US History · 11th Grade · Industrialization & the Gilded Age · Weeks 10-18

Native American Wars & Dawes Act

Investigate the final conflicts between Native Americans and the U.S. government, and assimilation policies.

• Common Core State Standards
• C3: D2.Geo.6.9-12
• C3: D2.His.1.9-12

About This Topic

The period from 1865 to 1890 saw the final military phase of the U.S. government's dispossession of Native peoples from the Great Plains and the Southwest. The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) stands as a stunning tactical victory for Lakota and Cheyenne forces under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, but it provoked a massive federal military response that ultimately broke the resistance of the Plains nations. The Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 ended organized armed resistance, killing approximately 250 to 300 Lakota men, women, and children.

The Dawes Act of 1887 pursued the destruction of Native communities through policy rather than warfare. By dissolving communal land holdings and distributing individual allotments, the Act stripped Native nations of roughly 90 million acres between 1887 and 1934. The explicit goal was the elimination of Native cultural identity through forced assimilation into individual land ownership and white American norms, including attendance at boarding schools designed to erase language, dress, and spiritual practices.

Active learning strategies are essential here because students need to confront the gap between official justifications and actual consequences. Document-based analysis and structured deliberation help students distinguish between assimilation rhetoric and the lived experience recorded in Native testimonies.

Key Questions

1. Analyze the causes and consequences of major conflicts like the Battle of Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee.
2. Critique the Dawes Act as an attempt to destroy Native American communal land ownership and culture.
3. Explain the long-term impact of federal policies on Native American sovereignty and identity.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the primary causes and immediate consequences of the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre.
• Critique the Dawes Act by evaluating its stated goals against its impact on Native American land ownership and cultural practices.
• Explain how federal assimilation policies, including boarding schools, aimed to dismantle Native American sovereignty and identity.
• Compare the effectiveness of armed resistance versus legislative policy in challenging U.S. government expansion during the late 19th century.

Before You Start

Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny

Why: Students need to understand the historical context of American expansionism and the ideology that fueled it to grasp the motivations behind Native American Wars.

Treaties and Native American Relations (Pre-1860s)

Why: Understanding earlier treaty processes and broken promises provides essential background for the final conflicts and dispossession.

Key Vocabulary

Assimilation	The process by which a person or group's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group. In this context, it refers to the U.S. government's policy of absorbing Native Americans into mainstream American society.
Allotment	The act of dividing land into individual parcels. The Dawes Act broke up reservation lands held communally by Native American tribes into individual plots.
Sovereignty	The authority of a state or governing body to govern itself. This refers to the inherent right of Native American tribes to govern themselves and their lands.
Reservation	An area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Indian Affairs. These lands were often established after conflicts and land cessions.
Boarding Schools	Institutions established by the U.S. government and religious organizations to forcibly assimilate Native American children by removing them from their families and cultures.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

The Battle of Little Bighorn changed the outcome of the Indian Wars.

What to Teach Instead

While Little Bighorn was a tactical victory, it accelerated the federal military response and produced the largest mobilization of U.S. troops yet deployed against Plains nations. Students examining troop deployment data after Little Bighorn see that it functioned as a catalyst for intensified suppression rather than a turning point toward Native autonomy.

Common Misconception

The Dawes Act was intended to help Native Americans by making them landowners.

What to Teach Instead

Supporters framed the Dawes Act in assimilationist benevolence, but it resulted in the loss of 90 million acres within 47 years. The Act's surplus land provision explicitly allowed the government to sell lands not allotted to individuals. Gallery walk activities using land-loss maps help students see the material consequences behind the humanitarian language.

Common Misconception

Wounded Knee was a battle between U.S. soldiers and armed warriors.

What to Teach Instead

Wounded Knee was a massacre, not a battle. The 7th Cavalry opened fire on a largely disarmed encampment, killing men, women, children, and elders. Examining eyewitness accounts alongside official military reports helps students identify how language choice shapes historical memory and accountability.

Active Learning Ideas

Document Analysis: Two Perspectives on the Dawes Act

Students compare Senator Dawes's speech explaining the Act's goals with testimony from Sitting Bull and later accounts of Native land loss. Using a T-chart, they record official justifications alongside documented outcomes, then discuss who defined 'civilization' and what was actually at stake beyond the stated humanitarian aims.

40 min·Pairs

Gallery Walk: Boarding School Photographs

Post before-and-after photographs from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School alongside excerpts from survivor accounts. Students rotate through stations, responding to the prompt: what specific cultural practices or identities were targeted, and what was the stated justification? Debrief examines the gap between stated humanitarianism and documented harm.

35 min·Small Groups

Mapping Activity: Land Loss Under the Dawes Act

Groups trace Native land holdings before 1887, after allotment, and after surplus land sales, using data maps of specific nations including the Lakota, Cherokee, and Chippewa. Students calculate percentage loss and identify which communities were most affected, then connect land loss to economic and cultural disruption.

45 min·Small Groups

Socratic Seminar: What Obligations Did the Federal Government Have?

Students read excerpts from treaties alongside Dawes Act provisions and contemporary Native responses. The seminar question: Did the U.S. government have any binding obligations to Native nations, and how did federal policy treat those obligations? Students build evidence-based arguments and respond to classmates using the text.

50 min·Whole Class

Real-World Connections

• Tribal councils and legal departments on reservations today continue to navigate complex legal battles over land rights and resource management, directly stemming from the legacy of the Dawes Act and earlier treaties.
• Museum exhibits, such as those at the National Museum of the American Indian, often feature oral histories and artifacts that provide firsthand accounts of the impacts of these wars and assimilation policies on individuals and communities.
• Historians and sociologists specializing in Indigenous studies analyze primary source documents, like government reports and personal diaries, to understand the long-term social and economic consequences of federal Indian policy.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

Pose the following question: 'Was the Dawes Act more destructive to Native American culture and land ownership than the military conflicts of the era? Why or why not?' Facilitate a structured debate where students must cite specific evidence from primary or secondary sources to support their arguments.

Quick Check

Provide students with short excerpts from both a government justification for the Dawes Act and a Native American testimony about its effects. Ask students to identify the main argument of each excerpt and list two specific ways the policy impacted Native families, according to the testimony.

Exit Ticket

Ask students to write two sentences explaining the primary goal of the Dawes Act and one sentence describing a direct consequence of the Battle of Little Bighorn for Plains tribes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What caused the Battle of Little Bighorn?

The U.S. government violated the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty after gold was discovered in the Black Hills, attempting to force the Lakota onto smaller reservations. When Lakota and Cheyenne warriors resisted, the Army launched a campaign that ended in the destruction of Custer's command on June 25-26, 1876. The battle became a national symbol used to justify intensified military campaigns against Plains nations.

What did the Dawes Act actually do to Native communities?

The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up communally held tribal lands into individual allotments of 160 acres and declared surplus lands available for purchase by non-Native settlers. Between 1887 and 1934, Native nations lost approximately 90 million of their remaining 138 million acres. The loss of communal land severed the economic and cultural foundations of many Native communities and drove widespread poverty.

Why is Wounded Knee (1890) considered significant?

The Wounded Knee Massacre marked the end of large-scale armed resistance by Native peoples against U.S. expansion. The U.S. Army killed approximately 250 to 300 Lakota people, including women and children, during an attempt to disarm the encampment. The event has become a symbol of the broader federal policy of forced dispossession and cultural destruction that characterized the late 19th century.

How does active learning help students engage with this difficult history?

Topics involving historical injustice require students to grapple with uncomfortable facts while building the skills to evaluate evidence and perspective. Gallery walks using photographs and survivor testimony make the human costs specific rather than abstract, while Socratic seminars give students practice constructing arguments from primary sources. These methods develop the critical empathy and analytical precision this history demands more effectively than lecture.