Westward Expansion Great Plains v Vast grasslands between

Westward Expansion

Great Plains v Vast grasslands between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains Before 1850 it was home to 10 million Native Americans and 60 million buffalo v 1

Great Plains

Factors Conditions that pushed people to move away from their homeland to a different region 2 continued

Push Factors Ü Thousands of people were displaced (homeless) after the Civil War. Ü Land in the East was increasingly expensive. Ü When a business failed, owners headed to a new location to try again. Ü Some religious groups were seeking escape from persecution (e. g. Mormons) Ü Outlaws on the run 2

Pull Factors Conditions that pulled or attracted people to move elsewhere by their own choice 3 continued

Pull Factors ÛGovernment Incentives - Free land grants from the government ÛPrivate Property - Laws were passed to make property rights enforceable and transferable. Land was measured, recorded, and deeded. Cattle were branded. ÛGreed - Profit in new markets or mining precious metals 3

Pacific Railway Acts (1862/64) ð The government gave RR’s 10 square miles of land on either side of the tracks. ð RR’s received over 175 million acres. ð RR’s sold much of this land to new settlers at a large profit. 4

Morrill Land-Grant Act (1862) Ø The federal government gave state governments millions of acres of western lands. Ø The states could sell this land to the public to raise money to start colleges that specialized in agriculture and mechanical arts. 5

Land Speculators People who buy land at a low price, hoping to sell it later for a profit 6

Homestead Act (1862) The federal government offered 160 acres of western land for $10 if these conditions were met: Must be at least 21 years old or the head of a household 7 continued

Homestead Act Must be an American citizen or filing for citizenship Must build a house at least 12’x 14’ on their property Must live in it for at least 6 months a year Must farm the land for at least 5 years 7

Indians of the Great Plains

Indian Removal Policy Beginning in the 1820 s, Native Americans were forced off their lands to reservations in different parts of the country, usually in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to open up land for white settlement. 8

Reservations XFederal land set aside for Native American use XThey were often restricted to the reservations by treaties the Indians did not fully understand 9

B. I. A. §Bureau of Indian Affairs § Part of the U. S. Department of the Interior § Managed delivery of supplies to reservations § Often corrupt 10

Sand Creek Massacre 11

Sand Creek Massacre - 1864 o Cheyenne and Arapaho occupied the central plains in Colorado Territory o Chief Black Kettle wanted peace o The governor promised to protect the Indians and told them to camp at Sand Creek 11 continued

Chief Black Kettle

Sand Creek Massacre - 1864 o 700 soldiers then attacked the camp o About 150 women and children were slaughtered and mutilated o Most Cheyenne moved to the reservation the next year 11

Sand Creek Massacre Memorial originally placed at wrong site

True site of Sand Creek Massacre discovered in 2001 and dedicated in 2007

True site of Sand Creek Massacre discovered in 2000 and dedicated in 2007

Painting: Sand Creek Phantoms

Battle of Little Bighorn v Lakota Tribe - called Sioux by Americans lived in Northern plains - Dakota, Wyoming, Montana. Hunted in the Bighorn Mountains. v 1865 - U. S. Government built a road called the Bozeman Trail through this land. v 1866 - Chief Red Cloud fought against this for 2 years 12 continued

Battle of Little Bighorn v 1868 - Treaty of Fort Laramie - U. S. abandoned the trail and forts but created the Sioux Reservation in South Dakota which included the sacred Black Hills v 1874 - Col. George A. Custer reported gold in the Black Hills. Government offered to buy the Black Hills. 12 continued

The Black Hills

Battle of Little Bighorn v Chief Red Cloud tried to negotiate v Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused and led rebels off the reservation v June 1876 - General Custer led 250 men of the 7 th Cavalry to round up the rebel Indians 12 continued

Chief Sitting Bull

Chief Crazy Horse

General George A. Custer

Custer’s Expedition to Bighorn

Battle of Little Bighorn v 2000 Sioux killed the entire 7 th Cavalry within one hour at the Bighorn River in Montana v. Sitting Bull escaped to Canada v. Crazy Horse surrendered and was stabbed in the back. He was 34 years old. 12

Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota Begun in 1993

Unfinished Crazy Horse Monument Projected completion date: 2018

Custer’s Last Stand

The Ghost Dance RPurification ritual performed by many plains tribes RBelieved the ritual would restore their traditional way of life continued 13

The Ghost Dance R Dancers formed a circle, joined hands, and danced around a sacred tree. R Sometimes they danced for days until they fell “dead” and saw visions of their dead ancestors. continued 13

The Ghost Dancers wore a “Ghost Shirt” - a sacred costume made of white cotton painted with symbols. 13 continued

The Ghost Dance Lakota believed the shirt protected them from the white man’s bullets. 13

A Ghost Shirt

The Ghost Dance as described by a Lakota Sioux witness “ They danced without rest, on and on. . . Occasionally someone thoroughly exhausted and dizzy fell unconscious into the center and lay there “dead”. . . After a while, many lay about in that condition. They were now “dead” and seeing their dear ones. . . The visions. . . ended the same way, like a chorus describing a great encampment of all the Dakotas who had ever died,

The Ghost Dance as described by a Lakota Sioux witness where. . . there was no sorrow but only joy, where relatives thronged out with happy laughter. . . The people went on and could not stop, day or night, hoping. . . to get a vision of their own dead. . . And so I suppose the authorities did think they were crazy – but they were not. They were only terribly unhappy. ”

The Ghost Dance

Wounded Knee Massacre 1890 Sitting Bull now back on the South Dakota Reservation encouraged the Lakota Sioux to practice the Ghost Dance ritual. The ritual frightened whites who thought the Indians were preparing for war. continued 14

Wounded Knee Massacre N The 7 th Cavalry was sent to arrest Sitting Bull. They shot and killed him. N His followers - 120 men and 230 women and children - were rounded up at a creek called Wounded Knee. N As the Indians were being disarmed, someone fired a shot. Soldiers began firing and killed over 200 Lakota. 14

Encampment at Wounded Knee

The Dead of Wounded Knee

Chief Big Foot dead at Wounded Knee

Medicine Man Dead at Wounded Knee

Collecting the Frozen Dead at Wounded Knee

Mass Burial at Wounded Knee

Gate to Wounded Knee Memorial

Assimilation The process of making one society part of another. Usually the dominant society forces its culture and values on the subordinate culture. 15

The Dawes Act - 1887 Ø Divided reservation land into individual plots. Ø Each Indian family was given 160 acres to farm. Ø The goal was to make Indians self-supporting and make them believe in private property like Americans do. Ø The idea was offensive to most Indians and many sold their land to whites or were cheated out of it. 16