As american settlers spread west in the 1800s, how were american indians affected?

Forced to move to reservations and

Government breaks treaties

Lifestyle changes because of forced

assimilation

Killing the buffalo

Explanation:

Settlers felt justified in taking Native Americans

land because they felt they were making the land

more productive

Treaties forced millions

of Native Americans

onto reservations

• Reservation: small

piece of government

land set aside for

Native Americans

After tribes made treaties that relocated them to

reservations, the US government and settlers

frequently broke these treaties and took even more

land from Native Americans

Deliberate reduction of buffalo herds to

force them to move off their hunting

grounds to reservations

Efforts to get Native Americans to become settled farmers

– settlers wanted the land to be used more “productively”.

• Dawes Act – Reservation land was divided into 160 acre

plots and given to individual families to farm for a profit.

• Missionaries attempted to convert Native Americans to

Christianity.

• Indian Boarding Schools – Children were sent to schools to

focus on skills such as carpentry and housekeeping.

• Native Americans were not considered citizens until 1924

This is also known as the trail of tears