Transcript John Wayne - Dorsey APUSH

John Wayne, red meat & Gold
(American treasures)
But with a price…
California
When gold was first discovered in
California in 1848, tens of
thousands of men left their old lives
& rushed west.
Just three years later, the population
of California had grown to more
than 250,000.
California
• California was granted statehood by 1850.
• The future of California depended on the
railroad which had been argued about for
years.
California
• Southern states wanted the route through
the south and the northern states wanted it
to run through the middle of the country.
California
• Where the rails would lie, would give either
slave or free states an upper hand because
people would live by the Railroad.
California
• Shortly after the southern states seceded in
1861, construction of the Railroad began.
Transcontinental Railroad
• Unemployed Civil War veterans and Irish
immigrants worked westward.
• Chinese immigrants made up much of the
workforce going east.
Pacific Railway Act
• In addition to the money paid to the
Railroads, the federal government also gave
them land!
Lots and lots of land!
Pacific Railway Act
Pacific Railway Act
Transcontinental Railroad
• As people wanted to move westward, they
bought land near the tracks from the
Railroad.
So everything
should be good…
Right?
Problem
This rush of settlers further strained the
situation with Native Americans.
Solution
• Lets just make a
simple agreement that
both sides could agree
to and respect.
Treaties
• Treaties are legally binding contracts between sovereign nations that
establish those nations’ political and property relations.
• Article Six of the United States Constitution holds that treaties “are the
supreme law of the land.”
• Treaties between Indian tribes and the United States confirm each
nation’s rights and privileges.
• In most of these treaties, the tribes gave vast amounts of land to the
United States in exchange for protection, services, and in some cases
cash payments, but reserved certain lands (reservations) and rights for
themselves and their future generations.
Treaties
• But these treaties were regularly broken,
re-written and ignored whenever it was
convenient for the settlers, government or
pretty much anyone who wasn’t a Native
American.
Buffalo
• Buffalo herds had once numbered around
15 million animals on the American Plains.
They made up a large part of the Native
Americans diet, shelter and clothing.
•
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•
Bones became knives
Tendons became bowstrings
Horns & hooves boiled into glue
Manure was burned as fuel
Buffalo
• Travelers going westward used to shoot Buffalo
from railroad cars to pass the time.
Building stress…
• This stress of settlers, declining food
supplies and railroad tracks that would only
lead to more settlers and problems
eventually led to trouble…
Building stress…
• On top of these problems, they kept finding
gold & silver deposits throughout the west.
Indian Wars
• Often, these pressures led to armed conflict
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Sand Creek
Little Bighorn
Wounded Knee
Camp Grant Massacre
Sand Creek
Little Bighorn
Wounded Knee
Camp Grant Massacre
If mining wasn’t enough…
Problem
• So something had to be done: after all, we
had won the land from the British, bought
more from the French and fought the
Mexicans for the rest.
• There was just one more problem in our
way…
Solution
• Native Americans were placed on
Reservations. The idea was to separate
tribes & settlers / miners to avoid conflict.
Solution
• But this meant the tribes would have to give
up their culture & way of life and adapt a
more American style of life:
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Farming
Property ownership
Formal Education
Become Assimilated
Assimilation
According to Merriam Webster:
To adopt the ways of another culture: to
fully become part of a different society,
country, etc.
Carlisle Indian School
Pennsylvania school for Indians funded by the
government; children were separated from
their tribe and were taught English and
American values / customs.
Motto of founder:
"Kill the Indian and save the man."
Sitting Bull
"If the Great Spirit had desired
me to be a white man he would
have made me so in the first
place. He put in your
heart certain wishes and plans;
in my heart he put other and
different desires. Each man is
good in the sight of the Great
Spirit. It is not necessary, that
eagles should be crows."