Assignment: Notes and Graphic Organizer
Warm-Up: Why did many people support
the Dawes Act? (the dividing-up of Native
American Reservations)
 How
did geography, economic
development, and political ideals
influence the creation of policies like the
Dawes Act and Indian Schools?
 United
States territory grew rapidly
between 1846 and 1867 west of the
Mississippi.
 1869, the Transcontinental
completed
Railroad is
• settlement/travel significantly more accessible.
 Great
crops
Plains is fertile land for growing
 Popular
concept of American expansion
 Anglo ‘civilization’ of
 Morally
the West
principled
 Bringers
of civilization
 Legally, the
government regarded Native
American tribes as autonomous nations
residing within American boundaries.
• 1830 Indian Removal Act and the “Trail of Tears”:
tribes living in southeastern US were forcibly
removed to present-day Oklahoma.
 (1862)
law that
provided 160
acres of
Western land to
any citizen who
was head of
household.
 Three
main approaches towards solving this socalled “Indian Problem”:
• 1) Removal:
 like the Trail of Tears, to other areas
• 2) Reservations:
 clearly-defined land zones where native tribes had to live.
• 3) Assimilation
 absorbing Native Americans into “American” culture
“Kill the Indian, Save the man”
 Native
American individuals “given” 160
acres of land.
 Landholdings
of Native Americans
decline from 138 million to 52 million.
 Complete
the graphic organizer by using
pages 151-9 in your textbook
 Complete your summary to your Cornell
Notes by answering the essential
question.
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• Join: US History ___ Period