Ethan Richards 9-16-19 Period 3

Challenges in the Late 1800s

Lesson 1 American Indians Under Pressure
Key Terms
Reservations: public lands where Native Americans were required to live by the
federal government
Sand Creek Massacre: 1864 incident in which Colorado militia attacked a camp
of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, some of who were under U.S. Army protection
Sitting Bull: Sitting Bull (1831?–1890) was a war chief and important spiritual
leader who became the first-ever chief of all the Lakota Sioux bands in the 1860s.
After surrendering to the Army in 1881, he lived on a reservation where he was
killed by Indian police sent to arrest him.
Battle of the Little Big Horn: 1876 battle in which the Sioux defeated U.S. Army
troops
Chief Joseph: Chief Joseph (1840–1904) succeeded his father as chief of the
Nez Percé in 1871. Six years later he led his followers on an unsuccessful flight to
escape confinement on a reservation. First sent to Oklahoma, they were
eventually returned to a new reservation in Washington state. However, Joseph
was unable to secure their return to their tribal homeland.
Wounded Knee: 1890 confrontation between U.S. cavalry and Sioux that marked
the end of Indian resistance
Assimilate: absorbed into the main culture of a society
Dawes General Allotment Act: 1887 law that divided reservation land into
private family plots

Academic Vocabulary
pacify: to make peaceful or to calm
confrontation: a hostile encounter
confined: forced to stay within a small area

Lesson Objectives
1. Compare the ways Native Americans and white settlers viewed and
used the land.

The native Americans saw the land as their home. They’ve been there for
presumably all of their lives and now there are stranger out there in their home
trying to make an alliance with them then eventually kill them and take the land for
themselves.

2. Describe the conflicts between white settlers and Indians.

Interactive Reading Notepad • Lesson 1

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Ethan Richards 9-16-19 Period 3

Conflict of land was a big one. The settlers discovered this land and wanted to
take it for their own. On the other hand, there are the Indians who have been
there way before them.

3. Analyze the impact of the Indian Wars.

The Indian wars had a huge impact because we had to give them reservations,
then force them to leave again if we find anything valuable about the land in which
we first gave them. America then had the responsibility of taking things that were
promised to them such as food and land.

4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the government’s Americanization and

reservation policies toward American Indians.

At first we moved the native Americans away from their homeland, now we are
taking the land we gave them then over time we ultimately broke our promise of
Native Americans always having a spot to live in forever.

Cultures Forced to Adapt: Text

1. Analyze Sequence As you read the selections in this lesson, use this
timeline to record important dates and events in the struggle between the
Native Americans and white settlers.

Congress
passes
Exclusion
Act

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Ethan Richards 9-16-19 Period 3

Oklahoma is opened to
Congress passes First Farmer’s white settlement
California Gold coinage act of 1873 Alliance
Rush begins established The populist Party forms

Dawes Act breaks up Indian reservations.

Transcontine
ntal railroad Pendleton Civil Service Act
connects East Sioux defeat US troops establishes merit system
and West. in Battle of Little Exoduses from the
Bighorn South setting in
Kansas and
Oklahoma

2. Summarize how the U.S. government’s policy toward Native Americans

changed between the early 1800s and the 1850s. What caused this
change?

At first we moved the native Americans away from their homeland, now we are
taking the land we gave them then over time we ultimately broke our promise of
Native Americans always having a spot to live in forever.

3. Draw Conclusions Why does the text include information about the ways
in which hunters and tourists used the buffalo?

Buffalos were used for far more then food. Buffalo hair was used for making ropes
and pads. The hoofs and horns were made into implements and utensils.

Settlers and Native Americans Collide: Text

4. Analyze Style and Rhetoric Horace Greeley tried to convince Americans

to move to the West. Analyze the excerpt from his newspaper article of
February 5, 1867. Which words and phrases do you think would have been
especially persuasive to people of the time and why?

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Ethan Richards 9-16-19 Period 3

If he would’ve reference the mining part of moving west, a lot of people would’ve
moved there as soon as they saw that they could get gold and silver by
moving into “Boom towns” temporarily.

5. Identify Cause and Effect What triggered the Sand Creek Massacre?
How did Plains Indians respond to the attack?

There was a conflict of control of the great plains of eastern Colorado. The
Americans went on to murder a bunch of the Indians to get them to surrender
the land to them without any further action.

6. Paraphrase the statements that Chief Piapot made about the Canadian
government’s treatment of Native Americans. Could the same criticisms of
the treatment of Native Americans be made against the U.S. government?
Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Yes, us Americans acted like savages in our own right. We went and committed a
massacre against the Indians because we wanted land. The way they
responded was completely acceptable because of the fact that we picked
the fight by coming here and taking their land in the first place.

The Indian Wars Conclude: Text

7. Identify Supporting Details The text states that different Native American
groups were “lumped together in the minds of most Americans,” even
though Native Americans “embraced different belief systems, languages,
and ways of life.” Give an example of a time when a failure to recognize
differences between Native American groups caused problems for Native
Americans.

When the settlers first came here, they thought there were only one kind of
people. They believed that they were all savages, and war hungry people.
But that wasn’t the case at all. They were a peaceful people who didn’t
want anything to do with violence.

8. Compare and Contrast the struggles of the Sioux and the Nez Percés. In
what ways were they similar? In what ways were they different?

They were both kicked out of their homes and forced to relocate. They both
didn’t have to adapt to new lands because for the Sioux, the land they had
was just like their old land.

9. Draw Conclusions Why do you think that the United States government
found the Ghost Dance revival threatening?

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Ethan Richards 9-16-19 Period 3

Because they feared that it actually worked.

The Government Encourages Assimilation: Text

10. Determine Central Ideas In your opinion, what was the most significant
effect of the Indian Wars on Native Americans? Explain your thinking.

They were moved from their land and they literally had to abandon their old ways
which were peace and religious beliefs to be bossed around by Americans
who were new to the land.

Interactive Reading Notepad • Lesson 1

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