The American West 1840 - 1895: Native Americans
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- Created by: WS
- Created on: 12-04-17 15:51
The 'Great American Desert'
- many white Americans regarded the Great Plains as the 'Great American Desert'
- the Plains were:
- barren and isolated
- had a lack of water
- couldn't grow crops
- no trees- no wood for building houses or for fuel
- had weather extremes - hot and dry summers, cold and snowy winters and ferocious winds
- hard to grow crops are keep them alive
- grassland - plowing was difficult
- flat and featureless
- Major Stephen Long's (army official) description of the Great Plains 1819 - 1820:
- 'wholly unfit for cultivation'
- 'uninhabitable'
- 'large area of fertile land'
- 'scarcity of wood and water will prove an impossible obstacle'
- published in a phamplet about his journey to the west
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Plains Indians Survivng on the Plains
- Buffalo
- the centre of Indians' existence and life
- all resources came from the buffalo (e.g. clothes from skin, food, shelter - tipis, weapons from bones, utensils, fuel from dung, soap from fat)
- without buffalo they wouldn't have survived as there's a lack of resources on the Plains
- Nomadic Lifestyle
- the tribe was constantly moving whole tribe to follow buffalo herds which were hunted for resources
- Organisation
- each tribe member had a specific job (e.g. buffalo hunting, cooking, healing)
- each member looked after one another to ensure survival
- Warfare
- deaths were minimal as dying in war was not a sign of bravery
- Exposure
- elderly were left behind and it was easier to travel without elderly slowing tribe down
- Hunter-gatherers
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Religious Beliefs of the Plains Indians (1)
- Spirit World
- Wakan Tanka was known as the Great Spirit who created the world and all that lived
- the Medicine Man in a tribe had a spiritual and medical role for the Plains Indians. He would chant, cast spells, perform rituals and communicate with spirits.
- everything had a spirit including humans, each tribe member had a spirit
- spirits would give them guidance
- Circles
- the Sioux (an Indian tribe) believed in the circle of nature
- they were surrounded by circles (e.g. circle of the horizon, circle of their village, circle of the tipis)
- Sacred Land
- believed it was wrong to sell land
- land did not and could not belong to one person
- land should be venerated (respected) because their ancestors were buries there
- land was thought to be eternal and imperishable/ undying
- believed it was wrong to sell land
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Religious Beliefs of the Plains Indians (2)
- Visions
- young boys were expected to search for their spirit
- would clean their bodies and go pray without food to recieve their vision
- the Medicine Man would interpret the vision and the boys' names were given based on their vision
- young boys were expected to search for their spirit
- Dance and ceremonies
- the Sun Dance was used to get guidance from the spirit world and usually involved a personal sacrafice
- included praying, fasting from food and water and sometimes the ceremonial piercing of the skin and a trial of physical endurance
- before hunting the Buffalo Dance was performed to get the spirit world to call the buffalo to them
- the Sun Dance was used to get guidance from the spirit world and usually involved a personal sacrafice
- Happy Hunting Ground
- belief that the spirit of the dead person went the the 'Happy Hunting Ground' (similar to Heaven in Christianity)
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Plains Indians as 'savages'
- white Americans thought the Native Americans were savages because of their barbaric practices, for example:
- Treatment to family members
- Exposure - the elderly were sometimes left behind if they couldn't keep up with the tribe
- Warfare techniques
- Scalping - the victorious Indian would cut the defeated enemy's scalp off and keep it on display to show how strong they were
- Mutalation of the dead - cutting up the body of the dead (e.g. cutting off their limbs and cutting the eyes and organs out)
- the Plains Indians mutalated the enemy's body because if they met in the afterlife the enemy would be weaker (as they'd been cut up)
- Process of obtaining visions
- all Indians (men) went through a ritual (such as fasting for days or going through immense pain) to get their vision
- the Sun Dance and the ceremonial piercing of the skin
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the Plains Indians: Family Life (1)
- were skilled at adapting to the tough environment as their family life reflects this
- families who were realted to each other travelled together in groups (called bands)
- bands had 100 - 150 people giving them safety in numbers
- hunting became easier
- meant that someone could always look after the children if their parents died
- children were rarely punished and grew up learning skills
- would respect their elders
- taught to value everything as all living things have spirits
- boys learnt about hunting and warfare; girls learnt to make clothes from buffalo skins, how to prepare food and to take down the tipi and pack up their belongings quickly
- living in a tipi as a family of 8 - 10 people
- cool home for summer, warm home for winter
- could be taken down quickly as tribe continuosly moved
- tipi poles used to make a travois (a sledge for carrying belongings)
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the Plains Indians: Family Life (2)
- polgamy
- when the man died whilst hunting or during war their wives were taken in by other men so everyoe could be looked after
- treatment of the elders
- were greatly respected
- would pass on the history of the tribe and their views were always listened to in Indian councils
- when they became too weak to travel they were left behind (exposure) as the tribe's life depended on the buffalo
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the Plains Indians: Organisation
- based on customs and tradition more than any system of formal authority
- a council of elders met with the cheif would make the decisions
- in summer, bands withing a tribe would meet up for special ceremonies
- the cheifs of all the bands would hold a special council
- individual bands often ignored decisions made by the special council
- some tribes like the Cheyenne had groups called dog soldiers
- they were made up of younger men and were responsible for protecting women and children and organising the hunting
- had to ensure that the amount of buffalo killed was limited to the necessary numbers so the whole herd wouldn't be frightened away
- they were made up of younger men and were responsible for protecting women and children and organising the hunting
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the Plains Indians: Warfare
- would sometimes carry out raids on bands in enemy tribes
- their motive could have been revenge or a matter of honour
- didn't attack to conquer other people or take over the land
- usually attacked to steal horses as their main objective
- horses could pull the travois and helped whilst moving camp
- made it easier to hunt buffalo
- didn't believe that dying in battle was courageous so if a battle was going badly they'd retreat to not risk being killed
- this seemed cowardly to white Americans
- a sign of bravey was to 'count coup' (ride up to an enemy in battle and touch them with a stick/ a coup)
- a feather was awarded for counting coup so the more feathers the warrior wore on his head, the more successful he was
- scalping the enemy - taking the scalp of the enemy
- Indians believed that if your enemy had your scalp they had your spirit meaning you could not go to the 'Happy Hunting Ground' so they took the enemy's scalp
- scalps often hung from tipis or attached to the warrior's clothing
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White Americans' Attitude on the Native Americans
- 'their wars, treaties, habitations, crafts, comforts, all belong to the very lowest ages of human existence' - Horace Greeley
- 'backwards in civilisation like beasts' - President Jefferson
- 'white demanded a settled, farming way of life
- 'squalid and conceited, proud and worthless, lazy and lousy. These people must die out, ...God has given this earth to those who will subdue and cultivate it' - Horace Greeley
- couldn't understand why the chiefs couldn't make their warriors obey them
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- whites government was based on laws and compulsion, the Inidians had 'community spirit'
- Religion and morality
- Christian preachers thought of their religion as 'ignorant superstition'
- polygamy and exposure offended white Americans' religion
- Barbaric warfare and cowardly actions
- ambush was treachery, scalping was barbaric and retreat was 'a total lack of courage'
- George Catlin (a white painter) admired how the Indians could adapt to the Plains
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