Westward Expansion American History

Goals Students will be able to: Terms to Know: 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

Native Americans 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

Settlers 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

Clashes 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

Chief Joseph and the end 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

Assimilation 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