Download America`s Post Civil War Expansion and its Impact on the Native

America’s Post Civil War Expansion and its Impact on the Native
Population of the American West
USHC 4.1 Summarize the impact that government policy and the construction of the transcontinental railroads had
on the development of the national market and on the culture of Native American peoples.
During and after the Civil War, the United States entered a period of rapid economic growth and
westward expansion fostered by government policies. This growth created a national market but also threatened
the cultural survival of the Native Americans of the West.
The Civil War marked an important turning point in the development of a national system of
transportation. Railroad construction prior to the Civil War had impacted the growing tension between the
regions as Northerners and Southerners vied for routes to the Pacific Ocean. The Kansas-Nebraska Act had
been passed in order to provide a route west for the railroad. The absence of Southern Democrats from
Congress during the war allowed Republicans to pass laws that reflected their understanding of the broader role
of the national government. The authorization of subsidies in the form of land grants [The Pacific Railway Act]
promoted the building of transcontinental railroads because it provided both a route and land to sell to raise
capital for the building of the tracks. The passage of a law granting western farm land to settlers for free as long
as they created a home there [Homestead Act] also promoted the growth of the west and of the national
economy. The transcontinental railroad fostered the development of a national market by linking all parts of the
country. The railroad provided access for farmers and ranchers to markets in the east as well as access for
emerging industries to the natural resources of the west.
The building of railroads profoundly impacted Native Americans in the West. Because the roaming
buffalo posed a threat to the integrity of railroad tracks on the plains, the railroad encouraged the killing of the
bison. Plains Indians, largely dependent on the buffalo, could no longer sustain themselves. White settlers were
attracted to the west by the availability of free land with access to markets via the railroad. Just as the Trail of
Tears had resulted in the removal of eastern Native American tribes to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma (USHC
2.1), a similar policy of moving native peoples off of their traditional lands to reservations to make way for
white settlers was followed for western tribes. Native peoples were forced to agree to treaties that moved them
onto smaller reservations where they were taken advantage of by corrupt agents of the U.S. government. Some
Native Americans resisted but were relentlessly pursued in a series of Indian Wars by the United States cavalry.
Others acquiesced only to be driven from the reservations because of the discovery of some precious mineral in
the lands they had been granted. Criticisms of the United States policy of breaking treaties with the Native
Americans resulted in a change of policy. The new policy attempted to foster Native American assimilation
(adjustment) into American society [Dawes Severalty Act]. Tribal lands were divided into farming parcels and
given to individual families. This arrangement did not match the cultural habits of native peoples who believed
in tribal ownership of lands and who did not know how to be farmers. As a result, many Native Americans lost
the land to whites. In an additional attempt to promote assimilation, Native American children were taken from
their families and sent to boarding schools in the east where they were taught English and how to dress and act
like white Americans, thus losing their cultural heritage. Native Americans’ attempts to revive their traditions,
such as the Ghost Dance, were viewed as a threat by the United States army and resulted in a massacre at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Native Americans were left in poverty and cultural decline, without a voice in
America’s democracy.
America’s Post Civil War Expansion and its Impact on the Native
Population of the American West
Instructions:
1) Before reading answer the following:
Agree Disagree
Statement
After Reading
The Civil War marked a turning point in the development
of a national transportation system.
The building of railroads impacted the American Indians
in a major way.
The U.S. government gave away free land to encourage
westward movement following the Civil War.
The transcontinental railroad helped create a national
market by linking all parts of the country together.
The U.S. government tried to make American Indians
more like Anglo Saxons (white people).
2) While reading use the following codes to mark your understanding of the reading:
+ New Information
* I Know this Information
?
I Don’t Understand (Confused)
?
I have a question
P Problem
S Solution
C Connection
 I Agree
X I Disagree
3) Answer the following after reading:
1. What impact did the Civil War have on the development of transportation in the U.S.? Why?
2. How did the expansion of the railroad affect the strength and the growth of the national economy?
3. How were the Native Americans affected by the expansion of the railroad in the U.S.?
4. What is assimilation and how did the U.S. try to promote it with Native Americans?