Conquering and Settling the West (Set 1)

By: Jimmy Wolpert

Mounting Crisis in the American West

• During the American Civil war troops were pulled from the west to fight down south

• With few troops in the area it was difficult to keep peace between Whites and Indians in the area

• The Great Sioux War was ignited by an incident, in 1962, when a few young Sioux men became drunk and killed a Minnesota family

• Chief Little Crow decided that they would have to flee or fight, he chose fight

• What followed was a long war between the Indians of the plains and whites in which many, on both sides, perished

• In 1867 three white general and three white civilians held a peace council to end the violence

• While relationships between the two groups were still rocky the peace treaty seemed to work in the long run

• These treaties are what established the reservations that we still know today

Confrontations on the Canadian Plains

• Where conflict with the Natives in The U.S.A led too violence, Canada was able to avoid most bloodshed

• This was due mostly to the large area and low population density of The Great White North

• Though the Indians in Canada had to deal with issues regarding land acquisition the Canadian Government also provided them a safe place to live

• Because of this race relations were much more positive in Canada then in the U.S

Confrontations on the Canadian Plains

• The Mounted police (Established in 1873) were able to patrol the parts of Canada where whites and natives interacted and therefore keep the peace

• The Mounties were in charge of both race relations and military actions so they were able to avoid many of the issues faced by their southern neighbors

• One issue they couldn’t resolve was the dwindling buffalo population

• This forced the Indian Chiefs to think about accepting help from the Canadian Government

• There was still sporadic acts of violence in the plains

Missionaries and Reformers

• In America there were public interest groups who wanted to fight for Indian rights

• They believed in the concept of allotment, which would break reservations into plots for individual families

• They thought that by doing this the Natives would begin to understand white culture and work towards their own self-interest

• In Canada the Government worked toward the assimilation of the tribes into white culture

Revitalization and Religious Movements

• In both the U.S and Canada officials tried to spread Christianity among the Natives

• When faced by this change many Indians delved deeper into their own tribal religions

• In 1881 a prophet emerged and gave rise to the Shaker religion

• This new religion gained a lot of support from natives who saw it as a way to maintain their cultural heritage as opposed to adopting Christianity