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Exploration of the West
The exploration and settlement of the western US severely damaged the native population across the West. -
Indian Wars
Many Indigenous people resisted confinement to reservations, leading to the Indian Wars against the US Army. Ultimately, the army triumphed, forcing Native Americans onto reservations. While these areas allowed for some self-governance and cultural preservation, the conflicts had devastating effects. About one-third of the Cherokees and Seminoles in Indian Territory died from violence, starvation, and disease. -
Indian removal act
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 institutionalized the practice of forcing Native Americans off of their ancestral lands in order to make way for European settlement. The US government forcibly relocated the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) to territories that would become the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, in a death march that became known as the Trail of Tears. -
Manifest Destiny
As white settlers pushed ever westward, guided by the ideology of Manifest Destiny, they forced Native Americans off of their ancestral lands and onto reservations. Many Indian tribes resisted, unleashing a series of violent conflicts. -
Reservation System
As a result of widespread belief, the US government created the reservation system in 1851 to keep Native Americans off of lands that European Americans wished to settle. -
Indian Appropriations Act
The Indian Appropriations Act of 1851, also known as the Appropriation Bill for Indian Affairs, authorized the establishment of reservations in Oklahoma and inspired the creation of reservations in other states as well. The US federal government envisioned the reservations as a useful means of keeping Native Americans off of lands that white Americans wished to settle. -
Sioux Treaty
In 1865, a congressional committee studied Indian uprisings and wars in the West, culminating in the 1867 Report on the Condition of the Indian Tribes. This report prompted the establishment of an Indian Peace Commission aimed at ending conflicts and preventing future wars. Consequently, the U.S. government initiated a series of treaties to compel Native Americans to relinquish their lands and relocate to reservations further west. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
December 29, 1890, the US 7th Cavalry Regiment surrounded an encampment of Sioux Indians near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. While attempting to disarm the Sioux, a shot was fired and a scuffle ensued. The US Army soldiers opened fire on the Sioux, indiscriminately massacring hundreds of men, women, and children. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 authorized the federal government to divide tribal lands into individual plots. Only Native Americans who accepted the individual allotments were allowed to become US citizens. The objective of the Dawes Act was to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream US society by annihilating their cultural and social traditions. As a result of the Dawes Act, over ninety million acres of tribal land were stripped from Native Americans and sold to non-natives. -
The Ghost Dance
The practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota's resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act. The Lakota variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Lakota interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings.