Legal Land Theft
Pacific Railroad Act of 1862
The U.S. government gives private American companies ~200 million acres of Indigenous land to build the railroad. (Breaks multiple treaties the U.S. government had made with Indigenous nations)
The type of group Texas Rangers were initially
Vigilantes, not yet recognized as official law enforcement
Myth of "Disappearing" Indians
1990: Most surviving Indigenous groups are confined to reservations/their children are in boarding schools
Non-native Americans come to think that Native peoples and their culture are disappearing
"Significance of the Frontier in American History"
An essay by the American historian, Frederick Jackson Turner that defined for many Americans the relationship between the frontier and American culture.
Key points of the Homestead Act of 1862
1. Allowed male U.S. citizens to claim lands called home by American Indians
2. Gave them 160 acres and five years to cultivate the land
Jack C. Hays
There is a statue of this well-known figure in the square. He became the captain of the Texas Rangers at age 23 in 1840.
American Indian Boarding Schools
This was part of a new "peace policy" to address the “Indian problem," and the main goal was assimilation. Children were kidnapped or forced to go to these schools and unlearn their heritage/culture.
The frontier is where the American identity was formed
Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act of 1862
Transfers large tracts of Indigenous lands to states to establish land grant universities
The two main goals of the Texas Rangers pre-1865
1. Target Indigenous communities and facilitate their removal from Texas
2. Hunt down runaway slaves as they fled to Mexico, where slavery was abolished
While the Chief of the Cheyenne community is away to start peace talks with the U.S., 700 U.S. soldiers move into the community, and 200 men/women/children are killed.
Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
Democracy
American democracy comes from the frontier and everything involved in acquiring it
This Act: Destroyed the foundation of Indigenous society, allotted each Indigenous family 160 acres of their own land; unclaimed lands were taken into federal control/opened to American settlers
Dawes Act of 1887
1874
Texas Rangers are officially recognized as law enforcement.
Quote from Captain Henry Richard Pratt, key architect of Indian boarding schools.
"Kill the Indian, save the man."
What is the Ghost Dance Prophecy, and what was the dance supposed to do?
Performing the sacred Ghost Dance will: restore the indigenous world before colonialism, droughts will go away, buffalo will come back, and white men will go away.