Society NAs 1865-90

Homestead Act

Homestead Act

1862 - federal incentive for Westward Expansion

• 160 acres of land with a fee of $12

• had to be farmed for 5 years

• by 1865 - 20,000 homesteaders settled on the plains

Timber and Culture Act

1873 - homesteaders got an additional 160 acres if 40 acres were planted with trees

Desert and Land Act

1877 - offered a further 640 acres at $1.25 an acre if some of the land was irrigated

Pacific Railroad Act

1862 - transcontinental railroad to be built, NAs not consulted even though it was over their land

Railroad passengers 1882

1 million

impact of railroads for NAs

railroad construction took away NA lands and disrupted buffalo herds, which NAs were dependent on

railroads carried thousands of land-hungry prospectors and homesteaders to the plains, threatening NA land

Second Gold Rush

1874 - gold found in the Black Hills of Dakota, thousands of prospectors flock to seek their fortune, despite NA claim to the land

Treaty of Fort Laramie

1868 - gov. recognises the Black Hills of Dakota as NA land, however ignores this agreement when gold is discovered there - demonstrates the gov was not concerned in protecting NA land or upholding promises

Sand Creek Massacre

1864 - untrained volunteer soldiers replace the force fighting in the Civil War in Mississippi

the ill-disciplined force committed a number of atrocities - in Sand Creek the force attacked an undefended Cheyenne tribe, killing and mutilating elderly men, women and children, Est. 150 deaths

Great Sioux War

1876 - gov. offers NAs $6 million for the Black Hills after gold discovery - NAs refuse this

gov. state all NAs must go to reservations by 31st Jan 1876 or be treated with hostility

well-equipped US army essentially wiped out NA presence in Black Hills

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876 - ‘Custer’s last stand’ - his men attempted to encircle an NA tribe and did not wait for reinforcements

They were overwhelmed by Sioux fighters led by Crazy Horse, all 200 men killed

Whilst a rare victory for NAs, it damaged their image with the public, they seemed like ‘savages’

Battle of Wounded Knee

1890 - following the ‘ghost dance’ ritual spreading, authorities tried to capture leader Sitting Bull, but ended up killing him, causing NAs fleeing from reservations

Dec 1890 - Seventh Cavalry fire at a group of escaped Sioux killing 200, mostly women and children

reservation policy

‘reservation or assimilation’ - President Grant

NAs had to accept life on reservations or as individuals, no longer allowing tribal lifestyle

Life on Reservations

reservations aimed to convert and ‘americanise’ NAs, left them dependent on the gov entirely, starved and kept away from the rest of society

BUT - Grant claimed this was to protect them from exploitation by settlers or corrupt gov. officials, even hiring Quaker missionaries to ensure higher ethical standards

Dawes Act

1887 - broke up reservation land into small units for NA individuals or families

160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land

granted citizenship after 25 years

Dawes Act positives

NAs could have their own autonomy and ‘make it’, no longer at the mercy of government for food and resources like in reservations

Dawes Act negatives

the price of freedom from reservations was still a loss of tribal culture and their traditional nomadic lifestyle, with a ‘reward’ of citizenship to a country they are native to after 25 years

Positive efforts for NAs

• effort to reform the Bureau of Indian Affairs

• sympathetic movements e.g. Indian Rights Association BUT even they did not support continuation of tribal life

Boarding Schools no.

148 boarding, 225 day schools, 20,000 children

Boarding schools funding

funded by congress - $2.5 million a year by 1899