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
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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
  • 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
  • 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
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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
    • 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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