History- American west

• Plains Indians


  Not one people, many different tribes
• The course will focus mostly on one tribe, the Lakota Sioux
• First Nations

  Term used to describe the Plains Indians and other groups of indigenous Americans
• Each tribe had its own customs and traditions like a nation
• The Sioux were threatened by other tribes and settlers in the east


  They moved west
• Settlers brought diseases like measles


  The Indians lacked immunity to fight this, so they fled
• The Indians gained horses


  This made journeys west possible, particularly from the Spanish
• The plains were largely empty but full of buffalo to hunt, which provided abundant resources for the Indians
• Lakota Sioux


  • Nomadic, following the buffalo across the plains
  • Could be warlike
  • Had great respect for nature, ancestors and the great spirit (wakantanka)
  • Had their own culture, religion, language and customs
• Uses of the buffalo

  • Bones and horns for arrowheads
  • Skins/hides for clothing, teepees, etc.
  • Dried tongue as a comb
  • Stomachs, intestines, bladder for water carrying
  • Meat as food
  • Blood as a drink
  • Offering parts to the great spirit
• Teepee


  A practical and portable home made from wooden poles and buffalo hide, with an adjustable vent for fire and regulation
• Teepees were usually decorated, expressing the pride and identity of the people
• Whole extended families might live in a single teepee
• Some tribes would abandon the old and sick as they moved on, with consent, as an honorable way to return to the great spirit
• Warfare


  • An important rite of passage for many Indian boys and men
  • Scalping defeated enemies was sometimes practiced
  • Raiding enemy tribes and camps was considered honorable, including taking horses
• Counting coup


  Showing bravery by getting in killing range and touching an opponent, then escaping
• Indian religion


  • Belief in animism, with nature being sacred and all things being spiritual
  • Tribes had spiritual people, sometimes called medicine men
  • The Lakota believed in wakantanka, the great spirit or great mystery
  • Music, drums, chants, sacred pipes, and dances were important in ceremonies
• Europeans rarely understood Indian religious practices and sometimes viewed them as barbaric
• Naming rituals


  Young people would get their adult name based on a vision they sought in the wilderness
• There were a large number of different tribes all over the North American continent
• Early Indian treaties


  1830-1851
• Key events that helped shape the development of the USA and how the US federal government treated the Plains Indians


  1. Indian Removal Act (28 May 1830)

  2. Indian Trade and Intercourse Act (13-30 June 1834)

  3. USA won Mexican-American War (2 February 1848)

  4. Fort Laramie Treaty (17 February 1851)

  5. Indian Appropriations Act (29 February 1851)
• Indian Removal Act


  Forced American Indians in the eastern states to move west of the Mississippi River
• Indian Trade and Intercourse Act


  Established a proper frontier between Indian territory and the United States and its territories
• USA won Mexican-American War

  Led to taking land from Mexico, expanding US territorial claims in the West
• Fort Laramie Treaty


  Formalized diplomatic relations between the US Indians and the US government, with guarantees from the Indians in return for payment
• Indian Appropriations Act


  Funded the moving of the Indians to reservations in modern-day Oklahoma, setting up the framework for Indians to be forced onto reservations and be reliant on government handouts
• The 1841 Fort Laramie Treaty is different from the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty
• Causes of the 1841 Fort Laramie Treaty

  • White-centric: Discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to increased migration across Indian land, putting pressure on resources and increasing contact between whites and Indians
  • Indian-centric: Indians feared white settlement and disruption to the buffalo and their nomadic way of life, and feared attacks by migrants and pressure on scarce food and water resources
• Consequences of the 1841 Fort Laramie Treaty

  1. Tribes agreed to appoint people to negotiate with the US government, leading to diplomatic relations

  2. Tribes were allocated land, leading to reservations

  3. Indians agreed to allow white migration, leading to increased white migration into their land

  4. Indians agreed to allow railroad surveyors and army posts, leading to railroad building and army forts on Indian land

  5. US government agreed to payments and resources for Indian tribes, leading to a loss of Indian independence

  6. Conflict was the result, as keeping to the treaty was not always possible or wanted
• Changes shown in the maps

  • States of the USA in 1834 (pink)
  • Territories that had not yet become states (orange)
  • Indian frontier (green)
  • Indian territory (dark orange)
  • Disputed areas (1834 map)
  • States (pink) and territories (orange) in 1848
  • Mexico's remaining land (1848 map)
• The later map shows that the number of territories got less, the number of states got bigger, and the Indian territory changed
• The map shows that America became a more organized country with more states
• Ways the US government began to pass laws against or impose restrictions on the Plains Indians


  • Indian Removal Act (1830)
  • Indian Trade and Intercourse Act (1834)
  • Indian Appropriations Act (1851)
  • Fort Laramie Treaty (1851)
• Key words and terms

  • Migration
  • Emigrant
  • Immigrant
  • Push factor
  • Pull factor
  • Manifest destiny
• Migration


  The movement of people from one place to another
• Emigrant


  Someone who moves away from somewhere
• Immigrant


  Someone moving into an area
• Push factor


  A reason that forces or encourages someone to leave
• Pull factor


  A reason attracting somewhere else