Changes to the Plain Indian Way of life after 1877

1. Changes to the Plain Indian Way of life after 1877 Enquiry 5- who were the Americans by 1900? By the 1870s the Indians were virtually prisoners on their reservations and for many, conditions were bad. The reservations were usually on land the settlers did not want- poor quality farmland, unhealthy places- making it difficult for Indians to feed themselves, becoming reliant on government hand-outs for food. For a society based on hunting and war this was demoralising. There was no way for a warrior to gain or maintain status. In other cases many were treated badly by Indian agents- housing monies were stolen, food rations were inadequate and medical treatment was no available. Many suffered and died from curable diseases e.g. Influenza. They could also no longer hunt the buffalo as many herds had been wiped out. Starter- what does this source suggest about how the government could be seen as to blame for changes? Extension- explain the impacts this would have overtime?

2. Key words/concepts • Reservation Purposes- e.g. Indian Removal Act in the 1830s. 1850s- Fort Laramie Treaty and Policy of concentration. • Destruction of the Buffalo- Deliberate. Hunters were hired for buffalo leather and to destroy Indians culture and way of life through hunting. • The Ghost Dancers and Wounded Knee- Spiritual ceremony developed by Natives at the end of 19th Century to ‘rid their culture of white settlers’. Led to massacre of chiefs. • The Dawes Act (General Allotments 1877) A federal law intended to turn Native Americans into farmers and landowners by providing cooperating families with 160 acres of reservation land for farming or 320 acres for grazing

3. Fill in this mind-map using the next two slides How and why were the buffalo Herds wiped out? What were the consequences

4. The Buffalo • Between 1800 and 1885 the buffalo were hunted almost to extinction. • Popular belief was ‘every buffalo is an Indian gone’ • In 1800, estimates show between 30 million and 40 million buffalo in the Great Plains. By 1902, there were approximately 750 in the entire US. • As more people settled on the Plains and travelled across them, the killing of the buffalo increased. New diseases were introduced and the building of railways disrupted herds. • With the railroads, special excursion trains were set up so people could go and buffalo hunt. Buffalo hunters were also employed to keep workers on the railway lines supplied with fresh meat. • It became a massive business in the later 1800s with lots of money to be made.

5. The Buffalo Part 2 • The overall and main reason for the fall in numbers was hunting. In 1871 a tanning process had been discovered that allowed high quality leather to be produced from buffalo hides and lots of money was to be made form this. • At this same time the railroad allowed easier hunting and transportation back to the tanneries of the East. • By 1874 buffalo hunters had wiped out the southern buffalo herd. • After the military defeat of the Sioux in 1877 (The Great Sioux War) the Northern herds were next. • In 1882 an estimated 5000 hunters and skinners were ‘at work’ on the Northern Plains. • By 1885 the Northern herd was gone. • By 1900 less than 1000 buffalo were in the ENTIRE country- faced extinction.

6. General Philip H.Sheridan describing the work of buffalo hunters in the 1870s • “ These men have done more in the last two years, and will do more in the next years to settle the....Indian question, than the entire regular army has done in the last 30 years. They are destroying the Indians food supply....let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo are exterminated” Teddy ‘Blue’ Abbott, a cowboy in the 1880s • “The buffalo slaughter was a dirty business....a put-up job on the part of the government to control Indians by getting rid of their food supply, so the Indians would rely on government hand-outs. Use theses sources and your knowledge to explain why the government would be happy if the buffalo were wiped out?

7. Read the hand-out; ‘’ Write a paragraph to explain……. “The Destruction of Indian Way of life post 1877” • Include the following words/concepts • Dawes Act 1877 • Destruction of the buffalo • Reservation system • Assimilation of the Indians • Government policies to blame • General Allotment Act • Definition- Assimilation: the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture

8. Complete the table as we work through the slides- government policy of deliberately destroying Indian Culture

9. Territorial • Through a series of laws the Sioux reservations of the Northern Plains were reduced and the tribes were split into smaller nations. This opened up more land for white settlement. It was also a DELIBERATE policy that formed treaties by the government to destroy all aspects of Indian culture and way of life, to destroy tribes and make them reliant on the government. Assimilation was becoming survival

10. Political • At first rations were distributed through the chiefs. Then the heads of individual families were encouraged to collect their own rations. This was a deliberate step to weaken the authority of chiefs and destroy native culture. • The Dawes Act Allotment Act was passed in 1877 and did two things • It allowed the shared Indian land to be broken up into individual plots. Again this was a deliberate step to weaken the tribal structure and power of chiefs. • It allowed any land that was leftover to be sold to non-Indians, an opportunity for land grabbers to make money.

11. Economic • The government out a ban on the natives leaving their reservations to hunt or make war with enemy tribes. Once again this destroyed the Native way of life and structure. • There were no buffalo to provide food, shelter or clothing and no stolen horses to add to their wealth. • This led to the natives completely relying on their rations, with trade and making any form of individual wealth non existent.

12. Religious • Feasts, dances and ceremonies like the Sun Dance were banned. The power of medicine men were deliberately undermined. • Polygamy (more than one wife) was made illegal. • With their new way of life the Indians had no need to call on the spirits for help in hunting and war like they had done for centuries. • As Indian traditions and beliefs declined Christian missionaries moved in to fill the spiritual gap and once again attempt to ‘assimilate’ • Amedicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people. • TheSun Dance remains a holy and ceremonial way to honour the summer solstice and the Great Spirit 

13. Educational • Indian children were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools. • They were there to be prepared for life in the ‘white man world’. • Teachers said their aim was to ‘kill the Indian in him and save the man’. • Indian children were not allowed to speak their own language. • They were taught to have no respect for their traditional way of life. • If parents tried to stop their children from being sent away their rations were stopped. • By 1887, 2020 Indian children were in 117 boarding schools and a further 2500 in the 110 day schools.

14. Mini- Plenary • The five main strands of the destruction on Indian culture ensured that the traditional way of life was destroyed and weakened. Do you agree. Explain your answer Strongly agree Strongly disagree

15. What helped was offered to Natives? The Friends of the Indians • The Friends of the Indian movement was fuelled by rhetoric, religion, and “sympathetic” rich people- the three R’s of relations between the United States and Native American Indians in the latter part of the 1800s. Under the guise of sympathy, the friends of the Indian fought hard for the cultural assimilation and subsequent Americanization of the native peoples. Their logic was simple and absolute: assimilate the Indians or they will be destroyed by The United States of America.

16. How did the Natives fight back? The Ghost Dance Movement and wounded Knee • TheGhost Dancewas a new religious movement. According to the teachings of the spiritual leader Wovoka, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, bring the spirits of the dead to fight on their behalf, make the white colonists leave, and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Indian peoples throughout the region. • On December 29, 1890, American troops under Gen. Nelson Miles butchered hundreds of Sioux Indians. The Indians were persecuted for practicing the “Ghost Dance”. • This is known as the massacre at wounded knee because the Sioux chief Big Foot and some 350 of his followers camped on the banks of Wounded Knee creek. Surrounding their camp was a force of U.S. troops charged with the responsibility of arresting Big Foot and disarming his warriorsfor their practice of this Ghost Dance- seen as a strike back against white government and authority. • Sitting Bull was killed in the attempt on December 15. Chief Big Foot was next on the list. • This massacre ended the Ghost Dance. That year the government announced the frontier was closed and the USA bow stretched from coast to coast, thus completing the aims of Manifest Destiny.

17. The situation by 1900 By 1900- • Using what you have learned today explain what the life of a Plain Indian would be like in 1900? Imagine how different this would be to 1800

18. Plenary- True or false? • Indian chiefs by 1877 had some responsibility over their people • Buffalo by 1900 were almost extinct • Buffalo hunting and assimilation were deliberately put in place by the government to destroy Native culture FALSE TRUE TRUE

19. GCSE exam style questions- Homework Q4/Q5- Interpretation based question “Destruction of the Indian culture was the main reason the government deliberately destroyed aspects of their culture”. Do you agree? Explain your answer. P1- agree Explain 2/3 ways to agree e.g. Religious, economic, educational destruction and assimilation P2- disagree Explain 2/3 ways to disagree e.g. Buffalo hunting for trade, railroad expansion, manifest destiny. Conclusion- overall do you agree or disagree and why?