Whose West
Lived in the West for thousands of years
Native Americans
This animal provided food, clothing, shelter materials, tools, and more for many Plains peoples.
Buffalo
A formal agreement between governments or nations is called this.
treaty
This U.S. officer was killed along with more than 200 men under his immediate command at Little Bighorn.
George Custer
The process of pressuring one group to adopt another group's culture is called this.
assimilation
Americans who moved west with promise of free land
Homesteaders
This transportation technology brought settlers, hunters, businesses, and soldiers deeper into the West.
Railroad
The United States repeatedly signed these agreements with Native nations and then failed to protect the land they recognized.
treaties
These two famous Native leaders were associated with resistance to U.S. control of the northern Plains.
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
This 1887 law divided tribal lands into individual allotments.
The Dawes Act BONUS BONUS BONUS
This industry needed land to connect their tracks
Railroads
The near-destruction of buffalo herds weakened Native resistance because it damaged this foundation of Plains life.
economy/food supply/way of life
The discovery of this resource caused Americans to enter the treaty-protected Black Hills.
Gold
Native forces won a dramatic victory at this 1876 battle.
Little Bighorn
Native children were sent to these institutions, where many were discouraged or punished for using their languages and traditions.
Boarding schools
Freedom and land were enticing to these former Southerners
Former slaves
Discoveries of these two valuable minerals repeatedly brought large numbers of miners onto western lands.
Gold and silver
When settlers or miners entered protected Native land, the federal government often pressured this group to surrender more territory instead of removing the newcomers.
natives
This spiritual movement offered hope to Native communities but frightened American officials who feared an uprising.
Ghost dance
By dividing tribal land into individual parcels, the Dawes Act weakened this traditional form of landholding.
Tribal ownership
The central issue which made Tuesdays discussion so difficult
competing claims
Explain why a railroad could represent progress and destruction at the same time.
It created transportation/economic opportunity while bringing settlement and disruption into Native territory.
This recurring sequence describes much of western expansion: treaty → American settlement → pressure → new demands → resistance → ________.
Violence\military force
Explain the apparent contradiction: Native forces won at Little Bighorn but still lost the larger struggle.
US had more resources to lose a battle and not risk losing
Laws, schools, land policy, and economic dependence demonstrate this larger lesson about conquest.
You can conquer without force