1862 THE HOMESTEAD ACT HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862 The Homestead Act was a United States Federal Law signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The law entitled an individual to 160-640 acres of undeveloped land in the area gained by the Louisiana Purchase if they did three things: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. When filing for the deed, the homesteader had to submit proof of residency and proof of making the required improvements to the local land office. He then paid ten dollars, the application was forwarded to Washington, D.C., and the land became his. The only people who were ineligible were those who had taken up arms against the U.S. 1. According to these documents, where is free land being given away? 2. How many years can the land be held without taxes, assessment, or interest? 3. According to the document, what are the only costs associated with this offer? 4. DO YOU THINK THE HOMESTEAD ACT WILL HAVE A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE AFFECT ON NATIVE AMERICANS LIVING IN THOSE STATES? WHY?
1869 THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD *TRANS = CROSS BREAKING DOWN VOCABULARY *CONTINENTAL = THE CONTINENT =THE UNITED STATES TRANSCONTINENTAL =ACROSS THE UNITED STATES THE EXPANSION OF RAILROADS The first transcontinental railroad, linking the east and west coasts, was completed in 1869. The amount of railroad track increased fivefold in the next 25 years. Railroads affected just about every aspect of American life. Railroads connected raw materials to factories and factories to consumers throughout the nation. Construction of the railroads stimulated the iron, steel, and coal industries. The railroads also promoted the settlement of the frontier. They brought settlers to the Great Plains with the promise of cheap farm land. Then they linked the farms on the plains to urban markets. Railroad companies promoted immigration by advertising in Europe for settlers. They also used Irish and Chinese immigrants as a cheap labor force for building their new transcontinental lines. 1. How did railroads affect american life? 2. How did railroads promote the settlement of the frontier? 3. WHAT IMMIGRANT GROUPS WERE USED AS A CHEAP LABOR FORCE? 4. what type of impact might the railroad have on Native Americans living in the states that the railroad ran through? Explain your answer.
1860S-1890S THE DECLINE OF THE BUFFALO ca. 1873 National Archives "no story of wildlife decline in North America is more widely known than the demise of the buffalo" THE DECLINE OF THE BUFFALO Much of the Great Plains area was home to millions of buffalo and the Native Americans who lived off their food and hides. But the buffalo represented more than food. For many it provided over one hundred specific items of material culture. Day or night, Plains Indians could not ever have been out of sight, touch, or smell of some buffalo product. By the 1870s, however, the buffalo population was on the decline. Non-Indians killed the buffalo for their pelts, to feed railroad construction crews, or even just for the pure sport of it. Army commanders who operated in the West often attempted to drive the Indians off of desired lands by killing the buffalo as a way to deprive the Indians of supplies. Between 1872 and 1875, only three years, hunters killed 9 million buffalo, most often taking the skin and leaving the carcass to rot in waste. By the 1880s the Indian way of life was ruined and the way was cleared for American settlement of the Plains. 1. In what ways did native americans use the buffalo? 2. According to the above picture (with the railroad), how do did the coming of the transcontinental railroad impact the buffalo? 3. why was the destruction of the buffalo so detrimental to the native american way of life?
1887 NATIVE AMERICANS: RESERVATIONS AND THE DAWES ACT RESERVATIONS From 1830-1890, the U.S. government followed a policy of pushing Native Americans from their lands onto government reservations in the West. Reservation lands were smaller than the lands from which the tribe was removed and often consisted of undesirable land. The federal government promised food, blankets, and seed, but this policy clashed with tribal customs, since Native Americans were traditionally hunters, not farmers. THE DAWES ACT Some reformers urged that Native Americans undergo Americanization -adopting the mainstream culture. The Dawes Act sought to Americanize Native Americans. The act abolished Native American tribes. Each family was given 160 acres of reservation land as its own private property. Native Americans were expected to farm the land. Those who adopted this way of life were given U.S. citizenship. THE DAWES ACT U.S. PERCEIVED BENEFITS TO INDIANS INDIAN PERCEIVED LOSS TO THEMSELVES...the real aim of [the Dawes Act] is to get at the Indians land and open it up for resettlement..." -Senetor Henry M. Telling U.S. Citizenship Ownership of Land (land could not be taken by train expansion, homesteaders or settlers) Schooling for children Assimilation to be Americans (Civilizing the Indian) Survival of Indians as American people Loss of Indian Independence Have to give up communal living and way of live (nomadic) Takes children away from family Loss of cultural identity Death of Indian as Indian people 1. was the reservation system a positive or negative for native americans? why? 2. Blast from the Past what was the first indian removal that forced native americans westward? 3. list two benefits the u.s. felt the dawes act provided for native americans? list two losses native americans felt the dawes act brought them?
1890 WOUNDED KNEE WOUNDED KNEE Many Indians refused to be confined to reservations. These tribes engaged in a constant battle with non- Indians, raiding settlements and attacking troop installments throughout the late 1860s and 1870s. The Sioux became desperate in the late 1880s, and turned to the prophet Wovoka, who assured them that they would return to their original dominance of the Plains if they performed the Ghost Dance. As the Ghost Dance swept the Plains, Indian officials and military authorities were suspicious of the movement and attempted to arrest chief Sitting Bull, a Sioux war hero whose cabin had become the center of the movement. In a fight outside the cabin, Sitting Bull was accidentally shot. Two weeks later, on December 29, 1890, 300 Indians were slaughtered by American troops at Wounded Knee. This massacre was the symbolic end to Indian resistance; the Plains Indians were essentially conquered and moved into reservations throughout the next decade. 1. in the 1860s and 1870s, why did indian tribes engage in constant battle with non-indians? 2. What did the sioux believe would happen if they performed the ghost dance? 3. why do you think indian officials and military authorities were suspicious of the ghost dance? 4. what happened to the plains indians after the wounded knee massacre?