AMH 2020 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Dawes Act, Wounded Knee Massacre, Homestead Acts
23 Jan 2017
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Ch.17 The West exploiting an empire
By the 1890s the plains where the roaming buffalo were, were replaced with cities and
buildings.
When the whites wanted to expand, they didn’t even know or was aware of the Native Americans existing
when almost half of the United States was filled with them.
Most tribes were either beaten, or destroyed except for the tribes, Apache and Navajo were fiercely fought
back.
The Native Americans used the buffalo as a source of food, clothing and shelter. Unlike other whites, they
used every part of the animal. They hunted these animals on horses.
Women were actually played an important role in political, economic and religious activities. Men would
generally hunt, trade, supervised ceremonial activities and cleared ground for planting. “Men were
respected for hunting and war, women for their artistic skills with quill and paint.”
Ghost Dances- rites that grew from a vision of a Paiute messiah named Wovoka. The dances, would bring
back Native American lands and make the whites disappear. They dreamed that the earth would grow
new lands, that the buffalo would come back and populate. As this continued, more and more Native
Americans began to join. The army intervened to stop the dancing leading to the deaths of 200 men ,
women and children in the snow. This was known as the Wounded Knee Massacre.
Reformers began to work with the Native Americans, adjusting their thoughts, their culture and teaching
them white culture. Some were sent to school, they learned how to fix machines and farm.
Dawes Severalty Act- 1887 Congress passed this act so that each Native American would receive land.
Each family head would receive 160 acres of land, single adults 80 acres and children 40 acres.
The killing of the buffalos began in the 1860s, when whites discovered that the buffalo was the Native
Americans only valuable resource. As the railroad began to form to move toward the West, the buffalo
were in the way. “Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone”, this action in killing the buffalo benefited the
whites by making a path for the train, but also to get rid of the Indians once and for all.
Men and Women on the Overland Trail: It started in the Gold Rush of 1849.
People migrated along the west for many reasons: to get away from the city, adventure, avoid persecution,
etc.
500,000 made their journey over the Overland Trail, a network of trails leading west.
The Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres of land to whoever would pay a $10 registration fee and pledge
to live and cultivate it for 5 years.
The Mining Bonanza was one of the reason why people migrated to the West. One of the many ways to
find gold was called, placer mining- which required a little skill, technology, or capital. You only needed a
shovel, a wash board, and a claim. Mining started to attract people of different ethnicity, Chinese,
Germans, English, Mexicans, etc. Due to this, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which
suspended immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The Chinese population in America after this Act,
decreased drastically.
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Document Summary
By the 1890s the plains where the roaming buffalo were, were replaced with cities and buildings. When the whites wanted to expand, they didn"t even know or was aware of the native americans existing when almost half of the united states was filled with them. Most tribes were either beaten, or destroyed except for the tribes, apache and navajo were fiercely fought back. The native americans used the buffalo as a source of food, clothing and shelter. Unlike other whites, they used every part of the animal. Women were actually played an important role in political, economic and religious activities. Men would generally hunt, trade, supervised ceremonial activities and cleared ground for planting. Men were respected for hunting and war, women for their artistic skills with quill and paint. Ghost dances- rites that grew from a vision of a paiute messiah named wovoka. The dances, would bring back native american lands and make the whites disappear.
