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The Gnadenhutten Massacre
Militiamen from Pennsylvania killed around 96 Delaware Indians, this was a showcase of the militiamen's growing contempt for the Native Americans. -
Office of Indian Affairs
While white settlers kept moving westward across America, conflicts over this land became far more problematic for the government. The Office of Indian Affairs was created to help solve this issue, and Native Americans were appointed control over this office. -
Indian Removal Act
This was an act that popularized and allowed the practice of forcing Native Americans off of their lands to make room for European settlements. -
Indian Appropriations Act
This was an act that authorized the creation of reservations in Oklahoma and in other states, the main goal was to use these to keep Native Americans off of land that Americans wanted. -
Reservation System
During this time period, most whites believed they would be unable to live in peace with African Americans, due to this widespread belief, the government created the Reservation System. This was a system that aimed to keep Native Americans off of the lands that European-Americans wanted to settle in. Many African Americans disagreed with this, which only lead to more and more conflict between the two groups. -
Fort Laramie Treaty
During the spring of 1868, a conference would be held at Fort Laramie (Present day Wyoming). This conference resulted in a treaty with the Sioux, there had been many land disputes before this, and this treaty meant that the Sioux agreed to settle within the Black Hills reservation in the Dakota Territory. This more or less gave the Sioux a personal private land to be on without interference from the Whites. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act was an act that gave the federal government the power to break up tribal lands by separating them into individual plots. This was bad for Native Americans as only those who accepted these individual allotments were allowed to become U.S. citizens. -
The Ghost Dance
This was a spiritual movement that began when Wovoka, a shaman of the Northern Paiute tribe, had a vision during a solar eclipse. He claimed God himself had appeared to him in this vision and revealed a bountiful land of love and peace. After this, he founded the spiritual movement known as The Ghost Dance, he prophesied the reuniting of the remaining Indian tribes in the West and Southwest, and the banishment of all evil in the world. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
US Army soldiers attacked an encampment of Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The US Army fired first which resulted in a scuffle, this became a massacre as hundreds of men, women, and children were murdered, despite this public opinion of the massacre was generally favorable. -
Indian Reorganization Act
During the Great Depression, the president at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, pushed for the passage of the US Indian Reorganization Act. It would institute a "New Deal" for Native Americans allowing them to reorganize and form their own tribal governments. Ended allotments created by Dawes Act.