HIST 2112 Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I The Worldwide History of Slavery A Four Unique Characteristics of Euro American Slavery II Slavery and the South the keystone of Southern society and culture A Slavery as a source of economic political power B Slavery and poor whites the social floor C After the War recreating the slave system without slavery III The End of Slavery and the beginning of Freedom Now What A Searching for family B Schools and education C Establishing churches D Entering politics IV The Problem of making a living A Sharecropping a Advantages b Disadvantages B White Sharecroppers Outline of Current Lecture I New Attitudes about American Indians II Heading West Why III The Fate of the Natives A eradication school B Assimilationist school a Indian Schools b Reservations c The Dawes Act of 1887 IV The Failures of the Dawes Act and Assimilation V The Ghost Dance 1890 Current Lecture The Legacy of Conquest Settling the Wild West I New Attitudes about American Indians Neil Young AIM Neil young s song Cortez the Killer Scenes of Wounded Knee Protest AIM folks who finally surrender to authorities II III Attitudes toward Native Americans are different all over the place throughout the years Heading West Why inner mountain west Most ethnically diverse place A Cheap Land Homestead Act of 1862 main reason Land is running out in the east and south Go to Nebraska Government wants you to go out and settle westward Land is square Government laid down a grid of quarter sections of 160 acre squares The divided the land and said ok if you want a piece come get it for 2 50 Government also sponsors the railroads by giving them land So you could also buy a piece of land from railroad companies B Business Opportunities a The Rise of the corporate west You could engage in speculation flipping houses is a good example They did this with land People sold supplies to poor suckers Mercantilism Corporations Railroads Cattle Operations Cowboy is just a working class person he is an employee they can go on strike C Manifest Destiny 1872 a Conquering nature It is your fait to move west D Opportunities for freedom SLAVES Escape sharecropping to Kansas The Fate of the Natives land has been occupied by natives until now now Americans are going to take it nothing is going to stop them A eradication school kill them all let God sort them out approach p 485 a The Sandcreek Massacre 1864 kill the children because nits make lice b Fetterman Massacre 1866 c Little Big Horn 1876 General Custard War against the Indians B Assimilationist school 1 The Myth of the vanishing Indian the Indian is doomed Manifest Destiny is going to kill them 2 Re Educate Indians with schooling land policy and law to make them civilized make them imitation white Americans a Indian Schools put Indian children in boarding schools Kansas KILL THE INDIAN SAVE THE MAN P 488 489 b Reservations progressive give natives not good land they can call their own and we re not going to kill them c The Dawes Act of 1887 We re going to break the reservations up into 160 acre pieces then we re going to give each family 160 acre piece of land they will farm they will learn the value of hard work and property ownership they will become Americans IV The Failures of the Dawes Act and Assimilation results in problems such as alcoholism A Best land ends up sold to whites so they lose half of the reservations of the bat B Land speculation problems the land sucks C Lack of compatibility with native lifestyles they are hunters warriors not farmers men hunted women farmed men found it insulting because they were asked to do women s work V The Ghost Dance 1890 Rumor starts that if Indians unite begin to perform certain dances then white people will disappear buffalo will spring up into the plains things will go back to the way they were The Calvary begins to wander if they are plotting a rebellion 200 men and women Indians run and get caught by Calvary at wounded knee and are shot on the spot