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Oceti Sakowin Lesson
This lesson plan discusses treaties between Native American tribes and the U.S. government from the 15th-19th centuries, and how differing views of land ownership led to conflicts. It will teach students about the treaty process and specific treaties signed with the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) in South Dakota, such as the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie treaties. While treaties aimed to reduce tensions, over time they became a way for tribes to keep portions of their lands and sovereignty as settlers and the U.S. grew in power and broke treaty agreements.
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Oceti Sakowin Lesson
- 1. Oceti Sakowin Lesson Ms.Ioana Hojda 12th Grade
- 2. Treaties and ManifestDestiny • Grades: 9 – 12th Grade • Discuss what treaties are and why they were made between Indian tribes and the U.S. Government. • Time Period: Discovery, Conquest and Treaty Making 1532-1828 • Lesson Description: • Students learn about the treaty-making process with American Indians in the United States and in South Dakota specifically.
- 3. Manifest Destiny • aterm that came to describe a widespread belief in the middle of the 19th century that the United States had a special mission to expand westward. • the specific phrase was originally used in print by a journalist, John L. O'Sullivan, when writing about the proposed annexation of Texas. • Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHemd90ZdsU
- 4. Perceptions About Land •Europeans viewed land on which they did not recognize active improvement or permanent settlement as free land; • The concept of land ownership was foreign to Native people. Can you imagine today owning the breathing air? • These differences in thought about the use, occupation and ownership of land sparked serious conflict between Native peoples and would- be settlers over land in North America.
- 5. Treaties Questions people havetoday about treaties: • “Are treaties still valid?” • “Do treaties give American Indians special rights?” • “Aren’t treaties bad for American Indians?” • “Weren’t all the treaties just broken anyway?”
- 6. Sovereignty Before the19th Century • At the time of European contact with the North American continent, all Indian nations exercised the powers of sovereigns by: • forming treaties, • trade agreements, • military alliances with other Indian nations.
- 7. Treaties • A Treatyis an agreement between two nations. • Why did treaties develop? • to prevent war over disputed areas. • to gain ownership of an area of land. • to gain access to resources in a given area. Sioux Treaty of 1868, National Archives and Records Administration General Records of the United States Government Record Group 11 National Archives Identifier: 299803
- 8. Pros & Consof Treaties • Pros • Can be used in order to avoid major conflicts that could lead to war. • Can help protect the rights of one or both parties, by getting an agreement in writing. • Cons • If not written clearly, misunderstandings can lead to further disagreements. • Could be used to take advantage of other group.
- 9. Handout • Key eventsthat affected the lives of the Oceti Sakowin people - a 19th century time line. • Please refer to the handout provided for a brief discussion of the historical context Indian policy & treaty making/violation. Photograph of a poster advertising land taken inside Dacotah Prairie Musem, Aberdeen, SD. Courtesy of Ioana Hojda
- 10. Treaties of FortLaramie of 1851 and 1868 Photograph taken during negotiations preceding the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. "Photograph of General William T. Sherman and Commissioners in Council with Indian Chiefs at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, ca. 1868”. Image Source: National Archives, identifier 531079. 1851 • safe passage of settlers to California in exchange for goods and services • created a short period of peace which allowed more settlers to enter or travel legally through tribal lands. 1868 • guarantees Sioux reservation land including the Black Hills, and hunting rights in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota
- 11. Treaties Matter • Originally,treaties were made to reduce animosities between settler governments and tribes, delimit non- Native settlement, or to establish relations of trade, peace and war. • Successively - they became a means by which tribes attempted to retain portions of their original territories or self-governance in the face of an overwhelming number of settlers and soldiers encroaching on their lands • Today - many treaties are very important in modern times: some protect tribes and support the fact that tribes are sovereign governments and have certain rights (to hunt and fish on ceded lands)
- 12. Take-aways • Native Americantreaties and agreements signed with United States government a detailed record of the developing relationship between a rising super- power and a people that now suffer from disproportionate social deprivation and lack of opportunities • as the US became more powerful in the middle of the Nineteenth Century it was able to drive harsher bargains with enervated tribes
- 13. Resources • http://indianeducation.sd.gov/ocetisakowin.aspx • http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8668 •Keasley, A., Meyer, R. C., Reeder, M., Centre Communications., BCI Eclipse (Firm), Brentwood Home Video (Firm), & Navarre Corporation. (2005). The great Indian wars. New Hope, Minn.: Distributed by BCI Eclipse Co. • Loewen, J. (2008). Lies my teacher told me (2nd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. • Stremlau, R. (2005). "To Domesticate and Civilize Wild Indians": Allotment and the Campaign to Reform Indian Families, 1875-1887. Journal Of Family History, 30(3), 265-286. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0363199005275793
Editor's Notes
- #3 Teacher Background:
- #4 In Race and Manifest Destiny, Reginald Horsman has shown how the idea of “God on our side” was used to legitimize the open expression of Anglo-Saxon superiority vis-à-vis Mexicans, Native Americans, peoples of the Pacific, Jews, and even Catholics.76Loewen, James W.. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (p. 90). The New Press. Kindle Edition.
- #5 The clash of cultures that began in 1492 was inevitable given the settlers’ drive to control new lands and the ways in which they justified the acquisition of these lands.
- #6 Tell students that they will learn about the treaty-making process with American Indians in the United States generally and then specifically in SD. Discuss the concept of treaties with the students. In many areas, treaties became the legal basis used by the U.S. government to acquire and change ownership of lands originally occupied by American Indian peoples. Explain to the children that treaties were, at first, agreements between tribes and non-Natives to co-exist. In North America, indigenous peoples were dispossessed of their lands by the U.S. government and non- Native settlers.
- #8 A treaty is a binding agreement under international law concluded by subjects of international law, namely states and international organizations. Treaties can be called by many names: treaties, international agreements, protocols, covenants, conventions, exchanges of letters, exchanges of notes, etc.; however all of these are equally treaties, and the rules are the same regardless of what the treaty is called.
- #11 Why is this important? The Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 created a short period of peace which allowed more settlers to enter or travel legally through tribal lands. However, as more non-Indians traveled through Sioux treaty lands, there were more opportunities for conflict and misunderstanding. The conflicts led members of Congress to think that another treaty was necessary. The treaties created a new problem for the Sioux. Once the government had established specific territorial boundaries for the tribes, federal agents could negotiate for more land cessions. The Sioux came to the 1868 treaty council with a great deal of power because Red Cloud and Sitting Bull had fought settlers, miners, and the Army. However, the Sioux lost land in this treaty council, and over the next forty years would continue to lose land originally promised to them by the Treaty of 1851.
- #12 Today, treaties have a legacy that is both tragic and a source of hope. Most treaties have been broken or violated in one way or another by the U.S. government, resulting in massive losses of land that were originally set aside for the exclusive use and occupancy of Native people. In addition to the attendant problems land loss created for tribes, the promise of food, goods, services and payments were not always delivered as specified in treaties.