North American Indian History Midterm

Bering Strait Theory

Ice age --> sea levels lowered --> land bridge between Asia and Americas --> migration of peoples

Scientific

Human-focus

Evidence-based

Navajo creation story

First human spirit-beings travelled through 4 lower worlds to reach this one w/ various plants/animals

Species diverged once this world was reached

Metaphorical/value-laden

Oral tradition

Iroquois creation story

Women makes world on back of turtle

W.H. Powell "The Discovery of the Mississippi..." (1853)

Last of 8 paintings commissioned for the US Capitol rotunda

Depicts De Soto (explored Florida 1539-1542) on horse in Indian civilization

Indians cowering in awe, wearing feathers, living in teepees --> all inaccurate

Indians used to contrast might of De Soto

Names for indigenous people

NONE ARE PERFECT

Indians = Columbus error

Native Americans = politically correct since ~1980s

Indigenous People = most recently embraced (negative, primitive connotation)

First Nations = Canadian equivalent of Native Americans

Tribes

Social groups bound by tradition or kinship

Were not static as shown on maps with tribal names (denied evolving history)

Languages

~30 linguistic groups on N. Am. Continent

50 languages in Can. alone

~300 language on N. Am. continent

Population densities

Lower # estimates have been used to justify European possession

75 mil in all Americas, 10 mil in USA, 500,000 in Can.

Varied according to capacity of land

NW Coast

Rich in marine resources + building materials

Sedentary

Southwest

Pueblo villages of adobe

Sedentary

Farmers, potters, weavers

Irrigation canals

Plains

Buffalo hunted on foot

Migratory (teepees)

Dogs used to pull provisions during travel

Eastern Woodlands

MS River to Atlantic Ocean

3 sisters = corn, beans, squash

Hunter gatherers

Longhouses

Trade centers

Subarctic

Spruce trees

Canadian Shield = granite slab = no farming ability, minimal hunting

Arctic

Inuit = "the people" = occupied Arctic ~4000 yrs ago

Seacoast igloo villages, burned seal oil

Hunted caribu in small groups

Crosscutting features

Adapted to land rather than altering it

Religion = spirits in all things

Crops + techs useful to Europeans

Lacked metalware, immunity to Euro diseases

James Merrell's "Indians' New World"

Described the new world for Catawba tribe after Euro contact

3 new things introduced to Catawba tribe from Euro (James Merrell's account of Catawba)

Disease

- One every generation

- Struck older gens hard --> lost traditions

- Catawba nation formed from other nations fragmented by disease coming together

Trade

- Muskets, kettles, cloth, liquor, hoes, etc.

- Indians became dependent consumers in international trade network

- Exchanged deer skins and Indian slaves for Euro goods

Settlement

- 1730s = Euro arrives in Catawba region

- Natives hunted horse and cattle

- Catawba violent resistance became futile --> asked for reservation to live in

- 1800s = peaceful adaptation, tolerated by Euros, seen as "friendly"

Mercantilism

Economic doctrine

Drive to enrich wealth or Europe's new nation by extracting resources from foreign colonies

Spanish Contact

1492 = Columbus voyage to Americas --> landed in Caribbean

1521 = conquered Aztecs

1530 = conquered Incas of Peru

1539-42 = de Soto comes to FL

= Coronado to Pueblo region og SW US

1565 = St. Augustine, FL (permanent settlement)

Wanted to convert Indians to Catholicism + enslave Indians to work for mercantilism

Overall impacts = death + enslavement

Santa Fe

1598 = permanent settlement

"Virgin soil epidemics"

Smallpox, mumps, flu, distemper --> wiped out native populations

~90% decrease in native populations

Islands saw worst cases of demographic collapse

Encomienda

Spanish entrusts a soldier w/ Indian males who "traded" 9 months of labor for Catholic education

Repartimiento

Each Indian town provided some males to Europeans to do Euro work

Response: some converted, some fled, some fought

Acoma Revolt (1598)

Revolt of the Acoma Pueblo Indians on a Mesa in New Mexico against the Spaniards

Indians attacked 13 Euros

Euros killed 800 natives

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

Hopi tribe

Organized in secret by Pope

Initially successful in NM (Santa FE)

400+ Indian deaths

1695 = Spanish had taken back Pueblo people

French Contact

Perhaps "gentler"

1530s = enter St Lawrence watershed

Created chain of trade + military outposts down to New Orleans + over to Rocky Mtns.

Champlain, Quebec (1608)

Quebec = first permanent settlement

- Commanded by Sam Champlain

- NO precious metals or good farmland

- Hunted beavers

Goal = set up French trading post to control fur trade

Sought Indian labor and alliances, not land

- Some degree of coexistence and interdependence

- Indians received metal goods in exchange for pelts

Battle of Lake Champlain (1609)

Sam Champlain vs. Iroquois

3 Frenchman fired from woods and killed few Iroquois --> Iroquois fled

English Settlement

First settlement in Jamestown, 1607

Most colonists came to stay, not profit

Relied on Indians to survive

Powhatan confederacy

League of about 30 tribes that occupied the VA area before the English showed up

Formed by chief Powhatan shortly before settlement of Jamestown

Jamestown (1607)

First permanent settlement

Began "friendship" with Powhatan Indians

Bacon's Rebellion

1677

Nathaniel Bacon wanted to attack/remove the Indians --> demanded grant approval for expedition --> denied

Turned on Jamestown

Died Oct 1676

Plymouth

1620

North of Cape Cod

Only 1/2 survived the winter

Met Samoset and Squanto

Massachusettes Bay

Chartered in 1629

20,000 colonists arrived over the next 14 years

1691 = combined with Plymouth

Pequot War

Pequot Indians = south CT

- Suffered loss from epidemic previous years

1637 = Puritan surprise attack on Indian village --> burned houses, thousands slaughtered

1638 = Treaty of Hartford terminated Pequot sovereignty & outlawed use of their tribal name

King Philip's War

Increasing tensions from English trying to convert Wompanoag (praying towns) and take their land

1675 = English declared war against Narragansett

Natives winning at first

1676 = Mohawks (English allies) attack Phillip's men --> English become victorious in wqr

Aug 1676 = Phillip killed and dismembered

Catawba pre-contact vs post-contact

Pre-contact = 1600s = 5000 Catawba

Post-contact = 1760 = 50 Catawba dependent on Euro

- Overrun by disease, settlements, Euro military, etc.

Abenaki pre-contact

Made of multiple bands

Semi-nomadic

- Summer = longhouses on Lake Champlain

- Fall = moved up to rivers and mountains to hunt

Abenaki disease

1560s = first recorded disease

1580s = typhoid and smallpox (~75% death)

Abenaki imperial rivalry/shifting territory

Land was between English and French claims but traditionally allied with the French

French and Indian War caused shift of tribe northward

Now on 2 reserves in Canada

Not ever overrun or dependent on French, remained independent in trade (contrast with Catawba)

Comanche territorial change

Became highly mobile after acquiring horse

Traveled south toward New Spain from Rockies

Blackfoot and Crow tribes urged them Southward, as did promise of trade goods

Comanche horse-buffalo complex

Permits highly efficient buffalo hunting

First Native tribe to fully embrace use of the horse

- becomes measure of wealth & way of trade and warfare

Comanche "lords of the southern plains"

Held back Spanish colonization

Language became regional language

No evidence of epidemics

1750s-60s = not dependent on Euro, most powerful tribe in Southern Plains

"Comanche" = derived from Ute word meaning enemy

3 myths about fur trade

Fur trade was world w/o violence --> NO!!

- Anishinaabeg armed by French --> pushed Uron people westward --> Sioux pushed into Great Plains

- Cree armed by Hudson Bay Colony --> expanded into Great Plains

Fur trade was just beaver skins in Canada --> NO!!

- Deerskin trade = primary motive for Indian/English interactions

- Bison skins crucial on Great Plains

Europeans occupied their claimed zone --> NO!!

- French "territory" was still occupied by Native people

- Euro did not know what was in interior (maps included decorative detail)

- Native power dominated

Ft Saint Joseph

1691 = French fur trading post

- One of dozens in Great Lakes Region

Connection from Lake MI to MS River

Military garrison (housed soldiers, but only 10 so it was just symbolic)

Mission (for catholic conversion)

Community = 15-20 families, many mixed race

1000+ Indians across the water than could have stormed it if they wanted by French services their weapons to keep the peace

Goal of Quebec (1608)

Establish monopoly on fur trade

Beaver fur trade

Beaver skins prized in cold regions

Beaver = monogamous = slow to reproduce

Natives were using beaver long before the fur trade

Natives = essential for fur trade (trappers and preservation of pelts)

- political and economic relationships

Metis

French word for person of mixed race

Mixing, not just intermarriage

Mestissage

Sharing of culture and technology

Indians took on: axes, copper/brass, metal awls, tinkling cones, arrowheads

Euros took on: eating wild game, using canoes, learning to trap furs

Natives were neither loyal to nor independent of King of France

Overall = degree of Native dependence on Euro goods

Geography of fur trade

Moved from coast to interior

1700 = Montreal is anchoring point of fur trade

1750 = trade networks extend thousands of miles

Voyaguers

French Canadians who transported furs in canoes

Worked in interior of continent

North West Company

Fur trading company in Montreal from 1779-1821

In competition with Hudson Bay Company

Absorbed by Hudson Bay Colony in 1821

Hudson Bay Colony

Established 1670 (by English charter)

Fur trading business that ultimately become oldest corporation in Canada

1763 Treaty of Paris

Ends 7 Years War between France and Britain

France cedes Canada + all of US holdings to Britain

Indians left out of peace talks

- Those allied w/ French lost allies, trade partners, and ability to play one power off another

Stirred up tensions between Indians and Anglo-Americans in US territories

Cherokee War of Independence

1760

Instigator: Cherokee in S Appalachians returning home from British army ambushed by VA militia men hunting Indian scouts

Cherokee made war against settlements + British troops

Cherokee eventually made peace, bowed to Britain, ceded land to Britain

Delaware War of Independence

1760s

Instigator: Gen Amherst cut off gifts + credit from Indian people

British officers @ Fort Pitt gave blankets from smallpox infected soldiers to Indians (germ warfare)

Pontiac = created pan-Indian alliance to push back against British powers (inspired by mystic who told him to)

Pontiac's Rebellion

May 1763

In context of DE war of independence

Killed 2,000 soldiers + settlers

Took a ton of forts

1766 = peace treaty, pardoned Pontiac

1763 Proclamation Line

West of line = Indian lands

- Could only be expanded into w/ treaty between British crown + tribal leaders (nationalized control from Britain)

Goal: for Britain to acquire lands in controlled manner w/o war

Did not stop settlers from crossing the line

Cherokee during Am. Revolution

1773 = Daniel Boone led settlers to KY

- Cherokee captured Boone's son and tortured him to death

1773-74 = Dunmoore's War between VA and Cherokee

Cherokee and Shawnee attacked settlements during Am. Revolution (2nd Cherokee War)

1777 = most leaders signed peace treaties w/ US

Iroquois during Am. Revolution

Hoped to remain neutral

Iroquois Confederacy split --> 2 joined Americans, 4 joined British

Siding with British affected attitude toward Native people

Sullivan's Campaign

Summer 1779

American armies burned 40+ Iroquois villages and food stores on order from George Washington

Death toll greater in winter that followed attacks

1783 Treaty of Paris

Ended Am. Revolutionary War

Britain recognizes USA from Atlantic Coast to MS River

Natives not involved

1784 Fort Stanwix

Intended to be a peace treaty between America and Iroquois

Iroquois demanded land --> rejected

Forced to cede land to USA

Haldimand Grant

3 days after Ft. Stanwix

Britains gave land in Ontario to Mohawk who had fought on British side during war

Joseph Brant = leader of Mohawk tribe

6 Nations Reserve

Largest reserve in Canada

Established by Haldimand Grant after Am. Rev. War

Sea otter trade

Pacific NW

New material wealth into Indian communities

Overhunting

Disease

Slavery increased

Alcohol abuse

Smallpox pandemic (1779-84)

Began in Boston 1775 (first year of Am. Rev)

In NW Indian communities by 1881

80% destroyed in one season

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Under Articles of Confederation

Purpose: Orchestrate settlement of midwest (at that point, thought of as northwest)

Forbid settlement of land w/o native consent (wanted to avoid conflict)

Settlers were already pouring into the region (some getting attacked by natives)

Northwest Indian War (1785-1794)

Washington calls on state militias to form army for midwest region

Under Anthony Wayne

Defeated pan-Indian force @ Fallen Timbers

1795 = Treaty of Greenville = pan-Indian force ceded most of OH and IN to USA

US Constitution (1789)

Established Dept of War and Secretary of War

- Handled Indian Affairs

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Originally under War Dept.

Purpose = subjugate and assimilate Native people

Retained notion that Indians must consent to cede land

Factory System

System of trading posts

Run by federally funded Indian agents

Distributed gifts and annuities to tribes en exchange for land cessions

If tribal leaders did not cooperate --> gov trader could advance credit to hunters to create debt --> debt was paid of with land cessions

"The great land animal"

White people (according to John Randolf)

"Civilization"

Process to turn Indians into farmers

Farmers need less land than hunters --> could use as an excuse to reduce Indian land holdings

Congress funded hiring of white farmers to teach Indians

- Bought them farm tools and livestock

Missionary schools

1819 Civilization Act

Produced schisms in tribes between literate Christian Indians and traditional hunter gatherers

Handsome Lake

Seneca prophet who claimed to have been visited from the Creater with message of a new religion

Longhouse religion

Longhouse religion

Blend of Quaker and Iroquois

Preached against alcohol use and using things the white people brought

Slavery (Joseph Vann, Major Ridge)

Cotton gin --> needed slaves

Creek and Cherokee adopted slave holdings

- Janes Vann = Cherokee Chief w/ plantation in N GA, 100+ slaves

- Major Ridge = Cherokee leader w/ plantation and slaves

War of 1812

US concerned about Britain continuing to arm Indians --> war (US vs British)

Indian participation occurs on own timetable (formation of pan-Indian alliance)

Outcome for N Indians = wicked bad

Lalawethika/Tenskwatawa/the Prophet

Tecumseh's little brother

Message of revitalization = reject white people stuff

Tecumseh

Shawnee chief and warrior who resisted US expansion into native territory

Formed pan-Indian alliance

Died in War of 1812

Indian Confederacy dies with him

Battle of the Thames (1813)

1812 = Indians winning w/ British

1813 = Brits retreat to York (Toronto)

Brits ditch Indians, Indians defeated by US troops

- Tecumseh dies

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

Ended the War of 1812

British can US claim of NW territory

British could not longer arm Natives to war against US

Brought native military resistance east of MS to close (generally)

Andrew Jackson

Fought Natives in War of 1812

Indian Removal act (predated presidency)

Indian Removal Act

Emerged from humanitarian and constitutional aims

Attempt to "preserve Natives east of MA from extermination"

State rights > federal rights --> Indians could not be sovereign nations within states --> moved to federal land

60,000+ people removed from civilized tribes

Many resisted

Not all Americans supported

Worcester vs. GA

Sam Worcester = VT missionary, tried by state of GA for missionary work in Cherokee land w/o state license

US Const. says Congress is in charge of Indian affairs

Worcester sues GA

Ruling = states cannot regulate Indian nations b/c Indian nations are sovereign

Jackson did not execute the ruling :(

Treaty of New Echota

Signed by Cherokee Treaty Party (minority led by Major Ridge, against advice of John Ross)

Ceded tribal land in SE

Given $5 million to relocate

Treaty Party seen as Cherokee traitors --> murdered by own people

Trails of Tears

Forced removal of Indians who remained after the Treaty of New Echota

~18,000 removed, ~4,000 died during march

Black Hawk War (1832)

Black Hawk led ~100 Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo people into IN to reclaim land ceded in 1804

Bloody war, all Indians eventually retreated and left NW territory (midwest) to settlers

Second Seminole War (1835-42)

Spain cedes FL to USA

1832 = US gives seminoles 3 yrs to abandon FL

Faction of Seminoles (led by Osceola) did not leave --> war!

US ultimately withdrew

OK land rush

1889 = OK open to white American settlement

1889-1906 = OK land rush

Land sold by private sale or lottery to settlers

- tribal lands given away

Some natives favored privatization of tribal land bc they thought it might bring favor

Lewis and Clark

1803-1806

Explored the new LA purchase

Wagon trails pushed through territory --> increased traffic --> stripped natives of resources

CA Gold Rush

In CA --> natives seen as laboring class, Spanish did not want to exterminate them

1848 = GOLD!!!

1848 = Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo = CA given to USA

1852 = 1/4 million immigrants to CA

"Act for the Government + Protection of Indians"

Allowed whites to obtain and keep children until age 18

Whites could not be charged w/ crime on Indian testimony

White could bail and Indian out of jail and keep them as slave

80% decrease in Indian population by 1861

Modoc War

Modoc tribe = on CA/OR boundary

1864 = agreed to go to res but eventually left and requested a piece of their homeland

1872 = forced back to res

1873 = WAR!! (last in CA)

- 60 natives vs 400 Am soldiers

- Modoc split into peace and war factions

- May 1873 = Modoc tribe member betray tribe's position to Americans, rebels hung, turncoats gained immunity, led back to res

Great Raid of 1840

400 Comanche warriors rode across TX and burned Linville (port town)

TX demanded federal troops sent to forts to guard against Indian attack

Indians kept attacking anyway

Comanche = most feared in the region

1861-65 = Am Civil War = no troops to spare to send to TX

Am. Civil War

1) Militarization of the west

2) Creation of mighty and seasoned armed force

- Accurate, long-range rifled muskets

- Gattling guns

- Artillery

~2000 natives enlisted in war, some on both sides

Grant's Peace Policy

After Civil War

If Indians remained on reservations --> food rations, schooling, farming help, ertc.

Replacaed gov agencies on reservations w/ Christian missionaries

Sand Creek Massacre

1864, Colorado

S Cheyenne tribes attacked gold rushes in CO

Am Colonel Chivington = attacked Indian villiages

Chivington led tropps to Sand Creek (reservation)

- 150+ natives killed, wounded and dismembered

Reservation/reserve

Indians cede homeland --> are given back a bit to live on

Some degree of tribal sovereignty

Most in West

~325 in US

3000 in Canada