The Trans-Mississippi West Solving the “Indian Problem”

The Trans-Mississippi West

Solving the “Indian Problem”

Conflicting View

How best to solve the “Indian Problem”

Almost from the moment of first contact, European attitudes towards Native Americans split into two camps:

Elimination● Removal

● Annihilation

Coexistence● Assimilation

Removal

Indian Removal Act of 1830Reasons for removal policy

Increased trans-Appalachian settlement Growing white population wanted access to Indian

lands

Humanitarians argued it would save Indians from extinction

Inevitable fate of peoples who resisted “superior” white civilization

Early example of philosophy of “Social Darwinism”

Removal

“Your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever.”

Sand Creek MassacreAnnihilation

29 November 1864

Col. John M. Chivington

Cheyenne Chief

Black Kettle

AnnihilationSlaughtering the Buffalo

Let them kill, skin, and sell until the buffalo is exterminated, as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance."

- General Philip Sheridan

AnnihilationSlaughtering the Buffalo

AnnihilationRailroads vs. Buffalo

When the railroad pushed westward through the plains, buffalo were often shot for sport as the trains passed by, the carcasses left to rot

upon the prairie.Illustration from Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, 1871.

Annihilation/RemovalThe Indian Wars

Many Army officers, reflecting society, were ambivalent about fighting “savages.”

Despised pontificating humanitarians Disliked rapacious frontiersmen Lamented their government’s record of broken treaties

but nevertheless, carried out national policy

Annihilation/RemovalNorthern Plains

Gen. George A. Custer

Sioux Chief Sitting Bull

US Survivor - Comanche

Annihilation/RemovalNorthern Plains

Annihilation/RemovalNorthern Plains

Annihilation!

Assimilation The Dawes Severalty Act (1887)

Goal was to assimilate and “Americanize” the Native Americans

Ended tribal ownership of land Allotted 160 acres to each head of household Granted citizenship to those who accepted allotment Land held in trust for 25 years Established schools for Indian children “Excess” land sold to finance program

Assimilation