1. Unit 4 Day 2 (Americanization) Quote: “Sure you can trust the government, just ask any Indian.” - bumper sticker
Essential Question(s): Why did conflict exist between settlers and native peoples? How were these conflicts addressed?
Specified Content: Reservations, Americanization, the Dawes Act, Indian Schools
State Standards: Strand 1 Concept 7 PO 3 Analyze events which caused a transformation of the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: a. Indian Wars (e.g., Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee)

2. Americanization
To control the natives, the U.S. government began a policy of moving the native people onto reservations. The reservation was an area of land promised to the native tribes.

3. The government promised to keep settlers off the reservation land and provide the natives with supplies including blankets, farming tools, clothes and food. Most settlers ignored the government’s promise and continued to enter the reservations.

4. Once the Natives were forced onto reservations the government began a policy of Americanization. The Natives would be forced to adopt the white culture.

5. 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act which officially abolished the tribes. It also said that each male would receive land to farm and become a citizen.

6. Native children were also taken from their families and sent to “Indian Schools” where they were treated very poorly and stripped of their culture.

7. Activity
Write down the following questions on a separate sheet of paper:
By looking at the two pictures what can we interpret the job of the Indian Schools as being?
According to these sources what did an “American” look like?

8. Source A
Source B