, Sioux leader, 1877) Adapted from ruralinstitute.umt.edu

13. Adapted from learner.org

14. Adapted from learner.org