1865-1900 - War and Assimilation on the Plains
Comanche / Apache
Federal deal for west Texas rescinded
Sioux and other on the northern Plains
Indian Service unable to prevent White encroachment
Congress's Position
- Cheaper to feed the Indians than to fight them, but diplomats would force the concessions
- The Peace Commission (1867-)
- organize reservations
- isolation from whites
- annuities of clothing
- allotment of lands to individuals
Ulysses S. Grant's pension problem
- What to do with the Civil War officers?
- Indian Agents drawn from officers' ranks
Other problems
- Buffalo herds decimated
- Reservations on the worst lands
- Supreme Court released Federal Government from earlier treaties
U.S. Policy and Indian social structure
- food given to heads of households, not leaders
- undermined traditional authority
- changed social structure
The Indian Service Schools
Vocational emphasis
- Euroamerican agriculture and animal husbandry
- Sewing, cooking, and dairy
- Reading, writing, math
Boarding Schools
The Language Battle
- Furor in Indian Service and reservations about 1887 ruling that all instruction be in English
The Loss of the Plains
- 1865-1879
- 1880-1894
- 1895-1987
The 20th Century
- 1900-1921 forced assimilation
- Indian New Deal
- 1950s "termination"
- The present?
20th C.