The Legacy of Conquest – “Settling” the “Wild West”I. Neil Young, AIM, and New Attitudes about American Indiansa. 1974- “Cortez the Killer” song deals with Aztec genocide by Cortezb. AIM- American Indian Movement- surround and take over Wounded Knee, SD; held out for 71 days, and then surrenderII. Heading West – why?a. 1870-90. Most rapid expansion. Frontier closed in 18901. Cheap Land1. Homestead Act of 1862- government policy to give people land for a filing fee and effortto improve the land2. Business Opportunities1. Land speculation- buying land from someone who had previously owned it3. “Manifest Destiny” and ideas about conquering the natural world1. A higher power makes something good4. Opportunities for Freedoma. the ExodustersIII. The Fate of the Natives – Death or Reform?1. the “Eradication” school1. disruption of the natives to get their landa. Sand Creek Massacre, 1864a. Nov 29; Coloradob. Cheyenne Indiansb. Fetterman Massacre, 1866a. Dec. Montanab. Sioux Indiansc. Little Big Horn, 19762. the “Assimilationist” schoola. “Re-educate” Indians with education, land policy, law and make them “civilized”i. Indian schoolsi. Young Indians taught to live like Americansii. Reservationsiii. The Dawes Act of 1887i. US Government put Indians on reservations and gave them land with hope that they would become farmersIV. Failure of the Dawes Act and “Assimilation”1. best land ends up sold to whites2. land speculation problems3. lack of compatibility with native lifestylesV. The Ghost Dance, 1890a. Combined elements of Christianity and traditional Indian religionb. Wavoka (Paiute shaman) claimed that he had a vision and that if they all joined together in the Ghost Dance that all of the whites would be destroyed in an apocalypseVI. American Indians – not just “victims” of
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