Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Exam 3 Study Guide
Exam 3 Study Guide
Exam 3 Study Guide
????Understand the key concepts of Dominion Theology and the Great Chain of Being.
God ordained social and natural hierarchies (higher and lower beings with greater and
lesser rights and privileges)
Humans created in the image of God and the higher-ranked humans direct Gods will
on Earth and bring everything into proper subjection
These beliefs justify the policies and deeds of European colonialism and the establishing
of their dominion in America
What sort of rights regarding the use of natural resources did the people who believed in that
cosmology assume? How did the cosmology affect their attitudes toward and relationships with
people who were not Christians or differed from them in beliefs and culture?
They thought they were superior to the earth itself. All life on earth were under the
rightful subjection of king and head of the church under this dominion theology and great
chain of being. They could do what they want as far as taking the resources of the earth.
Basic assumption that people who are not of your type or country or religion were
considered lesser than (inferior), they only had value when they were more like the
Europeans
Identify the 3 basic social classes in Europe at the time of first contact
1. The peasants or serfs
2. The royals (aka, nobles, including the sub-royals)
3. The merchants and skilled tradesmen
Which class of Europeans in that era believed most strongly in the Dominion Theology/Great
Chain of Being cosmology? Which class of Europeans was also oppressed by that cosmology?
Believers = Ruling Class, Alliance of church and state and their peers
Oppressed = serfs, peasants
Be sure to read Coursepack articles #20, 21, 22
Which class was the largest and from which class did most of the immigrants to America come?
Peasant Class
Motivations of the peasant class for going to America
to be freed from the oppressive dominion of the royals
to own land and have access to natural resources
to become somewhat like the royals
What is an indentured servant?
Someone who works for someone else to pay off debt and later gain their freedom
Main motivations of the royals of Europe for sending people to America
dominion
natural resources
wealth for state and church
Differences in Cultural Values and Beliefs (Coursepack #20); understand the key differences
that we underlined; differences in religion, economics and resource use
The three stages of early European/Native American Interaction during the Colonial Era
Be able to identify the three stages of European/Native American interaction in the order which
they normally occurred (chronological sequence)
Friendly and Reciprocal
Demographic Shift and Conflicts
Establishment of Dominion
What was Spains Requerimiento? (Coursepack #22) How did the Spanish approach to
acquiring dominion differ from the English?
The document that required Indians to acknowledge the Church as the Ruler and
Superior of the whole world, the Pope as high priest, and the king and queen of
Spain as lords of their lands.
The Spanish usually skipped the friendly/reciprocal and demographic shift conflict
changes and went right away to the establishment of Dominion.
What did the Europeans get of value from the early stages of intercultural trade compared to the
Indians?
Interpreters
Guides
Knowledge about the natural resources of America (foods, medicines, wildlife, etc.)
Knowledge about land and people
Identify a few of the epidemic diseases that were the most devastating to Native American tribes
during the colonial era
Smallpox
Bubonic plague
Cholera
Measles
Tuberculosis
Differences in dependency on each others trade goods at the different stages
Beginning Stage: Europeans had much to gain and were quite dependent on the
American Indian People
Middle Stage: Depended on each other equally???
Final Stage: Native people now dependent on Europeans and their economic
institutions, systems; Euros much less dependent on Natives, since they have the
land
to acquire the Indian lands east of the Mississippi for the expanding industrial
economy
to expand the production of cotton, which by 1820 had become the most profitable
agricultural crop in U.S. history (32% of export revenue) (The main focus of the
Removal became the tribes of the deep south)
What was Indian Territory and where was it located? How many tribes were sent there
between 1830 and 1889?
The place which all or any American Indian nations were placed after being
removed by force from their homelands in the U.S.
Located in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska
67 tribes sent there
Was there only one Trail of Tears?
No, there were many trails of tears
Why did the Removal process focus mostly on the tribal nations of the Deep South? What did
the rapid expansion of the cotton industry have to do with it?
To expand the production of cotton, which by 1820 had become the most profitable
agricultural crop in U.S. history (32% of export revenue)
Identify a few impacts of the Removal on the tribes involved. What issues did they have to deal
with and what sorts of adjustments did they have to make after they arrived there?
Between to 1/3 of the deported Native Americans died on the way to Indian
Territory
Major adjustment to new ecosystems, new world in Indian Territory: poverty,
economic dependency, sickness, more loss of lives
Conflicts with the tribal nations who were already there
Internal conflicts and divisions within the tribes
Definition for Treaty
A binding legal agreement between two or more sovereign nations
Definition of a reservation
A small remnant of a tribal nations original homeland, reserved by the U.S.
government by treaty for the exclusive use of the tribe, or tribes, named in the
treaty, after the U.S. took the rest of their homeland.
What are the two main legal precedents which establish tribal sovereignty?
The sovereignty of Native American tribal nations is affirmed by the U.S.
Constitution, Article 1, sections 8 and 10
several Supreme Court rulings, as well as by the treaties themselves.
Identify the main provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the treaties
1. Describes the geographic boundaries of the Indian land to be taken by the U.S.
Missionaries had a captive audience and were given the authority to start
boarding schools
The chiefs gradually lost authority and respect among their people
The effect of all of the above was frequent periods of starvation, various other
hardships and health problems related to poverty, cultural devaluation and loss of
culture.
Deliberate attack on the Indian culture, only way to save them from Genesi or being
wiped out is to convert and transform them to live like European Americans
The methods they used to achieve the deculturalization of many people did the most
harm to parenting and nurturing.
o Removing kids from the nurturing environment from their home community
o Physical abuse (not only beating as punishment, but rape)
What was often the first thing that the schools forbade and punished students for when they first
arrived at the schools?
The speaking of their language
The Allotment Act and its Impact on Native American Tribes and People
Carl Schurz and Henry Dawes began designing the Allotment Act one year after what major
event which created an increased anti-Indian sentiment in America? Why did it take ten years of
very difficult compromise to get the law passed?
Custers defeat (much hostility against Indians, nationwide)
Took ten years because there was so much resistance to it from the anti-Indian
industrialists and politicians
Refer to Coursepack #38, 2 parts: part 1, main points of the Allotment Act, and part 2, impacts
of the Allotment Act
Part 1
1. Indians must end common (or group) ownership of tribal land.
- divided reservation lands into 160 acre lots, to be claimed by each
individual head of household (males only, unless a woman was a widow)
- single heads of households could get 80 acres.
2. There would be a 25 year patent on each lot, held "in trust" by the U.S.
government, so that Indians couldn't sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of their
allotments without govt. permission. (The Act was amended in1891 to allow
leasing of allotments) (Roots of the federal trust responsibility and the Cobell case.)
3. Each Indian head of household was given four years to select an allotment,
or the government would select one for them.
4. All unclaimed lots could be declared surplus lands and "assigned" (or given
by the government) to non-Indians. This was the primary reason that
Congress passed the Act.
5. Any Indians who would choose to abandon tribal ties and allegiances could
become citizens of the United States.
Part 2
1. More loss of land: through non-Indian seizures of unclaimed lots and
reductions in size of the reservations, 2/3 (two thirds) of the reservation
lands were lost by 1934. (Burke Act of 1906 ended 25-year trust)
- 138 million acres reduced to 48million acres (20 million of which was
desert or poor" land)
Programs of the 50s and 60s, cont.: Native American Activism in the 20th century; The
Indian Claims Commission and its effect on the Western Shoshones (excerpt from the film,
Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain)
What did it mean for a tribe to be terminated by the federal government?
How many tribes were officially terminated by 1962?
61
Identify the National Congress of Americans Indianswho are they and what do they do?
Tribal nations uniting to work together for their common interests (lobbying
Congress, etc.)
Main Goals: to keep their remaining lands and their sovereignty; improve economic
conditions and opportunities, including education and job training; promote healing
The American Indian Movement (AIM), know their goals and their significance
Indian youth-led organization working for similar goals as the NCAI, but in their
own special way; started by mostly college-educated, urban Indians, then some
reservations
GOALS:
o Get Americas immediate attention and spread awareness of Native
American issues and concerns
o Fight for Native American treaty rights, civil rights, and against racism and
discrimination in cities as well as on the reservations
o Protect tribal sovereignty and traditional cultures
o Learn and teach their tribal cultures and history
o Teach the true history of America
What did AIM accomplish through their radical media presence?
They would occupy areas and made a statement for all Indians.
What did they call the march and gathering at Washington D.C. in 1972?
Trail of Broken Treaties
ESSAY QUESTIONS
#1 & #3