This Land is Ours!

Essential Question: During westward expansion, did the impact of federal policy toward the buffalo soldiers and native Americans match the intent?

During our history class, we have been doing small, one week units. We are now on our second unit which is the Buffalo Soldiers and native Americans. To learn about the former American soil dwellers, we watched quite a few videos and read some interesting documents in our small groups. One document was Helen Hunt Jackson's Century of Dishonor 1881, and the other document was Excerpts from Dawes Act 1887. These documents help us understand the issue of land rights. On the last day we finally took some time and came up with an essential question as a class. The question that we came up with is "During westward expansion, did the impact of federal policy toward the buffalo soldiers and native Americans match the intent?" This weeks essential question is very open ended. You could answer it from a few different viewpoints and ideas.

To put the essential question in straight forward terms, you could think of it as "When the government were taking over the west, did they fulfill the promises that they give the Buffalo Soldiers and the Native Americans" In the 1868, the government created the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie. This promised the Native Americans land that was west of the Mississippi and in the Dakota territory. This lasted for a year, but then there was a major gold rush. Thousands of white gold hunters stormed into the territory that they had promised the Native Americans. This is a great example of how the government did not fulfill their promises towards the Native Americans. The government also walked right into the Great Plains, the area where the natives lived. They expected to just receive all the land that they had. The natives did not accept that kind of actions so they decided to fight back. This gave the Americans the opportunity to go in and rip apart the natives. The Americans got the upper hand in taking over the western front. When talking about Indian Land rights, it is very important to put the Dawes act into play. The Dawes act is also known as the General Allotment Act. The act's main focus was to make the natives live lifestyles like the Americans. The government would then take the excess land and sell it into the free market. To clearly answer the essential question, the impact of the federal policy did not match the intent and the Americans did not fulfill the promises that they promised the Native Americans and the Buffalo Soldiers. The Americans used force and demanded their land which was not part of the original policy.

(this clever drawing shows the "Dawes Act" eating away at the indian land)

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/08/animation-marty-two-bulls-125th-anniversary-infamous-dawes-act-96740