Westward expansion displaced many Native American tribes from their ancestral lands in the mid-19th century. This was justified under the guise of manifest destiny and bringing civilization to untouched lands, though in reality many of the removed tribes like the Cherokee had become relatively civilized. The Texas Rangers helped enable settlers' movement west by patrolling the frontier and increasing conflicts between settlers and Native Americans. Texas established reservations for displaced tribes but conflicts with Comanches led to their removal from Texas by the late 1850s.

1. Westward Expansion
How did it Affect the American Indians?

2. 1872 John Gast
“Manifest Destiny” “Spirit of the
Frontier”
What is happening here?
How does this represent
Americans’ way of thinking
at this time?

4. Westward Expansion –
How did Americans justify westward expansion and the
removal of Indian tribes and their right to land?
It was rationalized in terms that it would bring Anglo-Saxon institutions
into an area that was devoid of such enlightenment.
The hypocrisy of this is obvious
The argument that was
because many of the people,
used was, "This had to be
though not all of them, who
done to save these poor
were removed were very
Indian people. They don't
sophisticated and relatively
fit in the East, so we have
"civilized" people. For example,
to move them out beyond
the literacy rate of the Cherokee
the frontier where they can
nation is higher than that of the
do their Indian thing . This
white South up through the Civil
is the only possible way to
War, yet the tribe was moved
save them."
westward as an uncivilized
people, so that their land could
be open for American expansion.

5. Texas Rangers
Guarded the Patrolled the
Effects
Duties
frontier frontier, enabling
Mounted on settlers to move
horse to cover westward
large amounts of Led to increased
land conflicts between
Used Colt six- American Indians
shooter and settlers

6. The Reservation Policy
• Most Texans wanted a “Separate but equal”
policy with the Indians
• The Texas legislature set aside approximately
70,000 acres, for Indian reservations in
northwest Texas.

7. The Reservation Policy
• Two major Indian
reservations were built:
• The Brazos County Indian
Reservation
– 2000 Indians moved to the
reservation, including Caddo,
Anadarko, Waco, and
Tonkawa.
– Many Indians moved to the
reservation to gain protection
from the Comanche.
• The Comanche Indian
Reservation was located
about forty miles away.

8. The Reservation Policy
• The Alabama-
Coushatta,
unique
among Texas
tribes in their
ability to
maintain
peace with
Texans,
moved to a ****These people managed to avoid
reservation in becoming involved in the warfare that was
Polk County. about to engulf their fellow Texas Indians.

9. The Removal of Texas Indians
By the late 1850s,
Conflicts between the
most Texans Comanche and Texans
considered the made them eager to
reservation expel the Indians from
experiment to be a Texas permanently.
failure.
As a result, the U.S. Army and
Texas Rangers launched several
military offensives against the
Comanche.

10. Texas Indian Reservations Today
• Unlike other western states, Texas has almost no Indian lands
due to the conflicts that drove most of the Indians to other
states. http://www.laits.utexas.edu/txp_media/html/cult/features/0500_02/indianr
eservation.html

11. Indian Policy after the Civil War
The federal garrisons
that were supposed to
protect settlers were
IT WAS A DIFFICULT undermanned. Texas
wanted to provide
TIME FOR ALL: rangers to supplement
For both groups, the frontier defense but
frontier remained was ruined financially
by the defeat in the
unsafe and war.
unpredictable.

12. Slaughter of the
William T. Sherman,
commander of the U.S. Buffalo
Army, and Philip H.
Sheridan, commander of
U.S. troops in Texas, were To this end,
veterans of some of the they began a
worst fighting of the Civil policy of
War. encouraging
the slaughter
of the
southern
buffalo herd.

13. Slaughter of the Buffalo
• Buffalo in Texas were
first described by
Cabeza de Vaca. Texas
was home to four main
herds, and at the
height of their
population, their trails
could be several miles
wide. What became
known as the "great
slaughter" took place
in the 1870s, and by
1878 the buffalo in
Texas was all but
exterminated.