Reservations

• For Plains Indians, life on the reservations was tough
• Government policy aimed to destroy Plains Indians way of life to force them to assimilate to white-American culture
• Impacts of government policy on Plains Indians way of life


  1. Education

  2. Religion

  3. Economic

  4. Political
• Education


  All Indian children were forced to go to boarding school away from their parents. Children were taught to have no respect for Plains Indians way of life and traditions, and were instead brought up as Christians. They were punished if they spoke their own language, or practised their own religion. If Indian parents refused to send their children to school, their food rations would be withdrawn until they agreed. By 1887, over 2000 Indian children attended 117 boarding schools.
• Political


  The power and authority of the chiefs was weakened. In the 1880s, the US government set up councils who took over the chiefs power. In 1885, the government took over all legal powers regarding Plains Indians. This meant Plains Indians had lost all power to govern themselves.
• Some Plains Indians

  • Joined the Indian Agency Police where they were given food, shelter and a reasonable standard of living