Let’s think about the West. The American West.
Reconstruction was over by 1877. The United States military pulled the last troops out of the South and essentially abandoned African-Americans to the Jim Crow regimes of the former Confederacy (more on this later). The nation’s attention would now turn to settling the North American continent between California and the Mississippi River. Americans (mostly “white” and African-Americans) and European immigrants poured into the West. They built farms and cities. The federal government protected them and established order with a combination of legislation (such as the Homestead and the Morrill Acts) and military power.
However, the West was still inhabited by large numbers of Native-Americans. From 1877 to 1900, the American military and settlers would subdue these native peoples, killing many as they forced indigenous people onto reservations.
The question for the United States was whether to place them on reservations and allow them some degree of autonomy, or take their land and identity outright. What happened was a bit of both. Without input from Indians themselves, the country decided through reservation policies and the Dawes Act that indigenous peoples would be granted allotments of land and receive some education. Americans touted the Dawes Act as an uplifting humanitarian reform, but it upended Native lifestyles and left Native nations without sovereignty.
This is a difficult and upsetting period of history to consider. How did Americans at that time see these policies as humanitarian and progressive?
Overview lecture, John Green’s crash course: Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24
Links to an external site.
Documents:
- Chief Joseph: http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/17-conquering-the-west/chief-joseph-on-indian-affairs-1877-1879/
- Links to an external site.
- Images of “Manifest Destiny” http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/westward/
- Links to an external site. (there are a variety of sources here to choose from. Browse and select one or two to use)
- Tom Torlino: http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/17-conquering-the-west/tom_torlino_1882_to_1885/
- Links to an external site.
- President Arthur: http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/17-conquering-the-west/chester-a-arthur-on-american-indian-policy-1881/
- Links to an external site.
- Excerpt from An Indigenous Peoples History of the UnitedStates, pp. 185-191 https://nycstandswithstandingrock.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/dunbar-ortiz-great-sioux-nation.pdf
- Links to an external site.
Analyze the numbered documents (1-5) according to the example of an evaluation provided.
Follow the example of an evaluation posted in Canvas and refer to the checklist of the requirements as you write up your evaluation. There is no specific word count, rather, focus on analyzing each source and questions with specific details and facts according to the directions.
As you begin this assignment, you should consider time management. Pace your work out over the module period and follow a schedule you set for yourself. For example:
1. Read the assigned textbook section or other materials for context and take notes. Taking notes will help you write up your final draft.
2. Review each source assigned and take notes (like brief summaries of each to help you organize your thoughts).
3. Think about the question(s) to answer and research/review the assigned source materials for evidence.
