1. American Indian History
19th Century

2. Broken Treaties Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
--government agency for managing American Indian issues
U.S. government gave American Indians money and promises of other land and supplies in exchange for their land

3. Reservation System created to serve desire for farmland and gold
gave government control over American Indians
used to assimilate American Indians

4. Violence in the West
Sand Creek Massacre (1864)—as they were about to surrender, 200 Cheyenne were killed by American forces, mostly women and children
Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)—Sioux killed General Custer and his entire battalion, last victory of the Sioux

5. Violence in the West
Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890)—150 Sioux and 30 U.S. soldiers killed, marked the end of conflict on the Great Plains
After some Nez Percé killed four white settlers, Chief Joseph led the tribe in an attempted escape to Canada.

6. Wounded Knee

8. Decline of the Buffalo

9. Assimilation
cultural absorption of American Indians into “white America”
schools were set up for American Indians
made them learn and speak English
lost their cultural ties: “Americanization”
government felt this was for Indian survival

11. Dawes General Allotment Act (1887)
gave American Indians an allotment of reservation land for farming
any remaining land would be sold
lost majority of their land
many Indians rejected this system
Some land was not suitable for farming

12. The West What is a frontier?
How has the frontier changed throughout American history?
What happened to the frontier?
How did this change the foreign policies of the United States?

13. Land Acts
Homestead Act (1862)—law that encouraged settlement in the West by giving government-owned land to small farmers
Morrill Act (1862)—federal law that gave land to western states to build agricultural and engineering colleges

14. Who moved West?
1. whites from the East—searching for available cheap land
2. exodusters—African Americans who settled in the West after Reconstruction to escape the South
3. immigrants—northern and western Europeans (i.e. Scandinavians, Irish)