Sovereignty or Dependency?   American Indian Nations and their

Relationship with the Federal Government, 1776 - 1900

 

A Lesson Plan for Eighth Grade Teachers.

 

Design.

This interdisciplinary lesson plan is designed to fit within a historical, social, geographical, political, and economic discussion about building the new nation and westward expansion during the Nineteenth Century. Its optimal length is approximately 16 hours, but it can be shortened or lengthened according to teacher need and student interest. The lesson is divided into three parts:

• Part I: The Lives of American Indians is a one-to-two day unit which creates a reference point for the students by discussing the lives of American Indians prior to European contact as wella as during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
• Part II: Federal Indian Policy during the Nineteenth Century, is a five-to-eight day unit which examines federal Indian policies created during the era of manifest destiny. At least two of these days will focus on a case study of President Jackson's removal policy and its consequences for several Indian tribes.
• Part III: Indian Boarding Schools, is a two-to-three-day unit which provides students with an understanding of the federal government's policy that placed Indian children in boarding schools in order to assimilate them into Euro-American society.

Standards Addressed in the Lesson.

This lesson plan was created in accordance with the California History-Social Science Standards. Accordingly, the following nine components are addressed in the entire lesson plan.

 

8.1.2. "Students understand the major events preceding the founding of the nation and relate their significance to the development of American constitutional democracy, in terms of...the philosophy of government expressed in the Declaration of Independence with an emphasis on government as a means of securing individual rights (e.g., key phrases such as "...all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights)..."

• Part I of the lesson plan discusses the political, social, economic, and spiritual lives of hundreds of American Indian Nations that existed in North America prior to European colonization.
  Part II of the lesson plan demonstrates how the words of the Declaration of Independence were not applied to American Indians.

8.2.2. "Students analyze...the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution and the success of each in implementing the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

• Part II introduces the concept of Congressional plenary power as applied to American Indians.

8.2.7. "Students analyze...the principles of federalism, dual sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances... ."

• Part II discusses the concept of three primary and sovereign levels of government as created in the Constitution - Federal, State, and Tribal.

8.5.3. "Students analyze US foreign policy in the early Republic in terms of...the major treaties with Indian nations during the administrations of the first four presidents and their varying outcomes..."

• Part II discusses treaty making as legal, government-to-government agreements between two legitimate governments - the United States of America and an Indian Nation.
• Part II discusses the consequences of such treaties upon American Indian Peoples throughout the 19th Century.

 

8.6.3. "Students analyze...the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the US and growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities."

• Part II discusses the various relocations of American Indians due to western immigration.

8.6.5. "Students analyze...the development of American public education from its earliest roots..."

• Part III addresses the history of the colonial and federal government's attempts to educate American Indians.
• Part III addresses the federal government's attempt to assimilate American Indians through missions and boarding schools.

8.8.1. "Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800's and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the West, in terms of...the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828, the importance of Jacksonian democracy and his actions as president."

• Part II discusses Andrew Jackson's role and involvement in the Removal Act of 1830.

8.8.2. "Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800's and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the West, in terms of...the purpose, challenges and economic incentives associated with westward expansion including the concept of Manifest Destiny (e.g....accounts of the removal of Indians and the Cherokees' Trail of Tears)..."

• Part II discusses how Manifest Destiny dramatically influenced the lives of all American Indian Peoples.
• Part II discusses the Removal Act of 1830 and the Trail of Tears.

8.12.2. "Students analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in the United States in response to the Industrial Revolution, in terms of...the reasons for the development of federal Indian policy and the Plains wars with the American Indians and their relationship to agricultural development and industrialization..."

Part II discusses 19th Century federal Indian policies.

 

Teaching Tools

 

• Appendix A. A series of maps and illustrations that can be reproduced for classroom use, including on the overhead projector.
• Appendix B. A seies of contextual overheads that can be reproduced for the overhead projector.
• Appendix C. A list of vocabulary words and related terminology that teachers can use throughout the lesson. Definitions are included for all of the words and terms.
• Appendix D. Suggested assignments for use in the lesson plan.
• Appendix E. A final assessment option for the lesson plan.

Lesson Goals

• To acquaint students with the technological, political, and economic sophistication of American Indians before the Constitution was signed and with Indian lifestyles in the Nineteenth Century.

   

  To introduce students to Federal Indian policies passed and administered by the US. government during the Nineteenth Century.

   

  To help students understand that the ìWestward Movementî had different meaning for European Americans who were colonizing new lands, and for American Indians whose lands were being occupied.

   

  To emphasize several important concepts related to the history of American Indian nations, especially tribal sovereignty, the trust relationship, and government-to-government relations.

 

Lesson Themes

While many issues and themes are discussed in the course of this lesson plan, the following nine themes are the ones that are most heavily emphasized.

1. At the time of European contact in the early 1600s, the North American continent was populated by hundreds of Indian tribes that were culturally, spiritually, and politically diverse. Additionally, the Indian people had achieved a great deal of technological, agricultural, and political sophistication.

    

   Despite Indian diversity and tribal sovereignty, most European settlers had little understanding of the cultural, spiritual, and political beliefs of Indians. Thus, they believed the Indians were"uncivilized heathens" and "savages" who needed to become civilized and Christianized.
2. Each of the tribes were inherently sovereign at the time of European contact. Such sovereignty was reinforced when colonial governments signed government-to-government treaties with various Indian nations. Indian sovereignty was further reinforced when the US government was established, especially through the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution which created two sovereign entities: the federal governments and tribal governments.
3. Treaties were legal, government-to-government agreements between the United States and an Indian nation. When an Indian tribe signed a treaty, it agreed to give the federal government some or all of its land as well as some or all of its sovereign powers. In return, the Indian nation entered into a trust relationship with the federal government in which it promised to provide benefits to the Indians in exchange for their land.
4. After the US government was created, hundreds of treaties were signed and many laws were passed by Congress - all of which gradually eroded Indian sovereignty. By the end of the Nineteenth Century, the remaining Indian Nations had been reduced to a semi-sovereign status.
5. To white settlers, the era of Manifest Destiny and of Westward Expansion represented progress and the extension of their cultural and spiritual values to the American West. But to the American Indians, westward expansion was little more than a genocidal invasion that destroyed their ancestral homelands and eroded their cultural, political, economic, and spiritual traditions.
6. During the era of Manifest Destiny, many federal policies - removal, reservations, allotment, assimilation - combined with westward expansion to further destroy the traditional homelands and lifestyles of the American Indian Peoples. By the turn of the Nineteenth Century, Indians lived on only a fraction of the land that had once been under their stewardship. Furthermore, while an estimated 5-10 million American Indians had lived in North America at the time of European contact, by the turn of the Nineteenth Century, only about 250,000 Indians still remained within the continental borders of the United States.
7. The allotment era brought about a formalized, institutionalized method of Indian education - the Indian boarding school. With the opening of Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879, federal authorities forced Indian parents to either send their children to an off-reservation boarding school such as Carlisle, or to a boarding school established in remote areas of the Indian reservation. Since the primary purpose of the schools was Americanization, Indian children were forbidden to speak their native language, wear traditional clothing, and practice any religious or cultural rituals. For many Indian children, the results were tragic. In shedding their "Indianness," they were neither accepted into American society, nor were they able to comfortably resettle into traditional Indian society.
8. Despite the many attempts to destroy the culture, spirituality, and politics of the American Indian people, many tribes have replenished their populations and many have also been able to maintain and celebrate their traditional lifestyles.

    

Downloading this Lesson Plan.

If you would like a copy of this lesson plan in its entirely, visit the PDF Archives.

 

Before You Begin.

Because students will be working with two types of resources that may be new to them - Internet resources and primary documentation - you may want to provide a brief introduction to each.

 

• Internet Resources. Everyone is excited about the amount of interesting information available on the Internet. But, we all need to understand that all materials found on the Internet are not necessarily accurate or endorsed by educators and other experts. As a general rule, an Internet site that is authentic usually provides the author's name, his or her professional affiliation, and the educational or informational institution with him he or she is affiliated. If students have any question about the accuracy or authenticity of the information on a cite, they should ask the teacher for assistance.

•  

  Primary Resources. Most students usually read from secondary resources - a human-made account such as a document, object, or oral record that was produced by people who were not present at or did not participate in an event. This means that someone studied about the event by reading a great deal of information, talking with people, and maybe even studying various objects, photographs, etc. Primary resources are also human-made accounts, but they are produced by people who were actually present at or actually participated in an event.

 

Discussion

Do you think that primary resources are more truthful or accurate than secondary resources? Why or why not? It is important to note that primary sources are not always truthful. Think about the things that you write - to yourself, to friends, to family. Are they always accurate and truthful? What would happen if one of your ancestors were to read your letters 100 years from now? Would that give them a really truthful and accurate understanding of who you were?

 

An Assignment to Consider.

The California Heritage Collection at the Bancroft Library has created a really useful lesson designed for K-12 teachers on using primary resources. This three part lesson introduces the idea of primary sources with a group discussion and activity; offers suggestions on where primary resources can be found and provides a plan for creating a personal archive; and disscusses how primary sources can be assessed. The entire lesson plan is accessible through the Internet at: http://sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/CalHeritage/k12/primary_lesson.htm#what.

 

Part I: The Lives of American Indians

 

Introduction

Today we are going to begin learning about the relationship between the leaders of the new government of the United States and America and the people of the many American Indian nations. But before we can learn about the actions of these governmental leaders, we need to learn something about the geography of the land that we now call the United States of America, as well as the people who were here prior to European contact.

 

Geography.

When the US was born, it consisted of 13 states. The rest of the United States was owned by the French, the Spanish, and the American Indians. [MAP #1 - THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT, 1779]

 

1. Between 1776 and 1853 - just 77 years - all of that land came under control of the United States government.
2. An important part of our study about American Indians is just how the original inhabitants of North America lost almost all of their land during this period.
   1. As you can see on this map [MAP #2 - CULTURAL AREAS OF NATIVE AMERICANS], before the English colonists arrived in the early 1600s, all of the North American continent was under the control of the many Indian tribes.
   2. By the end of the nineteenth century, almost all that land had come under the control of non-Indian peoples.

   Before we can learn the governmental policies that took this land from the Indians, we need to learn a little more about who they were and how they lived when the United States was born.

 

The American Indians Prior to European Contact

1. Let's take a brief moment to think about our own beliefs and attitudes about American Indians. [ASSIGNMENT #1: AMERICAN INDIANS]. When the assignment is completed and turned in, a discussion should follow.
   1. Discussion: What is stereotyping? Stereotyping occurs when an entire group of people is characterized by mistaken ideas of how they behave, live, dress, or think.
   2. What types of stereotypes do you think that non-Indians have about Indian people? Share the thoughts from student assignments
   3. What is harmful about such stereotyping? Stereotyping degrades Indian people and their cultures and it distorts the reality of Indian people for non-Indian people. It is dehumanizing.
   4. Now, keep in mind what we have discussed about stereotypes while we learn more about American Indians prior to European contact.
   When the US Constitution was signed, hundreds of Indian Nations existed in North America - nations that had been thriving for thousands of years. Indian Peoples spoke hundreds different languages, practiced many different spiritual beliefs, and experienced a wide variety of different political, cultural, and economic lifestyles. Indeed, the Indians of North America were diverse peoples.
   1. Discuss the word "diversity." What does it mean in general? What is cultural diversity? Spiritual diversity? Political? Economic?
   2. Discuss the concept that from the time of European contact forward, North America became even more diverse, especially in terms of race.
      Racial diversity arrived early to North America. Indeed, as early as 1619 when the first Africans arrived, the continent became the home to at least three races of people - Anglo Europeans, black Africans, and American Indians.
   3. Ask students if they think there is much diversity among themselves? Ask them to relate some information about their ancestry and emphasize how truly diverse they are - even though they may not appear to be physically diverse.
   Not only were the Indian peoples of North America quite diverse, they were also politically sovereign. Does anyone know what sovereignty is? [OVERHEAD - AMERICAN INDIAN SOVEREIGNTY]
2. But many Americans, instead of recognizing either the sovereignty or diversity of American Indians, instead referred to Indians as "savages" or "noble savages." Let's examine what these words mean. [OVERHEAD - "SAVAGE"]

3. Despite the belief of many Americans that Indians were uncivilized savages, the truth was that prior to European contact most Indian Nations had achieved a great deal of technological, agricultural, and political sophistication. To get a better understanding of such sophistication, let's take a very brief look at a few of the ancient societies: the West Coast Peoples, the first buffalo hunters of the Plains, the farmers of the Southwest, farmers and moundbuilders of the Eastern Woodlands, town and city dwellers, and tribal confederacies.

West Coast Indian Peoples.

1. The coastal regions of California supported a population of about 300,000 Indians who were hunter-gatherers and who lived in permanent communities. While the Indians cultivated only one crop -- tobacco -- they also harvested an abundant variety of natural foods.
   1. Women gathered acorns and ground them into meal.
   2. Men fished the ocean shores and rivers, as well as hunted deer and smaller mammals.
   3. The Chumash Indians of the Santa Barbara region lived from the abundance in the ocean and on land by following an annual cycle of subsistance. They harvested and stored marine mammals, fish, shellfish, acorns, pine nuts, and other wild plants.
   The northwest Pacific Indians were seagoing peoples who have harvested rich marine resources for at least 5,000 years. Men fished with harpoons and nets from canoes, and villages accumulated reserves of dried fish and sea-mammal meat.

The first Buffalo Hunters of the Plain

The stereotypical picture of Indians wearing feathered headdresses and hunting buffalo from horseback did not become typical of the Great Plains Nations until the 18th and 19th centuries. Horses didn’t arrive until the mid-16th Century with the Spanish.

1. Thousands of years ago, Indian Peoples hunted on foot on the Great Plains for big game - bison, mastodons, buffalo, and wooly mammoths. Over time, they created increasingly lethal projectiles - spears that could inflict mortal wounds on animals as large as African elephants. Bows and arrows were in use throughout the Plains by A.D. 1000.
2. As they developed more effective ways to hunt large game, they also used communal hunting techniques that required great degrees of social organization.

The First Farmers of the Southwest

The ancient inhabitants of the southwestern US developed agriculturally-based societies about 3,000 years ago.

1. About 2,000 years ago, the Mogollon people in the highlands of the Arizona-New Mexico border grew corn and squash. They first lived in pit houses, and then later built multi-apartment structures above ground.
2. Southwestern peoples began making clay pots around A.D. 200 and pottery was widespread by 500.

3. The Hohokam people who lived in the Sonoran Desert and are ancestors of the Pimas and Papagos, built sophisticated irrigation systems.

Farmers and Mound Builders of the Eastern Woodlands

1. About 4,000 years ago, Indian women in the floodplains region began domesticating indigenous seed plants such as sunflowers, squash, and marsh elder. Some Indians in Illinois were crossbreeding wild grasses and created corn about 7,000 years ago. Indian farmers for thousands of years have selected the seeds of plans that did best in their environments and developed new strains for particular soils, climates, and growing seasons.
2. In the Eastern Woodlands, over a period of about 4,000 years, Indian peoples constructed tens of thousands of earthern mounds.
   1. The Adena people of the Ohio River Valley built mounds to honor their dead over 2,000 years ago. The Hopewellian culture that emerged from the Adena about the first century built more elaborate burial mounds and earthern architecture.
   2. The culture spread through extensive exchange networks, and they obtained valuable raw materials from vast distances - grizzley bear teeth from the Rocky Mountains; obsidian volcanic stone for spear points and blades from Yellowstone; silver from Ontario; copper from the Great Lakes; mica and copper from the Appalachians; quartz from Arkansas; pottery, marine shells, turtle shells, shark, and alligator teeth from the Gulf of Mexico.
   3. The Hopewellian culture began a decline about 300 A.D. an seems to have disappeared around 550.
3. Around 700, Mississippian cultures arose that began in the lower Mississippi River Valley and spread north to the Great Lakes and east to Florida and the Carolinas. They were stable, agriculturally-based settlements close to floodplains with large populations and complex ceremonial and political structures.

Town and City Dwellers

Indian towns and cities were never haphazardly constructed. They were carefully planned to meet the social, political, economic, and ceremonial needs of their people.

 

1. Cohokia was a thriving urban market center that was established about 700 A.D. and covered 2,000 acres. Close to the confluence of the Missouri, Mississsippi, and Illinois rivers, it flourished for about 700 years with its population ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 at its height - about equal to the population of medieval London. It was the largest settlement north of the Rio Grande before the end of the 18th Century when it was surpassed by New York and Philadelphia (its population was only 23,000 as late as 1763). We'll learn more about Cahokia later in our class.
2. Pueblo Bonito (Beautiful Town) was the largest of the towns built in Chaco Canyon and was home to about 1,200 people between 919 and 1085. It was a planned, multi-storied community of between 650-800 rooms laid out as a giant D-shaped amphitheater around a central plaza covering three acres. The wall were constructed of stones and filled with rubble; thousands of wooden roof beams were made from logs carried from almost 50 miles away.
3. Mesa Verde in southeastern Colorado had people living in many small villages on top of the mesa as early as A.D. 700. By 1150, most of the inhabitants were living in large cliff houses constructed within the huge caves in the canyon alls, which provided ssecurity against attack. As many as 7,000 people may have lived in the area. Cliff Palace was the largest cliff dwelling in the area with 200 rooms and 20 kivas.

 

 

Tribal Confederacies

Some nations worked together to form alliances prior to European contact. The most well-known is the Iroquis confederacy.

 

1. No one knows exactly when the confederacy or league was formed, but a committee of Six Nations chiefs in 1900 estimated that to occurred around 1390. Some Iroquis assert that it was earlier, while some archeologists claim it was not formed until 1450. Regardless, it was in existance prior to European contact. Before its formation, tradition claims that the people lived in a constant state of warfare. One Onondaga chief known as Hayenwatha or Hiawatha, lost three daughters. While mourning his loss and preparing to assuage his grief by taking the life of an enemy, Hayenwatha decided to break the cycle of violence and vengeance and thus composed the laws of a great peace that would restore order and perserve harmony in Iroquois country.

2. Five nations accepted the teaching of peace - the Onondaga, Mohawks, Cayugas, Senecas, and Oneidas. In 1722, the Tuscaroras joined the league so that they became known as the League of Six Nations. They agreed to stop fighting among themselves and unite in common defense.
   1. The individual tribes retained control of their own affairs at the local level, but acted through the Grand Council in matters of common concern.
   2. Fifty council chiefs or sachems were selected by clan mothers from the member tribes. The names of the original chiefs passed as titled from generation to generation.

   3. Matters were discussed back and forth between the five tribes until concensus was reached or the subject was dropped. The sachems possessed no power of coercion: the chiefs had to be “of one mind.” People who could not abide by general concensus were free to go their own way as long as their actions did not threaten the league as a whole.
3. The Great Law of the League was preserved for generations through oral tradition and was not written down until 1851. However, it was well known among Indian peoples, as well as among Euro-Americans.
   1. Some believe the Great Law served as a model for the US Constitution. Benjamin Franklin did ask, if the Six Nations could create “such a Union,” why couldn’t the colonies do likewise.
   2. Whether it was used as a model is not known for certain. But in 1987, the US Senate passed a resolution acknowledging “the historial debt” which the US owed to the Iroquois “for their demonstration of enlightened, democratic principles of government and their example of a free association of independent Indian nations.” (Calloway, 47.)

Discussion

 

1. What commonalities do we see in these various Indian nations prior to European contact? A great deal of political, social, economic, and spiritual sophistication. Rather than the Indian Peoples being uncivilized savages, it is clear that they were quite civilized.
2. What does it mean when a society is civilized?

3. What specific words describe the lives of Indian peoples prior to European contact? How do these words contrast with those that are usually used in history books?
4. Why is it that for almost 400 years, our history lessons on American Indians have portrayed them as savages, heathens, filthy, bloodthirsty? To justify the manner in which Euro-Americans dealt with them - and still deal with them
5. Now that we understand a little about the civilized nature of pre-Contact American Indian Nations, it would be helpful to get a clearer understanding of at least two Indian Nations - the people of Cahokia, a civilization that disappeared before Anglo-Europeans arrived in North America; and the Cherokee Nation.

Case Study - Cahokia

1. Over 1000 years ago, the city of Cahokia was located in the 80-mile floodplain where the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers meet. It's exact location is about 8 miles east of present-day St. Louis.
2. Between 800-600 BC, hunters and gatherers set up temporary camps or seasonal villages in the region. Between 600 BC and AD 800, the agricultural settlement of Cahokia gradually came into existence. As more advanced farming methods and diverse crops were grown about one thousand years ago, its population soared to somewhere around 20,000, with a density approaching 4,000 persons per square mile.
   1. Discussion: Can anyone find about where Cahokia would be located on today's map?
   2. Why would people built a large city at this particular location?

   3. If you consider that the population density in Los Angeles, California was about 2,200 people per square mile in the late 1990s, was Cahokia verydensely populated in comparison?
3. Archaeological studies indicate that at the height of its influence, Cahokia was the largest and most important settlement north of Mexico. Cahokian artifacts and pottery found in many regions indicate that merchants traded with cultures extending from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, and from the Atlantic coast to Oklahoma.
   1. About 120 earthen mounds that supported civic buildings and homes of Cahokia's elite were spread over 5 square miles - a building characteristic that have since earned the Cahokians the nick name of the Mound Builders.
   2. Standing at the center of the site is what archaeologists all Monks Mound. Covering 14 acres at its base (making it larger than the largest Egyptian pyramid), it rises in terraces 10 stories to a height of 100 feet and is comprised of 22 million cubic feet of earth. It is the largest prehistoric earthen structure in North America.

   3. It is believed that the people of Cahokia built Monks Mound by carrying baskets of earth weighing about 60 pounds each and representing about 19 million hours of labor.
4. About AD 1150, a wooden stockade was erected around the 40-acre Grand Plaza. Within the plaza lived the elite, while many others lived outside the stockade. Most dwellings were small, rectangular, one-family, pole-and-thatch buildings with walls covered with mats. Compounds of dwellings were grouped around small courtyards.
   1. Buildings for food preparation and storage, as well as small circular sweat lodges, and community meeting lodges, were found in larger communal plazas.
   2. Excavations of refuse pits indicate Cahokians ate mainly cultivated corn, squash, pumpkin, sunflower, and barley which was supplemented by different wild plants, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
5. Excavation of one of the mounds in 1971 revealed some 280 burials dating between AD 100-1050.
   1. Some of the dead were borne to their graves on litters and wrapped in blankets; others were simply tossed into pits, suggesting that people of different status were buried differently, but at the same sites.
   2. In one burial, a man about 40 years old was laid upon a bird-shaped platform of nearly 20,000 marine-shell beads.

   3. Several mass burials were also uncovered, most of females between 15 and 25 years of age, suggesting human sacrifice. The largest pit held over 50 women laid out in rows and stacked two and three deep.
6. Around AD 1200, Cahokia began a decline, due most likely to urban stress and over population. It was left empty by 1400.
7. In-Class Computer Lab. To get an artist's rendering of what Cahokia may have looked like during its peak, as well as photos of the remaining mounds located in the lower Mississippi Delta, students may access the National Park Service's web site called "Ancient Architects of the Mississippi." Have students read the first page and then click on and read the following subsections: "Life Along the River," "The Mound Builders," "Traders and Travelers," and "Emerald Mound." Then have them get into groups of four students each and discuss any new facts that they found interesting. Have the class reconvene and discuss what each group found that contributes to their knowledge about the Mound Builders of Cahokia.

Case Study - The Cherokee Nation

Early Life of the Cherokees

1. The Cherokee were a large tribe that lived in northeastern Alabama, eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, and western North and South Carolina. (Show these areas on a large map and also use MAP [#3 - THE CHEROKEE NATION]
2. Cherokee houses were conical-shaped and built along the streams and waterways. Several families lived together in the houses. [OVERHEAD - CHEROKEE HOME]. The Cherokee people were good hunters, fishermen, traders, farmers, statesmen, artists, and medicine people.

3. The Cherokee nation was divided into seven clans or groups of people who consider themselves to be blood relatives. Each clan is named for and associated with an animal or natural phenomenon: The Bird, Paint, Deer, Wolf, Blue, Long Hair, and Wild Potato. [OVERHEAD - CHEROKEE CLANS]
   1. Children automatically belong to the mother's clan.
   2. Each clan member is bound by honor to defend any member of that clan from wrong.
   3. The clans were important in tribal government. Each clan appointed a counselor to represent them in their governing body called the Civil Council. It was the Civil Council that made most decisions for the clan.
4. Each village clan had three major tasks to perform:
   1. assign the property to be used as gardens to households of the clan women;
   2. regulate marriage; and
   3. create and carry out an orderly plan for resolving disputes between villages.
5. When Europeans arrived, the Cherokees had a national government which was divided into three sectors: peace, civil, and war.
   1. There were two elected tribal chiefs: the Peace Chief who conducted council meetings when the tribe was at peace, and the War Chief who was in command during times of war.
   2. Those who were allowed to attend the council meetings were the chief, representatives from each clan, the chief's seven counselors, and sixteen officials (nine men and seven honored women).
   3. The civil sector of the government - which was presided over by the Peace Chief - conducted religious ceremonies, held court, and made laws.

The Adaptation of the Cherokee Nation to American Standards

Shortly after the United States was born, various members of the Cherokee nation realized it was time to make some changes in their lifestyles if they were to survive as a people. To learn more about the resulting transformation, we are going to complete a short assignment. [ASSIGNMENT #3: THE CHEROKEE NATION]

 

Part I Summary

1. At the time of European contact in the early 1600s, the North American continent was populated by hundreds of Indian tribes that were culturally spiritually, and politically diverse. Additionally, the Indian people were quite civilized, even by European terms, and had achieved a great deal of technological, agricultural, and political sophistication.
2. Each of the tribes were inherently sovereign at the time of European contact. Such sovereignty was reinforced when colonial governments signed government-to-government treaties with various Indian nations. Indian sovereignty was further reinforced when the US government was established, especially through the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution which created two sovereign entities: the federal governments and tribal governments.

3. Despite Indian diversity and tribal sovereignty, most European settlers had little understanding of the cultural, spiritual, and political beliefs and sophistication of Indians. Thus, they believed the Indians were "uncivilized heathens" and "savages"who needed to be civilized and Christianized.
4. Although some Indian tribes became culturally, spiritually, and politically assimilated into Nineteenth Century American society, they were never accepted as equals within the Euro-American population.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

For More Information

Teachers may wish to introduce students to some earlier concepts and ideas about American Indians prior to the establishment of the US government. The following are some possibilities for expanding this lesson to incorporate some sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century topics dealing with American Indians.

 

Bafa Bafa

This cross-cultural simulation is terrific and appropriate for grade levels 8-12 as well as adults. It takes between 1-3 hours, depending on the number of students (between 18 and 36 is ideal, but can be played with less or more.) The simulation creates two complex cultures, the Alphas and the Betas and the places the participants in opposite cultures. The visitor is usually lost and uncomfortable in this different setting and wishes to return to the culture where they know the rules. This initial discomfortant often results in intolerance and stereotyping of members of the opposite culture. These feelings emerge during the debriefing whre the participants' reactions and reasons for them can be further explored.

 

The goals are fivefold:

• To examine cultural differences and how these differences can lead to prejudice, misunderstanding, intolerance, and a sense of ethnic superiority.
• To experience the feelings of loneliness, alienation, and lack of confidence often felt when one encounters cultures different from their own.
• To demonstrate the need to avoid being judgmental or critical of other cultures on the basis of minimal information.
• To develop an awareness that fully understanding a culture requires study, experience, and an open mind rather than quick judgments and stereotyping.
• To demonstrate how cultures consist of many subtle dimensions and values that are not readily observable.

 

Bafa Bafa is a copyrighted game. Full instructions and all materials required to operate the game can be obtained from Simile II, Box 910, Del Mar, California, 92014. Cost is $35 and the kit includes a cassette recording of the Beta culture rules and one of the Alpha culture rules, Alpha chips, Beta trading cards, director's manuals and Alpha cards.

Discussion about "Indian Origins in North America"

Two major opposing theories exist about when and how the first people originated on the North American continent: a migration theory from the academic community and an indigenous origin theory from American Indian nations.

1. Academic Community. Most archaeologists believe that human beings did not evolve in the Western hemisphere because no fossils of pre-Homo Sapiens have been found on the American continent.
   1. Most archaeologists believe that somewhere between 13,000 and 40,000 years ago, people first came to the Americas via the Bering Strait.
   2. The Bering Strait theory suggests that a landmass once bridged the body of water between Siberia and Alaska - now known as the Bering Strait - and that the early ancestors of American Indians crossed this land. [MAP #4 - BERING STRAIT LAND BRIDGE]

   3. Several scientific challenges to this theory have recently emerged. In 1998, a woman's thigh bones found on California's Channel Islands suggest that the first Americans may have come by sea rather than the Bering Strait.
2. American Indian Nations. Many nations have histories and creation stories that illustrate they have been in the Americas "since the first day of light," and that they were created in the Americas by their Creator. They question the validity of the Bering Strait migration theory.

Comparisons of European and Traditional Indian Cultural Value Systems

When Europeans arrived in North America, it was clear that their cultural values varied greatly from those of the indigenous Indians. This chart explains some of those differences. [OVERHEAD - COMPARISON OF CULTURAL VALUE SYSTEMS]

 

Part II: Federal Indian Policy during the Nineteenth Century

 

Introduction

 

In our earlier discussion, we learned some things about the American Indian peoples who lived in the United States before the Constitution was signed. We also learned a great deal about the Cherokee people and how they lived in the early Nineteenth Century. Today we are going to begin talking about how the Cherokees and other Indian tribes lost their land in the Nineteenth Century. The process by which they lost their land is known as dispossession.

Discuss: What does the word "dispossession" mean? Dispossession occurs when a person or group of people are deprived of their home, possessions, and security. The American Indians were dispossessed of their land, homes, possessions, and security during a time in US history that has become known as Manifest Destiny.

 

Manifest Destiny.

 

When the nineteenth century opened, the vast majority of Americans saw the unexplored North American continent as a place that was destined for American settlement.

1. The term manifest destiny was coined in 1845. [OVERHEAD - MANIFEST DESTINY and discussion questions].
   1. The phrase simply gave formal wording to the belief that Americans had a God-given right to expand their political, social, and economic system across the North American continent.
   2. But there was one problem with this belief - the portion of the North American continent that had not been explored by Euro-Americans was not empty. Hundreds of American Indian tribes lived on the land and had explored the land that Americans felt was destined for their settlement.

2. Clearly, conflict would arise as Americans moved westward into land that had been occupied by native peoples for thousands of years.
   1. To deal with this conflict, the federal government passed a series of laws that dictated how it would deal with these "troublesome" Indians.
   2. Before we study these laws, it is important to keep a few things in mind.
      1. The laws were designed to help white Americans move and settle into Western lands - lands that were the ancestral homes of Indians.
      2. Thus, to the white settlers, the era of Manifest Destiny and of Westward Expansion represented progress and the extension of their cultural and spiritual values to the American West. But to the American Indians, westward expansion was little more than an invasion of their homelands.

Federal laws dealing with the American Indians

1. After the Americans won their independence from England, they began to think about how they would handle all the land that belonged to the American Indians.
   1. Americans immediately claimed ownership of all Indian lands west of the Appalachians by right of conquest over Britain.
      1. Discuss right of conquest - the belief that when a Christian people found land settled by a non-Christian people, they had the God-given right to conquer the land and convert the people. If the people resisted, then the Christian conquerors also had the God-given right to eliminate the "heathen" resistors.

      2. Ask a student to show the class where the Appalachians are on a large map.
   2. But the Indians refused to honor the American claim to their land for two reasons:
      1. they had not signed the peace treaty between the US and Britain; and
      2. they had never been conquered by either the US or Britain.
   The Constitution was clear about who had responsibility for dealing with the Indians and for handling Indian land. Under the Commerce Clause, only the federal government - not the state governments - had the right to deal with Indian tribes. Indeed, the Commerce Clasue made it clear that three primary and sovereign levels of government existed - Federal, State, and Tribal.
   1. Ask why the federal government would have to protect the tribes from the states. Because the states were in competition with the Indian tribes for their land and resources.
   2. Ask if anyone can remind the class about what sovereignthy is.
   Because Indian nations were considered to be sovereign by the new American government, the US faced something that became known as the "Indian problem." While European Americans wanted to spread their influence over all the land to the Pacific Ocean, it was clear that the hundreds of sovereign Indian nations were not going to willingly or voluntarily give up their land.
2. Consequently, the new United States government took three avenues that changed the nature of Indian sovereignty and consequently eroded their powers as sovereign peoples. [OVERHEADS -ERODING INDIAN SOVEREIGNTY and THE MARSHALL TRILOGY] The tools used to erode Indian sovereignty included 371 treaties signed by the U.S. government and various Indian nations, and a series of Congressional laws. As we study these treaties and laws, it is important to note that each had two important goals:
   1. To eliminate the Indian "threat" to "peaceful" westward expansion of white settlers.
   2. To destroy Indian cultural, religious, and political traditions by assimilating Indians into American life.

And remember, while American politicians enacted these treaties and made these laws, no effort was ever made to give the Indians a choice. Now, let's look at the types of federal policies enacted during the nineteenth century. [OVERHEAD - FEDERAL POLICIES.]

Treaty Making

 

Treaties were legal, government-to-government agreements between two legitimate governments - the United States and an Indian nation.

 

1. When an Indian tribe signed a treaty, it agreed to give the federal government some or all of its land as well as some or all of its sovereign powers.
   1. In return, when an Indian nation gave up land through a treaty, it entered into a trust relationship with the federal government in which the government promised to provide benefits and rights to the American Indian peoples in exchange for their land
   2. Thereafter, Indians had a kind of limited sovereignty that was to be governed by paternalistic trust. They would have to trust the US government to do what was best for them in some areas.
   3. The first treaty that was signed by the US government was with the Delawares in 1778 during the Revolutionary War. The revolutionary government promised that if the Delawares helped their fight against the British, they would be given statehood in the future.
   4. Between 1778 and 1868 - 90 years - 371 treaties were signed. These treaties focused primarily on the way the US government would handle Indian land and the resources on those lands. In 1871, Congress formally ended the government to government treaty-making power. Within a decade, Congress began to pass laws that decided how the federal government could control and govern the remaining Indians.

A Case Study - Treaty Making and the Makah Nation.

1. In 1788, the ancient Makah people who lived in northwest Washington state on about 700,000 acres experienced their first contact with Europeans. The Spainish arrived, subsequently built a fort at Neah Bay, and four years later, claimed the Makah land for Spain. Shortly thereafter, the Makah drove them out.
   1. Locate Neah Bay on a map of the Pacific Northwest. Discuss what life would be like living in this particular location.
   2. In-Class Assignment in Computer Lab. Have students find the map located at one of the Makah sites (http://www.northolympic.com/makah/map.html.) Once they locate the map, have them explore other pieces of this web site to get a good idea of what the reservation is like today.
2. The Makah were again influenced by European settlers when in 1855, the US signed a treaty with the Makahs promising to secure their right to engage in whaling. (This is the only treaty ever made by the US with this specific guarantee). Thus, the trust responsibility was set into motion.
   1. The Makah agreed to give up some of their land which was eventually whittled down to the present 28,000 acres.
   2. In return, the U.S. government promised the Makah that their right to whale was guaranteed forever.
   Whaling continued to be the center of Makah life until the 1920s when an international ban on whaling was set due to the possible extinction of the gray whale. Slowly, the Makah lost many of the traditions and cultural rituals that had sustained them for thousands of years.
3. In 1970, the tribe experienced a rebirth and revitalization of their culture after a particularly aggressive storm hit the west coast. Consequently, an entire village was unearthed at nearby Ozette. Archaeologists and tribal elders worked for years to identify thousands of artifacts and to bring new life to the Makah people. One of the major findings was the deep-rooted link to whaling which many experts judge to have been a Makah tradition for over 2000 years.
   1. Video: A Gift from the Past. This 90 minute video tells the story of the Ozette exacavation through the words of the Makah themselves. It is fascinating in that it recreates life in Ozette as it possibly occurred over 500 years ago, as well as provide spectacular photos of the archaeological effects found at the site. (Distributed by Media Resource Associates, Inc. in Washington, D.C. (800) 775-FILM.)
   2. When it became apparent in the late 1990s that the gray whale had made an astonishing comeback, the Makah petitioned the International Whaling Commission, asking to resume their practice of whaling.Their rationale for resumption was based upon four factors:
      1. the U.S government was bound to honor its treaty obligations and trust responsibility;
      2. the Makah Nation was inherently sovereign and had the right to resume whaling if it so decided; ,
      3. health problems could be decreased - problems that had resulted with the loss of their traditional diet of whale meat; and
      4. young tribe's young people would regain the discipline and pride in their culture that the whaling tradition had historically provided.
      In 1997, the Commission gave the Makah permission to hunt up to five whales per year, beginning in November 1998. The Commission also imposed a series of stipulations:
      1. The hunts may not be commercial, but rather must be a spiritual and cultural journey for participants.
      2. All of the meat may only be consumed by tribal members.
      3. All bone fragments must be catalogued and distributed to tribal artists to rejuvenate the old custom of whalebone carving.
      4. A pool of hunters would be selected from the 23 Makah families who were originally the tribal whale hunters.
      5. 
         Discussion: Why is the whaling issue related to the question of tribal sovereigny? Whaling for the Makah is a perfect example of an Indian Nation that is currently struggling with the issue of tribal sovereignty. The Makah argue that if they were truly sovereign, they would be able to hunt whales according to tribal traditions and without permission from either the International Whaling Commission or the US government. In reality, as we already have discussed, all American Indian Nations are semi-sovereign at best. Do you think you can explain why they are only semi-sovereign?
         
4. In turn, the tribe established the Makah Whaling Commission to help determine the ceremonial requirements for the hunts.
5. The first hunt was conducted in May 1999 and resulted in a single whale catch. For the Makah, the catch was a victory. The resumption of whaling would not only allow them to reinvigorate cultural and spiritual traditions, but it signaled a commitment on behalf of the U.S. government to honor its treaty obligation of over 140 years ago.
   
   1. Discussion: Although the Makah saw the Whaling Commission's decision as a victory, what groups may not agree? Why?Environmental groups felt the decision was not only dangerous for its ultimate effect upon whales and the environment, but also questioned why Indian people, long known as stewards of the environment, would want to resort to killing the whale.
   2. Ask them how they feel about this issue. Would they feel any differently if they lived in Washington State? It has been an extraordinarily contention issue there.
   3. In-Class Computer Lab Assignments: To find out more about how the Makah conduct their hunt in the Makah tradition, students can consult the Makah web page at http://www.makah.com/whales.htm. For general, up-to-date information on the Makah and whaling, consult http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/7431/whaling.htm. For information on the controversy within the environmental community about the resumption of the Makah whaling tradition, see http://www.safepassing.org/

Policies and Laws - Removal

 

In the 1820s, about 80,000 citizens of the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations lived on land that was rich with gold and agricultural resources. Many non-Indians felt such land could be more profitably farmed and settled by white men. But because all five nations had signed treaties with the federal government guaranteeing the right to maintain their sovereign systems of tribal government on their ancestral lands, these lands were not readily available.

1. Consequently, President Jackson felt a new federal policy was needed to force the Indians from valuable land coveted by non-Indians.
2. President Jackson supported the Removal Act of 1830 which gave him the right to make land "exchanges" to move the four nations from their ancestral lands.
   1. The President rationalized the forced removal of the tribes by telling the Indians that they were not losing any land, but rather, they were exchanging their old land for new land.
   2. This new land was in a place called Indian Territory, an area reserved for Indians which now comprises the state of Oklahoma.
   3. Some of the northeastern tribes had already been involved in the removal process. [MAP #5 - DISLOCATION OF THE DELAWARE NATION]. For instance, the Delaware Indians were first removed from their home in Delaware in 1700. Between 1700 and 1867, they were removed six more times before being settled in Indian Territory.
   4. More than 30 tribes were removed to Indian Territory during the 19th Century. [MAP #6 - TRIBAL RELOCATION TO INDIAN TERRITORY].
   5. President Jackson rationalized the removal program in his address to Congress of December 1833. [OVERHEAD - JACKSON QUOTE with questions]
   6. While similar thoughts about removal continued to be echoed throughout the United States for the remainder of the Nineteenth Century, there were some dissenting voices.
      
      1. Let's take a look at two different viewpoints that were expressed in California in 1852. [OVERHEAD - CONTRASTING THOUGHTS ON INDIANS IN CALIFORNIA, 1852]
      2. Indeed, throughout the nation there were pockets of individuals and groups who argued against forced removal and relocation onto reservations. However, they were not numerous enough nor were their voices strong enough to influence public policy.
   Unfortunately for non-Indians, few Indian nations willingly wished to disappear or to be removed from their ancestral homes to Indian territory.
   1. To enforce the new law, President Jackson sent the US Army to begin forced removal. For the next 60 years, dozens of Indian tribes were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands to new "homes" assigned to them by the US government.
   2. In all cases, removal involved walks of over hundreds of miles under the supervision of the US Army. The most well known of these was the Trail of Tears undertaken by the Cherokee Nation.
      

Case Study - Removal and the Cherokee Nation

Remember what you learned about the Cherokee Nation prior to removal - they had successfully adapted the white man's agricultural system, religion, and dress, and were largely literate in their own language.

1. However, by the 1830s, their lands were coveted by those searching for gold and by those who wanted more land to plant cotton. To the American people and the American government, the only answer was to remove the Cherokee from their lands.
2. The Cherokee, however, did not want to leave their ancestral homes. They reminded President Jackson and Congress that they had made earlier treaties with the US government that had promised them their land in perpetuity.
3. This conflict between the Cherokee and the US government led to the Trail of Tears. To better understand what happened, we are going to examine three different dimensions of the Trail of Tears.
   1. the geographical dimension;
   2. the political dimension; and
   3. the human experience.
   The Geographical Dimension. [ASSIGNMENT #3 - MAPPING THE TRAIL OF TEARS]. When students are done with this assignment, use the following overhead for them to compare their map with the actual map. [MAP #7 - THE TRAIL OF TEARS]
4. The Political Dimension. To understand the political issues that led to the Trail of Tears, we are going to watch a video - "The Trail of Tears" which is part of the "How the West Was Lost" series that was created for the Discovery Network in 1993. [ASSIGNMENT #4 - "THE TRAIL OF TEARS"]
5. The human dimension. [ASSIGNMENT #5 - SURVIVING THE TRAIL OF TEARS]

And so almost 100,000 American Indians were forcibly removed from their homes - and at least a fourth of them died during the removal process.

 

1. But removal still did not solve the "Indian problem." As Americans continued to move westward, they came into continuous contact with many other Indian tribes that lived in the West.
2. Many of these frontier settlers not only felt that the Indians prevented them from settling in many desirable areas, but also were uncomfortble living amidst the Indian "danger." Consequently, another new policy was enacted to deal with the Indians. This time, the federal government would confine Indians to a land reserved exclusively for their own use - areas that came to be called reservations.

Policies and Laws - Reservations

 

1. The men who created the reservation system believed that if Indians could be confined to one particular geographical place reserved for them, they could become 'civilized." [MAP #8 - RESERVATIONS, 1890]
2. The purpose of reservations was to assimilate the Indians into American life - to encourage them to stop being Indians and to become like white men. Thus, the reservations were to make sure the remaining tribes were converted to Christianity and "saved"; taught English, sewing, and small-scale farming; and ultimately, Americanized.
   1. When relocated within reservation borders, Indians were not permitted to leave, except by permission. Those who left would be arrested.
   2. All reservations were assigned an Indian Agent - a man who worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and made decisions about the Indians on the reservation.
3. The vast majority of Indians did not readily adjust to the reservations, nor did they become more like the white man. Indeed, most fought to maintain their Indian culture and traditions.
   1. For example, the Otoe Tribe of Nebraska were frustrated and angry about the reservation policy. To learn more about their feelings, we are going to examine an actual conversation between two Indian chiefs from the Otoe tribe, their Indian Agent, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The conversation took place in Washington DC during early November 1873.
   2. [ASSIGNMENT #6 - "WE ARE NOT CHILDREN."]
4. The reservation system flourished for almost two decades before it was clear that all Indians were not going to be confined and that the vast majority were not going to become Americanized. Thus, a new policy was created - allotment.

Policies and Laws - Allotment

 

Many Americans felt that Indians would never become Americanized as long as they lived in large communities in which they celebrated their cultural and spiritual traditions and owned land communally. Further, American policy makers believed that the reservation did not give the Indian an incentive to improve his or her situation. So, the federal government created a new policy designed to destroy the idea of communal land ownership on the reservations and to break up the tribal nature of Indian society. This policy became law under the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887.

 

1. The Act allowed the President to give - or allot - 160 acres of reservation land to individual Indians, each of whom would receive final title to the land and American citizenship after a 25-year period during which he had willingly assumed responsibility for his land. It was believed that this Act would encourage individual Indians and their families to own land, to learn to profitably farm the land, and in so-doing, become Americanized.
2. Any land remaining after allotment would be sold to whites; all proceeds were used to "civilize" Indians on the reservation. [OVERHEAD - INDIAN LAND FOR SALE]
3. The ultimate result of the Dawes Act was more loss of Indian land. Indeed, the final 19th Century dispossession of Indian lands had occurred.
   1. When Europeans had originally landed in North America, the Indians owned and controlled the entire continent. [MAP #9 - INDIAN LAND CESSIONS]
   2. When allotment went into effect, Indians still owned over 138 million acres of land. But when Dawes was repealed 47 years later, 90 million acres had passed from Indian hands into the hands of whites, representing a 60% loss of land.
   3. Ironically, allotment was designed around the notion that ownership of private property would teach the Indian to imitate the white man and finally assimilate into American culture. Instead, it transformed many Indians into landless people who were dependent upon the federal government for basic subsistence.
4. But some American Indians had resisted placement on reservations and had also avoided allotment. It was with this small group of uncooperative Indians that the federal government was concerned about toward the end of the century. For these Indians, yet another policy was enacted - extermination.

Policies and Laws - Extermination

 

The rationale for exterminating Indians grew out of a belief that Indian resistance was the equivalent to a declaration of war against the US.

 

1. Using such a rationale, in the late 1800s the Army declared war upon several tribes, began eliminating resisters, and sought to absolutely subjugate any survivors.
2. 1. Indian wars, however, were not new to the late Nineteenth Century. A review of official military records shows that from 1776 to 1907, the U.S. Army was involved in 1,470 official actions against the Indians. These figures do not include the hundreds, if not thousands of hostile actions undertaken by private armies against American Indians.
   2. The vast majority of military Indian wars occurred between 1866 to 1891 in accordance with the federal government's declaration of war against uncooperative Indians. According to Army records for this 25-year period, it was involved in 1,065 combat engagements with Indians in which 948 soldiers and 4,371 Indians were killed and another 1,058 soldiers and 1,279 Indians were wounded.
3. The war waged against the Oglala Sioux provides a tragic example of the governmental policy of extermination

4. Case Study of the Sioux. [ASSIGNMENT #7: THE SIOUX]

 

Unit II Summary

 

1. After the US government was created, a series of federal laws were passed to help non-Indians move and settle into Western lands - lands that were the ancestral homes of Indians.
2. To white settlers, the era of Manifest Destiny and of Westward Expansion represented progress and the extension of their cultural and spiritual values to the American West. But to the American Indians, westward expansion was little more than an invasion and destruction of their homelands.
3. Treaties were legal, government-to-government agreements between the United States and an Indian nation. When an Indian tribe signed a treaty, it agreed to give the federal government some or all of its land as well as some or all of its sovereign powers. In return, the Indian nation entered into a trust relationship with the federal government in which it promised to provide benefits to the Indians in exchange for their land.
4. The Removal Act of 1830 gave the President of the United States the right to forcibly remove American Indians from their ancestral homes and relocate them to another "home" designated by the US government.
5. Reservations were created to make sure that Indians converted to Christianity; learned English, sewing, and small-scale farming; and ultimately, became Americanized.
6. Allotment, which was implemented with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, was designed to destroy the reservation system by getting rid of communal land ownership. Instead, allotment resulted in even more loss of Indian land. By the turn of the century, Indians lived on only a fraction of the land that had once been under their stewardship.
7. After treaty making, removal, reservations, and allotment failed to remove the Indian threat to white westward expansion and to Americanize the remaining Indians, the federal government adopted a policy of elimination. While approximately 10 million American Indians had lived in North American at the time of European contact, by the turn of the 19th century, about 250,000 Indians still remained within the continental borders of the United States.

***************************

 

 

For More Information

 

Teachers may want to consider the following other types of activites for students during the completion of this unit.

 

1. Skeletal Outline. Because this part of the lesson is particularly infused with legal issues and more complicated ideas, teachers might create a skeletal outline for students so that they can take notes during the discussions.
2. Students might find it useful to read the first-hand account of and reactions to a visit to a reservation in 1869. To access this primary document written by Indian Commissioner, Vincent Colyer, simply click on the link. When they get to the site, scroll down the alphabetical links to Vincent Colyer and click on his name.
3. Mock-experiences of living on an Indian reservation. A two-part learning experience dealing with decisions that Indians have confronted and must currently confront is available on the Internet. "Reservation Controversies - Then and Now" uses Problem Based Learning (PBL) by placing students into two different but related mock experiences that Indians face while living on reservations. Through the use of brainstorming, role playing, and oral presentations, students learn to use primary sources and other background materials to make a recommendation. In the first scenario, "The Indian Agent Appointment Interview," students are prospective Indian Agents for the Comanche Indian Reservation in 1873. In the second scenario, "The Indian Reservation Gaming Issue," students play the role of a newly-appointed congressional intern who has received a letter from his/her congress person asking for help regarding casinos on Indian reservations. In both scenarios, students have online access to links and resources that will help them gather research. This project, created by high school educators and university professors for the American Memory Fellows Program of the Library of Congress, is designed to take place over several days and can be accessed at http://www.chs.chico.K12.ca.us/libr/amem-student.html.
   

 

Part III: Indian Boarding School

 

Teacher's Note

A "Special Topics" research paper has been written to assist educators with this part of the lesson plan. The paper, Indian Boarding Schools,provides more detailed information on boarding schools which can augment teacher understanding of the issue as well as be incorporated into a lesson plan should the teacher so desire.

 

Introduction

Now that we have a better understanding of the federal policies that governed the American Indian tribes during the nineteenth century, it will be interesting to examine one of the programs that came about during the allotment era - Indian boarding schools which became an educational tool for assimilating and Americanizing Indians.

Educating the Indians

 

Educating Indians was not a new idea in the nineteenth century. Indeed, as soon as white Europeans landed in North America, they wished to educate and indoctrinate American Indian children. For example:

 

1. In the 1560s, Spanish colonists living on the island of Cuba established a special school for Indian children.
2. In the 1620s, English colonists in Virginia set aside money for white families to shelter and tutor young Indians.

3. In 1636, Harvard College was dedicated to "the education of English and Indian youth...in knowledge and godliness." (As quoted in Peter Nabakov, editor, Native American Testimony, New York, Penguin, 1991:214.)
4. In the mid-1700s, some white families from Upper State New York tried to convince the Iroquois Indians to turn over their sons so they could be taught "in the best manner." But the Iroquois declined, saying that this had been tried before but the young men had come home "absolutely good for nothing, being neither acquainted with the true methods of killing deer, catching beaver, or surprising and enemy." (As quoted in Peter Nabakov, editor, Native American Testimony, New York, Penguin, 1991:214.)
   1. Discussion: Why do you think many Americans felt it was so important to educate the Indian children? The colonists were afraid of the strange dress, languages, customs, and religions of the Indians they met. They felt it was their duty to civilize and Christianize the children of persons whom they considered to be heathens.

   2. What do you think they wanted to teach them? European dress, language, and customs, as well as how to become good Christians.
   3. Why do you think that many Indian tribes did not want the white men to teach their children? Most Indians were happy with their lives. They were content with their cultural customs and spiritual beliefs. What they saw of the white man's ways did not encourage them to make changes in their own lives.

In short, educating Indians was always a high priority for white Americans. Within a few years after the Constitution was signed, the federal government began offering financial support to various people and groups willing to educate the Indians.

1. After 1819, Congress created a Civilization Fund to help church gorups educate Indian children to "grow up in the habits of morality and industry." (As quoted in Nabakov, 215.)
2. In 1837, A Colonel Johnson established a Choctaw Academy in Indian Territory. The school was dedicated to helping Indians learn mechanics, printing, and agriculture within a military setting.

3. In 1867, the Indian Peace Commission recommended the Congress establish schools as an effective wahy to resolve the "Indian problem."
4. In 1869, the federal government provided money and encouragement to Christian missionaries who might want to create and manage Indian schools on reservations.
5. In 1870, Congress authorized more federal funds to support religious schools devoted to Indian education.

Creating the Boarding School

By the late 1800s, many white Americans continued to be worried about what they felt was the "savage", undisciplined, heathen nature of Indian children. To solve this problem, in 1879 a former Indian fighter, Colonel Richard Pratt, created the first large Indian academy in the nation - the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. His plan was to create an educational facility that would totally Americanize Indian children - one which in Pratt's own words, would "kill the Indian and save the man."

1. At first, Pratt recruited students by visiting Indian parents and convincing them that their children would have a better chance to understand the white man if they were educated in his ways.
   1. The first children came from the Red Bud and Lakota reservations in the Dakotas.
   2. Eventually, as boarding school became a requirement on many reservations, students were not voluntarily sent to Carlisle by their parents, but rather were forced to attend by federal authorities. Carlisle, as well as few other schools (such as Haskell and Chilloco), were the exception because they were off-reservation boarding schools.

   3. By the end of the 19th Century, most boarding schools were located on reservations - but were not easily accessible to the families of the children.
   Over 12,000 children attended during the 39 years the Carlisle School operated.

 

1. And what awaited the Indian children upon their arrival? The teachers spent the first few days forcing the children to discard their Indian ways and adopt American ways. For example:
2. Children were forbidden to speak their native language, often under threat of physical punishment.
3. Their long hair was clipped to the skull, sometimes as part of a public ritual in which the child was forced to renounce his or her Indian origins.

4. Their comfortable, loose-fitting clothing was taken away and burned. Boys were then given military uniforms and girls were forced to wear tight-fitting, Victorian-style dresses. Boys and girls were required to wear shoes rather than their traditional loose-fitting moccasins.
5. They were told never to use their Indian names and were given an American name instead. One young man who was named Tae-noo-ga-wa-zhe became Philip Sheridan.
6. They were forbidden to practice any cultural or religious rituals, usually under threat of punishment, and were instead told that they would be expected to become devout Christians.

 

Once the rules were clear, then children became involved in the daily routine which was defined by military drill and structure.

 

1. Children marched to and from all classes and meals.
2. Children attended school one half of each day, and the other half was spent in training for several skills - mechanics, printing, agriculture.
   1. Discussion: How were these new rules and lifestyles different for the Indian children?

   2. How do you think the Indian children adjusted to these new rules and lifestyles? Some children did quite well and became well-known persons within both American Indian and non-Indian society. One example is Jim Thorpe. Does anyone know who he was? Others, however, could not adjust and tried to run away - but were usually captured. Still others become only half-indoctrinated. Others became so well indoctrinated that they were unable to adjust to life on the reservation once out of school.
   3. What do you think this Iroquois elder meant when he greeted the children who had come back from school, "What have we here? You are neither a white man nor an Indian. For heaven's sake, tell us, what are you?"

Boarding School Experiences.

 

Some Indian children have written about the way they felt about life in boarding schools. Let's examine some of these primary documents. [ASSIGNMENT #8 - INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL]

Unit III Summary

 

1. As soon as white Europeans landed in North America, many were compelled to educate Indian children. Many colonists felt it was their duty to civilize and Christianize the children of persons whom they considered to beheathens.
2. After the Constitution was signed, the newly-created US government offered financial support to various people and groups willing to educate the Indians. From 1789 to 1880, haphazard programs for Indian education were directed and handled by several private organizations.

3. Indian boarding schools introduced a more formalized method of Indian education with the opening of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879. Within a few years, federal authorities forced Indian parents to either send their children to an off-reservation boarding school such as Carlisle, or to boarding schools established in remote areas of Indian reservations.
4. Since the primary purpose of the boarding schools was Americanization, Indian children were forbidden to speak their native language, wear traditional clothing, and practice any religious or cultural rituals - often under the threat of punishment.
5. For many Indian children, the results were tragic. In shedding their "Indianness," they were neither accepted into American society, nor were they able to comfortably resettle into traditional Indian society.
6. While most Indian boarding schools had closed by the 1960s, currently, about 8-10 off-reservation schools are still operating. Additionally, boarding schools still operate on some reservations.

***************************

 

For More Information.

You may wish to introduce the topic of Indian boarding schools with a movie. At least three such films might be useful.

 

• In the White Man's Image (an American Experience production of Public Broadcasing Service). Available for rent through many video stores and may be ordered from PBS at Catalog Fulfillment Center, PO Box 4030, Santa Monica, CA 90411 (800) 531-4727. This 50 minute documentary discusses the history of boarding schools, how they operated, and how they affected American Indian culture. While it will most likely be quite informative for the teacher, it may be too dry for the students. For more information on this video, contact PBS' web site at www.pbs.org.
• Kill the Indian, Save the Man is an episode from the How the West Was Lost series, produced for the Discovery Channel. Available for rent through many video stores and may be ordered from Discovery Home Entertainment, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3579 (800) 475-6636. This 50-minute documentary, which primarily describes the efforts of the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota peoples to escape reservations in Oklahoma and return to their ancestral lands, also explains how reservation life and boarding schools were used to assimilate American Indians. This video very useful for teachers and also for students, despite the detailed descriptions of violence. Teachers may want to show parts of this one.
• Where the Spirit Lives is a Canadian production.. Available for rent through many video stores but may no longer be ordered as it is out of print. This made-for-television movie is 97 minutes and describes the experiences of several Indian children who are forced to attend Indian boarding school. This is a powerful movie, and one that may be difficult for some students to watch. Teachers should definitely view this video prior to showing it to students to judge appropriateness.