The Great West

Chapter 26 review

The Great West

• Measured 1,000 milescovered in mountains, plateaus, deserts and plains

• Home of the Indian prairie dog, buffalo, wild horse and coyote

• Few whites• In 25 years the open west was turned into

states and 4 territories

Manifest Destiny

• Industrial America looked to expand its borders

• Whites brought and spread diseases to the natives

• Hunted on private plans depleting bison

What about those darn natives???

• Fort Laramie 1851 & Fort Atkinson 1853- gov. signed treaty with the Indians marking the beginning of the reservation system

• Est. boundaries for each tribe

• Attempted to separate Indians into 2 tribes

• PROBLEM???

• Indians gave up rights to ancestral lands in return that the gov. would leave them alone and provide food, clothing and supplies

“The Indian Wars”

• Troops sent in to control natives• Mostly immigrants and blacks “Buffalo Soldiers”• Sand Creek, Colorado 1864- Colonel Chivington

massacred 400 Indians for no reason• Bozeman Trail- tensions increased as Indians

retaliated killing 81 soldiers & civilians• Caused the rise of…….Colonel Custer who fight

to suppress Indians

George Armstrong Custer

From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60601. All rights reserved. Brown Bros.

Custer vs. Sitting Bull

• Chief Sitting Bull takes a stand against the greedy gold diggers with no soul

• Battle at Little Bighorn River- Indians defeated Custer and his 264 men

Sitting Bull

From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60601. All rights reserved. Brown Bros.

Other Indian Leaders

• Geronimo- Apache tribe on Arizona• Had a hatred of Mexico as his family was

killed by Mexican authorities • In his fight for Indian freedom he found

refugee in Mexico• Surrendered to U.S. authorities in 1886 and

lived the rest of his life on a reservation

“Taming of the Indians”

• Railroads- could bring unlimited troops into the west

• Disease• Loss of buffalo• firewater

The Dawes Act- 1887

• Tried to assimilate Indians into Americans

• Ignored traditional Indian culture

• By 1900 Indians lost 50% of land they had just 2 decades earlier

• Indian population dropped to 243,000

• Today more than 1.5 million

The Changing Frontier

• The Homestead Act 1862- gave a settlers 160 acres of land if they lived on it for 5 years and improved it…

PROBLEM….

“Hurrah for Greer County! The land of the free, The land of the bedbug, grasshopper and flea; I’ll sing of its praises, I’ll tell if its fame, While starving to death on my government claim.”

Agriculture in the West

• Prairies were treeless = “sodbusters” “soddies”• Wesley Powell warned those moving beyond the

100th maridian that there was not enough rain fall to support farming

• 6 year drought 1888-1892• Idea of “dry farming” was born = later would led

to the “Dust Bowl”• 1890 the Frontier is closed

The Great Land Grab…..

Native American Indian

Ch 26 review

From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60601. All rights reserved. Illustration by Johann Zwecker from ÅAt Home with the Patagonians;Ä Photo Courtesy of Edward E. Ayer Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago

Indian Reservation Locations

From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60601. All rights reserved. World Book map

Indian Reservations

• there are 285 Indian reservations• Land owned by Indians (managed by

Bureau of Indian Affairs)• Smallest size of 1 acre w/ less than 10

Indians• Navajo’s have the largest the size of West

Virginia (14 million acres) w a population of 91,000

Life on the Reservation• Farming is the main source of income• Jewelry making and wood processing bring

in a small amount of income/employment• Most reservations lack well developed

economies• Highest unemployment rates in the U.S.

(40-60%)• Lowest paid income group• Least educated & poorest health care

From World Book © 2001 World Book, Inc., 233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60601. All rights reserved. David R. Frazier

Indians Take Control

• 1924 Indian Citizenship Act made every Indian a U.S. citizen

• Pay Federal/ State taxes but no taxes on reservations

Changing Times• 1960’s tribal leaders and younger Indians began a

movement to give control of programs to Indians themselves

• 1970 President Nixon passes Indian Self Determination Act

- allowed tribes to control federally funded Indian programs

- government continues to give tribes more freedom on housing, education, hospitals etc.

Indians Today• In 1900 an Indian student would go to

school for 8 years• Today majority graduate from high school• 9% go to college• Certain tribes have sovereignty- complete

independence and self government - the right and power to command, rule

or judge

“A Nation Within A Nation”video discussion questions

1. Given their history, why might it be important to native groups to have sovereignty over their own American Indian nations?

2) What are some differences/ similaritiesbetween life on a reservation school compared to one in the U.S.?