1. How settlement of the west develop between 1879 and 1893?
Starter: Using the information from last lesson. Can you explain how Little Bighorn led to the Ghost Dance?
Challenge: What was the Ghost Dance?
In this lesson, we will:
Explain two consequences of the Dawes Act.
Explain consequences of the Exoduster movement and Oklahoma Land Rush

2. Why was the Dawes Act important?
After the defeat at Little Bighorn. The U.S. government realised that reservations were not working. The Indians were still living in tribes – things had to change.
The US government had to break up the power of tribes and encourage Indian families to farm for themselves. They had to make the Indians assimilate and become like American citizens to avoid a repeat of Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee.
In 1887, the Dawes Act was passed to make these changes. Each Indian family was given a 160-acre of land. Single Indians got 80 acres and orphans under 18 got 40 acres. The rest of the land was sold off to white settlers.
If Indians took part in this – they would become American citizens (this was an incentive).
However the act created some serious problems for the Native Americans. They lost huge amounts of land to white settlers.

3. Consequences of the Dawes Act (1887)
It led to more Indian land being freed up for white settlement. Plains Indians lost half they land they had held. E.g. land taken during Oklahoma Land Rush (over 8 million acres)
It created problems for Indians – the land was poor quality and difficult to grow crops. Indians gave up and sold it to whites.
Consequences of the Dawes Act (1887)

4. Consequences of the Dawes Act (1887)
Learning Task One
Draw a small bubble in the middle of your page. In the middle – write 3 facts about what the Dawes Act was.
Around the outside, write 2 consequences of the act.
Consequences of the Dawes Act (1887)

5. The Exoduster Movement
The Civil War had ended in 1865 – during the fighting most of the battles had taken place in the South (map to the right). The Union Army had destroyed railways, farms and housing to force the South into surrendering.
With 4 millions slaves now free men, they faced many white people not accepting them as people. Southern states introduced new laws to keep them second class citizens (Jim Crow Laws).
Organisations like the KKK were set up by angry white soldiers to keep blacks “in their place” through violence and terror.
Some blacks decided to escape this by heading west and taking up land through the Homestead Act. The movement was led by an ex-slave called Benjamin Singleton and he planned to lead the ex-slaves to Kansas.
Singleton advertised using posters, meetings and newspaper articles to advertise a movement to Kansas. By the end of 1879, 40,000 people had travelled to Kansas, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois.

6. The Oklahoma Land Rush
After the defeat of the Indian peoples by 1887, the government divided up Indian Territory and gave each family 160 acres each to farm – this was called the Dawes Act.
All the land left over was made public in 1889 – the government said that at 12 noon on 22nd April 1889, the land would be opened up to claims.
Thousands of people lined up on the boundary and waited for the signal – they then rushed over the boundary to reach a section and claim it as theirs. This was called a land rush.
Most of the land rushes were in Oklahoma. In million acres were settled and in ,000 acres were settled. The largest in 1893 led to 8 million acres being settled.
This had a lot of consequences for the west.

7. Learning Task Two Split your book page into two columns (right).
Exoduster Movement (1879)
Oklahoma Land Rush (1893)
Split your book page into two columns (right).
Read through the worksheet showing 10 consequences. Cut them out and glue them into the correct event (e.g. is it a consequence of the land rush or the Exoduster movement?)
When you have finished, write a small description of what each event was. Key words to use: Civil War, Jim Crow Laws, KKK, Benjamin Singleton, Kansas, Dawes Act, Oklahoma, rush

8. Oklahoma Land Rush Exoduster Movement
It opened the area up to white settlement. The popularity of this resulted in over 8 million acres of land being opened up and settled by whites.
It was very significant as it was proof that the US government was choosing not to protect the Plains Indians due to the pressure from whites.
It allowed areas like Oklahoma to become organised. By the end of the first day of the 1889 land rush, 10,000 had already established Oklahoma City and Guthrie; streets had been carved out and even steps taken to form a local town government.
It allowed an economy to develop in the west -settlers flooding into these areas began to improve their land instantly – they sold creek water to homesteaders and buffalo dung for fuel.
It opened up job opportunities in the west – within a month, Oklahoma City had 5 banks, 6 newspapers and 3 schools. This would encourage more people to move west.
It allowed Oklahoma to declare itself an official territory in 1890 which not only added to Westward Expansion but also meant that there was virtually very little chance of Indians continuing their nomadic movement.
It led to more people moving west – by 1880 there were 43,107 African Americans in Kansas. Settlements like Nicodemus in Kansas was founded by African Americans.
It created problems for African American farmers. All the good land had already been taken so it was hard to grow things. Many didn’t realise they had to pay for the land and couldn’t afford it.
It led to the Kansas government helping African Americans. Many of the settlers got ill and were poor, so the Governor set up associations to help them and given them funding to get started.
It led to more tension between whites and blacks – white people in Kansas did not like that blacks got special help and treatment.