THE AMERICAN WEST

I. INTRODUCTION Frederick Jackson Turner Land pulled the people Frontier generated qualities of Americans Individualism, self-help and courage Orderly movement west W.P. Webb Movement erratic Industrialization and Technology conquered the West Manifest Destiny Conviction the country’s superior institutions and culture gave Americans the God-given right, an obligation to spread civilization across the entire continent. The poverty at the end of Reconstruction prompted large number of blacks and whites to look for opportunities in the West

II. SUBORDINATION OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 1860’s – 1880’s the federal government tried to force NA onto reservations, where they could be “civilized.” Indian Wars Chivington’s raid (1864) 450 Cheyenne and Arapaho killed in Colorado Little Big Horn (1876) federal troops led by George Custer massacred Sioux Indians Reform Movement Missionaries attempted to persuade Indians to abandon traditional culture Richard Henry Pratt – “kill the Indian, save the man.” Dawes Severalty Act (1887) Reversed reservation policy Treat Indians as individuals not as tribesman Children sent to boarding school Remaining land sold to white settlers

Dawes Severalty Act Reversed reservation policy Treat Indians as individuals not as tribesman Children sent to boarding school Remaining land sold to white settlers Dawes Consequences Between ’s 52 million acres to 138 million Boarding schools caused children to loose their cultural identity Wounded Knee (1890) 200 unarmed Sioux killed after Sitting Bull. Extinguished any uprising