American History
 Students will be able to:
 Compare nonviolent and violent approaches used to achieve civil rights
 Use geographic terms and tools to analyze the effects of immigration
 Terms to Know:
 Reservation, Sand Creek Massacre, Sitting Bull, Battle of the Little Big Horn, Chief Joseph,
Wounded Knee, assimilate, Dawes General Allotment Act
 Despite the American perception after the Civil War, Native Americans embraced
different belief systems, language, and ways of life
 Geography often influenced the cultural diversity of Native Americans
 Depending on the location and climate where Natives lived, they hunted, gathered, fished,
farmed, and some where even nomads, following their food source from one place to the next
 Despite living in varied ways, all Natives saw themselves as part of nature
 This required treating all living things with respect and defference
 The movement of white citizens into the west throughout the 1800’s challenged the
sovereignty of the Natives
 Despite various agreements with the American government that established boundaries
between white and Native Americans, settlers continued to take over what had been
established as Indian Territory
 By the 1860’s Indians were forced onto separate reservations
 Reservations are areas set aside by the government for the sole use of Indians
 This freed up land to allow white citizens to find resources such as gold and silver
 The rapid advancement of white settlers into the west caused great conflict with
Native Americans
 Throughout the Civil War, settlements in the mid-west were attacked by the Sioux
 The Sioux were defeated and pushed into Minnesota
 Because of these battles other Plains Indians began attacking the settlers pouring into the
west
 As a result the Colorado militia fired upon unarmed Cheyenne and Arapahao Indians killing men,
women, and children
 This action became known as the Sand Creek Massacre
 These actions caused more battles between the settlers and the Natives
Battle of the Little Big Horn
 In 1875 the lure of gold brought prospectors onto Sioux hunting grounds
 The Sioux were led by chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull and they commanded well
trained fighting force determined to drive out the US army
 In 1876 U.S. Colonel George Custer ordered a charge that sent 250 of his men
against 2000 Indians
 Crazy Horse led the charge against Custer and killed all 250 of his men
 In the West the government decided to move the Nez Perces to a smaller reservation
to make room for white settlers
 Chief Joseph then led a group of refugees on a trek of more than 1300 miles as they tried
to avoid U.S. troops and the forced relocation
 Once caught, just short of the Canadian border, Chief Joseph surrendered saying “I will
fight no more forever”
 Many battles and fights took place between the Natives and White Settlers, but due
to superior military technology, the United States was successful in forcing Natives
onto reservations
 The reservation system had been a failure of policy
 It was the hope of policy makers that as the buffalo became extinct, Indians would settle
and become farmers
 They hoped that this would help them assimilate into national life by adopting the culture and
civilization of whites
 In 1887 the U.S. Congress passed the Dawes General Allotment Act
 This act replaced the reservation system with an allotment system
 Each Indian family was granted a 160-Acre farmstead as it was looked as enough land to
support a family
 Because of the climate though, this was not enough
 The act stated that the land could not be sold or transferred from the receiving family for
25 years