NATIVE AMERICANS

What year was the Indian Removal Act signed?

1830

What year was the Fort Laramie Treaty (Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne) signed?

1851

What happened during the Battle of Little Big Horn?

Custer's last stand- his men were sent to collect the Indians that had left the Great Sioux Reservation and were refusing to return. Custer decided to surround them in three groups but he should have waited for reinforcement as his men were slaughtered (200).

What did the Government intend to do to Native Americans by moving Native Americans onto reservations?

Destroy the tribal bonds and tribal lifestyle through a process of education, conversion to Christianity and training them to be farmers. All hints of tribal beliefs , customs and skills would be eradicated. Parents were forced to send their children to school. The power of the tribal chief would be replaced by an Indian agent appointed by the Indian Bureau.

Why did John Collier form AIDA?

In the 1920s, John Collier was shown the poor living conditions in American Indian communities and formed AIDA and for the next decade, he headed Indian reform efforts, and in 1993 Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Collier as the new commissioners of Indian Affairs.

What did the Fort Laramie Treaty do?

In the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, the US government agreed that large areas of land should belong to Native American tribes 'for all time' (e.g. the Sioux were given the Black Hills of Dakota).

What was developed in the late 1870's?

In the late 1870's, two off-reservation boarding schools were established in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

What was the decision made by the Supreme Court (Lonewolf v Hitchcock)?

The Supreme Court established the right of Congress to revoke all treaties made with Native Americans which led to the further acquisition of Native American land. They also described Native Americans as an 'ignorant and dependent race' and called them 'wards of the nation'.

What was the Indian Reorganisation Act better known as?

The Wheeler-Howard Act-1934.

What was one of the main obstacles that Native Americans faced that stop them from resisting government policies in the first three decades of the twentieth century?

The fact that any gains for Native Americans were largely due to the actions of others sympathetic to their cause. This is due to the fact that they lacked a sense of common purpose, which continued to be an obstacle in resisting government policies.

What did the government sponsor Indian families to do?

The government sponsored Indian families to move away from the reservations to work in defence industries- this was the first stage of the urbanisation of American Indians.

Who was John Collier?

John Collier was a social worker, that fought to protect religious freedom and tribal property (land) for Native Americans in the US.

Who drafted the Indian Reorganisation Act?

John Collier.

Why did Lonewolf go to the Supreme Court?

Kiowa Chief, lonewolf, went to the supreme court after congress had gone against the Medicine Lodge treaty which established reservation lands for the use of tribes.

What did the Fort Laramie Treaty (number 2) do?

- Guaranteed the land black hills for the Indians - Established the Greek Sioux Reserve (majority clause: amendment needed two thirds male agreement).

What were the long term effects of the Citizenship act?

- It was more helpful - Native Americans could use the legal system - It lead to many successful court cases, especially during the 1970's-80's.

What were the short term effects of the Citizenship Act?

- Little immediate impact. - Many Native Americans were already citizens (due to the Dawes Act). - Too badly educated to benefit from citizenship. - They were allowed to vote - but were prevented by state laws. - It went against their culture and wasn't something that many Native Americans wanted.

Why did Native Americans present the US government with a problem?

- They had no rights of citizenship and were not under the total jurisdiction of the law of the United States because they remained subject to their tribal laws. - The fact that their independent existence gave them a degree of self-determination was unacceptable to the US. - Significant numbers were hostile and belligerent.

What were the negative points of the Indian Reorganisation Act? (5)

1) It was stripped down, for example the original proposal for a separate federal court for Native Americans was abandoned. 2) Collier didn't consult Native Americans of his plans; he assumed they all wanted self - determination which was not always true. 3) The Allotment process had been underway for 40 years and some were already assimilated or well on their way to becoming so. 4) Some didn't want self-determination as they were successful with farming their homesteads and were afraid of losing them if the land was reorganised. 5) Many Native Americans lacked understanding of the legal issues within the act and became confused in their dealings with federal authorities.

What were the positives of the First World War for Native Americans? (3)

1) 10,000 Native Americans fought in WW1 for America and they were paid for doing so. 2) There were Job opportunities - Native Americans left the reservations and got jobs in the war industries. 3) It had some positives for their culture - It promoted Native Americans warrior culture and had the chance to gain some sort of status and power within their tribe.

What were the positives of WW2?

1) 25,000 Native Americans served in the war- they had better pay because of this. 2) 75,000 left the reservations to work in the war industry-this also meant better pay. 3) There were new civil rights groups- National Congress of American Indians-1944.

What were the negatives of WW2?

1) Americanisation accelerates. 2) Economic benefits are temporary. 3) Loss of land - government builds internment camps.

What were the main terms of the Dawes Act? (5)

1) Each Head of the family was to receive 160 acres of farmland or 360 acres of grazing land for 25 years in trust. 2) After 25 years, Native Americans would have full ownership of the land 3) All Native Americans farming allotted land would have full rights of citizenship. 4) Unallotted land on the reservations were to be offered to white Americans for settlement.

What happened to Indians as a result of Government treaties? (2)

1) Government promises were often broken and Native Americans lost land. 2) Restricted the Native American's freedom to follow the buffalo, potentially cutting off their sole food supply threatening their whole way of life.

Did the Dawes Act achieve its objectives? (3)

1) In terms of destroying the reservation system, It was largely successful-- Although some reservations remained, the Navajo reservation, was significantly reduced in size and disappeared almost completely. 2) By 1900, of the 150 million acres of reservation land recognised by the Government in 1887 as belonging to Indians, only 78 million acres remained. 3) Land owning Indians paid taxes and therefore gained full citizenship- Americanisation.

What were the points of the Indian Reorganisation Act? (5)

1) Indians would have more involvement in the work of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and administration of the reservations. 2) They had the rights to practice their own religion and to assert their own identity were protected, this act overthrew the 1883 dance act. 3) Stopped the sale of Indian lands to individual buyers. 4) Extended political rights to Native American women and gave them the opportunity to train for domestic work- Collier's work stimulated an Interest in Indian arts and crafts and encouraged women's co-operatives to produce them as an economic venture. 5) Tapped into resources available through New Deal agencies to build hospitals, schools and irrigation systems on the reservations and improve conditions on there.

Why was the Dawes Act not good for Native Americans? (4)

1) It aimed to americanise them, ignored their beliefs and tribal bonds. 2) Land owning Indians paid taxes and therefore gained citizenship, this went against their culture. 3) Many Native Americans did not adapt to farming and their enterprises failed. 4) A lot of Native Americans got into debt and there land was brought from white settlers. 4) The Dawes Act affected the status and rights of some American Indian women- land was allotted to the male head of the family.

What were the negatives of the First World War for Native Americans? (2)

1) They fought in Integrated regiments - speeds up americanisation. 2) By leaving the reservations, it weakened their culture (they left the tribe, the tribal way of life to move to a city in which they would mix in with Americans and would have to speak English)

What year was the Homestead Act?

1862

During what years was the Plains Wars?

1862-67

What year was the Sand Creek Massacre?

1864

What year was the Fort Laramie Treaty (Lakota, Sioux, Arapaho, number 2) signed?

1868

When was the Battle of Little Big Horn?

1876

When was the social activist group the 'Indian Rights Association' (IRA) formed?

1882

What year was the Dawes Act passed?

1887

When was the massacre at Wounded Knee?

1890

What year was the Curtis Act passed?

1898

What year was Lone Wolf vs. Hitchcock?

1903

What year was the Muskogee Convention?

1905

When was the Society of American Indians (SAI) formed?

1911

When was the American Indian Defence Association (AIDA) formed?

1923

When was the Indian Citizenship Act passed?

1924

When was the 'Dance Order' and what was it?

1926- It threatened to remove the rights of the Peublos to perform some of their traditional dances.

What year was the Meriam Report?

1928

What year was the Indian Reorganisation Act?

1934

What year was the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) formed?

1944

What year was the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) set up?

1946-78

How many Native Americans served with distinction in the war?

25,000

What is Manifest Destiny?

A belief held by white Americans that God has chosen them to populate the lands from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean- It is their God given right to have land.

What types of people formed AIDA?

A group of writers and anthropologists.

What was AIDA successful for?

AIDA was successful in blocking the Bursum and Leavitt Bills that posed such a threat to the Pueblos.

The Indian Citizenship Act was passed off as a reward for veterans, and consequently, as an outcome of WW1, but why is this misleading?

Although participation in the war may have influenced this decision, it must be seen in the context of the government's relentless drive for total assimilation.

What was the Curtis Act?

An amendment to the Dawes Act; it authorised the application of the Dawes act to the 5 civilised tribes. It ended the independence of these tribes by removing their right to be subject to their own tribal laws and government.

How many Native American men fought in the First World War and what did they gain by the government?

Approximately 10,000 Native American men fought in WW1 and gained recognition n by the government for their bravery.

How many Native Americans left the reservations during WW2?

Approximately 100,000 Indians left the reservations or their homesteads.

Why was citizenship a bad thing for some Native Americans?

Because It went agains their cultural beliefs- For those Indians seeking to maintain their traditional right and resist assimilation, US citizenship was hardly a desirable goal.

After WW2, why were many Native Americans driven back into reservations?

Because of the discrimination.

By 1900 how many Native Americans were there?

By 1900, only about 100,000 of the estimated 240,000 Native Americans who had inhabited the Plains in 1860 remained.

By when had the SAI collapsed?

By the 1920s, the SAI had collapsed, having achieved little.

What happened during Sand Creek Massacre?

Calvary of 700 men attacked a Cheyenne camp despite it flying a US flag denoting their friendly status- 70-163 women, elderly men and children were killed with their scalps put on display - Navajo tribe moved onto reservation land.

Tribal laws -

Had been formulated over many centuries and were closely interwoven with their need to survive. Braves committing murder, for example, would not be executed as they were needed for hunting and protection. Any Indian harming another would make recompense as decided by the tribal council and typically involved the handing over of horses or other goods as compensation. This was totally at odds with the operation of US law.

Once the young American Indians returned to the reservations, how were they treated by their families and reservation communities?

Having been schooled to be models to their tribes of 'Americanised' Indians, they were regarded as untrustworthy, and therefore found themselves trapped between two cultures.

Where did Chief Sitting Bull's frightened followers flee to?

His frightened followers fled to the camp of Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek. There they were surrounded by the army who opened fire killing all of the 200 unarmed men, women and children.

What did the ICC aim to do?

It aimed for Native Americans to regain the lands given to them by treaties in the nineteenth century.

What did the Meriam Report do?

It condemned the allotment policy instigated by the Dawes Act (1887) for depriving Native Americans of their land and failing to provide them with additional support to achieve economic security. It also described the dreadful conditions in which reservation Indians lived, deprived of their basic needs of education and health and claimed that NA's were the most impoverished people in the US.

What had become clear about the reservation policy by the late 1880s?

It had become clear that the reservation policy had failed miserably.

What did the Indian Removal Act do?

It moved tribes from the southern states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida), 70,000 Indians were moved and settled in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma), meaning that space was created for white settlers.

What should be noted about citizenship for Native Americans?

It should be noted that it is important to recognise that this piece of legislation did not come about as a result of any campaign on the part of Native Americans themselves to secure the right to vote- citizenship was conferred on them whether they wanted it or not.

Although the reservation policy pursued by the US government may not have achieved its objectives, what did it do and how many Indians still remained by 1900?

It subjected the Indians to misery, deprivation, alcohol abuse and disease. By 1900, only around 100,000 of the 240,000 Indians who had inhabited the Plains in 1865 remained, It deprived them of their freedom, their pride and their self-respect.

What was the Muskogee Convention?

It was a conference called by the leaders of the five civilised tribes to discuss a constitution for their own separate state of Sequoyah out of the Oklahoma territory and although there was a majority vote, Congress rejected it.

For those who remained on the reservations during WW2, why was it a time of great hardship?

It was a time of great hardship as resources were poured into the war resulting in a reduction of money spent to support the Indians.

What was the Dawes Act?

It was an act made in Congress to divide up (allot) reservation lands on the plains into homesteads to be allocated to Native American families.

What was the Indian Bureau?

It was an agency of federal government set up to be responsible for all maters relating to the Indians but especially for the reservations.

What was the Indian Reorganisation Act intended to do?

It was intended to recognise and preserve the traditional culture of the Indian tribes.

What was education for Native American children seen as?

It was seen not as a right but rather as essential to the process of 'Americanisation,' and the destruction of tribal culture and loyalties.

Why was the formation of the NCAI significant?

It was significant because there was a realisation that to bring about real improvement, Native Americans had to unite in protest - It was the beginning of the Indian protest movement and the first sign that the tribes would join together to pursue justice.

Why was SAI's impact limited?

It's impact was limited, partly by a shortage of funds to challenge discrimination in the courts but largely because of the lack of mass support from the Indians themselves.

What was AIDAs aim?

Its aim was to campaign for laws protecting the rights of Indians to their lands, their beliefs, culture, traditions and their arts and crafts.

Who was the leader of AIDA?

John Collier

What was an important concept during the 1930'+, especially under the presidency of Polk and during the Mexican War?

Manifest Destiny

What was one of the few examples of successful reservation life?

One of the few examples of successful reservation life was that of the Navajo tribe because they adapted quickly to farming, and planting a range of crops. - Between 1878 and the 1930's, Navajo lands had been increased by the Government to 10.5 million acres as a reward for their success and to enable them to further increase their yields. By 1900, the population had grown from 8,000 to 22,000.

What did the Homestead Act do?

Opened up 160 acres of land for free to encourage people to settle on the Plains on the conditions they farmed the land for 5 years = attracted 20,000 settlers.

What was done in response to the Meriam Report?

President Hoover supported the recommendations of the Meriam Report and appointed a new Indian Commissioner, Charles Rhoads, to put together a reform package along the lines of those suggested in the report. This included the closure of unpopular off-reservation boarding schools for Native American children, which were replaced with improved reservation schools, and improved medical facilities were provided by federal funding, but nothing was done to address the matter of the allotted lands which disappointed the reformers such as Collier.

Who were the IRA critical of?

The IRA were frequently critical of government organisations such as the Board of Indian Commissioners, set up in 1869, who they labelled as 'dishonest' and accused them of mistreating the Indians in their care and protection.

What was reservation life like for Native Americans?

Reservation life for many was extremely harsh and much of the land allocated to the Indians proved impossible to cultivate. Due to the fact that they were dependent on the food supplied by the government, a lot starved; some Indian Agents were corrupt and used government resources for their own ends, others died as a result of epidemics of disease such as influenza, whooping cough and measles.

What were reservations? (background)

Reservations were the lands designated by the US government for occupation by the Native American tribes. The process began in the 1850's but accelerated in the 1860's. Usually, there were the lands that the Native Americans were allowed to retain when treaties had been signed handing over former Indian land for white settlement. After 1871, the establishment of reservations or alterations to the previously agreed boundaries were decided by Congress.

Why were SIA members not united in there visions? What did some members of SIA believe that others did not?

SIA members themselves were not united in their vision for the future of the Native American people- some sympathised with the position of the majority of Indians who were resisting assimilation but the majority believed that assimilation was the only real route to real improvement.

Why did the ghost dance scare white settlers?

This frightened white settlers in the vicinity of the reservations who believed that a mass Indian uprising was imminent.

Who did the reservation police believe was responsible for the ghost dance and what did they do?

The reservation police believed that Chief Sitting Bull was responsible and shot him as they were in the process of arresting him on the reservation.

What methods were used to try and americanise them in the boarding schools?

Their hair was cut short and they were harshly disciplined. Beatings, solitary confinement and diets of bread and water were inflicted for breaking the rules, these included speaking in their tribal language.

What did the IRA believe about Native American's?

They believed that the tribes should be assimilated into American society and achieve equality with all Americans but they did not all agree as to how this would be achieved.

What did the NCAI do?

They challenged discrimination in employment, unequal education provision and the breaking of treaties.

What did the IRA focus upon to try and persuade the Native American's to change their traditional ways?

They focused on the lifestyle, religious beliefs and rituals of Native Americans as key indicators of their primitive state and worked to persuade them to abandon their traditional ways.

What was Wounded Knee a result of?

This was a result of the growing popularity throughout the reservation lands of a religious ritual called the 'Ghost Dance, - an attempt by desperate people living in misery on the reservations to regain their lost way of life.

What was the Plains Wars?

This was a series of clashes (rather than wars) between the Indian tribes and units of the US Army: - Little Crow's War 1862 (Sioux) - Cheyenne Uprising 1863 - Red Cloud's War 1867 (Sioux) - Winter Campaign 1868 (against the Cheyenne).

What did the SAI campaign for?

This was the first attempt at establishing an inter-tribal pressure group with the purpose of campaigning for improvement in education and better health care.

What was the purpose of reservations?

To Americanise them as they were considered to be 'savage' and uncivilised.

What did boys and girls learn at the boarding schools?

While boys learnt trades such as carpentry, harness-making and tailoring, the girls were taught to cook, sew, preserve food and take car of the home, presumably in preparation for domestic service, but the intention was to break the tribal ties of young American Indians.

What is Wounded Knee?

Wounded Knee is the site in South Dakota where the Sioux Indians were finally rounded up by the US army in 1890.

Were Native American's integrated during WW1?

Yes, they were not segregated into separate units and so they had the opportunity to integrate with white Americans- this was another form of americanisation.