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NORTHERN PLAINS Treaties

Is a Treaty Intended to Be Forever?

This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members, images, documents, and other sources to help students and teachers understand the difficult choices and consequences Northern Plains Native Nations faced when entering into treaty negotiations with the United States. Scroll to begin an exploration of the intentions, motivations, and outcomes of two treaties: the 1851 Horse Creek Treaty and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.
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lesson
information


Grades:

9–12

Nations:

Apsaalooke (Crow), Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Dakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Hidatsa, Lakota (Sioux), Mandan, Nakota (Sioux), Northern Cheyenne

Subjects:

Government and Civics, History, Social Studies

Keywords:

Great Plains, northern plains, plains, Plains Indians, Plains Indian wars, Crow, Cheyenne, Northern Cheyenne, Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Oceti Sakowin, Sioux, Arapaho, Assiniboine, treaties, U.S. Constitution, 1851 Horse Creek Treaty, 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, sovereignty, Black Hills, Westward Expansion, Doctrine of Discovery, diplomacy, treaty ratification, U.S. Senate, U.S. v Sioux Nation, colonization, history, Manifest Destiny

Regions:

Northern Great Plains


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essential
understandings


Framework for Essential Understandings about American Indians
Building on the ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies' national curriculum standards, NMAI's Essential Understandings reveal key concepts about the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native peoples. Woven throughout the lesson, the following Essential Understandings provide a foundation for students to thoughtfully approach the difficult choices and consequences Northern Plains Native Nations faced when entering into treaty negotiations with the United States.
This resource addresses the following Essential Understandings:
Essential Understanding 2:
Time, Continuity, and Change

European contact resulted in devastating loss of life, disruption of tradition, and enormous loss of lands for American Indians.

Providing an American Indian context to history makes for a greater understanding of world history.

Essential Understanding 5:
Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

Today, because of treaties, court decisions, and statutes, tribal governments maintain a unique relationship with federal and state governments.

Essential Understanding 6:
Power, Authority, and Governance

Long before European colonization, American Indians had developed a variety of complex systems of government that embodied important principles of effective rule. American Indian governments and leaders interacted, recognized each other's sovereignty, practiced diplomacy, built strategic alliances, waged wars and negotiated peace accords.

A variety of political, economic, legal, military, and social polies were used by Europeans and Americans to remove and relocate American Indians and to destroy their cultures. U.S. policies regarding American Indians were the result of major national debate. Many of these policies had a devastating effect on established American Indian governing principles and systems. Other policies sought to strengthen and restore tribal self-government.

A variety of historical policy periods have had a major impact on American Indian people's abilities to self-govern. These include: Treaty period, 1789–1871.

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academic
standards


Common Core State Standards
STAGE OF INQUIRY
9–10 Grades
11–12 Grades
Overarching Standards/Summative Performance Task

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1 Write [construct] arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST11-12.1 Write [construct] arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Staging the Question: Treaties Matter

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
Supporting Question 1: What values shaped treaty making between Native Nations and the United States?

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
Supporting Questions 2: How did the intentions of the Horse Creek Treaty compare to the outcomes?

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Supporting Question 3: Did the parties of the Fort Laramie Treaty honor their treaty obligations?

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole..
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.A Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.A Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
Mapping Informed Action: The Dakota Access Pipeline

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
Taking Informed Action Expository-Writing

Anchor Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
College, Career & Civic Life–C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards
STAGE OF INQUIRY
STANDARDS
Overarching Standards/Summative Performance Task
D1.5.9-12
Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
D4.1.9-12
Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.
D4.3.9-12
Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary).
Staging the Question: Treaties Matter
D2.His.1.9-12
Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
Supporting Question 1: What values shaped treaty making between Native Nations and the United States?
D2.Civ.10.9-12
Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
Supporting Question 2: How did the intentions of the Horse Creek Treaty compare to the outcomes?
D2.Civ.13.9-12
Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences.
D2.His.14.9-12
Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
Supporting Question 3: Did the parties of the Fort Laramie Treaty honor their treaty obligations?
D1.5.9-12
Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
D4.1.9-12
Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.
Mapping Informed Action: The Dakota Access Pipeline
D4.7.9-12
Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
D4.6.9-12
Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems over time and place.
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Treaties Matter

Instructions
Find out more about treaties and why they matter. Hear from Native students, examine two maps, and get an expert's perspective.
Map: Worldviews
Examine two maps that represent differing perspectives. Consider how the diversity and scope of Native Nations conflicted with European nations' claims to Native lands.
Essay: Northern Plains Treaties—Treaty Making and Treaty Breaking on the Northern Plains
Hear from an expert. Read what educator and writer Julie Cajune has to say about the complicated history of treaty making between Native Nations and the U.S. government.
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HEAR
FROM THE
EXPERT:


Julie Cajune
Educator from the Salish Nation

Julie Cajune portrait

Treaty Making and Treaty Breaking on the Northern Plains


This inquiry explores the legal and ideological frameworks that underscore the treaty making process and the history that unfolded between the expanding United States and Native Nations. Treaty-making, like most other aspects of U.S. Indian policy in the 19th century, was solidly rooted in the worldview of the Europeans who colonized the Americas. Implicit in the concept of the Doctrine of Discovery was the "right" of the discovering nations to gain title to Native lands. And, as the Europeans and, later, the Americans desire for more land grew, the concept of Manifest Destiny evolved and was embraced as inevitable progress. This worldview contrasted starkly with Native philosophy and political ideology.

The Horse Creek Treaty of 1851 involved the Oglala Sioux, Brule Sioux, Cheyenne, Assiniboine, Mandan, Gros Ventre (Hidatsa), Arapaho, Crow, Hidatsa, Arikara, Snake, and Shoshone, although the Shoshone were uninvited attendees. The United States wanted permission from Native nations to build roads and outposts on Native lands. The government was also seeking assurances for unhindered travel for European settlers heading west. At the time of the treaty, however, some roads and outposts had already been established. So, seeking Native agreement to be able to build more roads and outposts on Native lands, while simultaneously saying the government did not want any land from Native Nations, made the United States government's stated intent appear disingenuous. Furthermore, by decreasing the proposed annuity payment for the land from 50 years to 10 years, the Horse Creek treaty was then actually violated even before its ratification.

The desire for Native land continued once gold was discovered in Montana. The building of the "Bozeman Trail" to make access to the gold easier brought scores of settlers through Native territories. Native people began resisting those incursions into their territory. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 sought to bring an end to the conflicts and to definitively determine territorial boundaries for the Oglala, Miniconjou and Brule bands of Lakota, Yanktonai Dakota, and the Arapaho Nations. Assurances were given to those Native Nations that they would have "absolute and undisturbed use and occupation" of their lands. But, the treaty was violated eleven years after it was signed when the U.S. government took the gold-rich Black Hills, an area that had been designated as unceded Sioux Nation lands. The taking of the Black Hills remains a major controversy today.

A treaty is a formal agreement between two or more sovereign nations about something of mutual interest and importance. Thus, making treaties with Native Nations reflected a clear recognition by the United States government of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Nations with whom they treated. Although Article VI of the United States Constitution declares treaty law as the supreme law of the land, Native Nations found out that treaty promises—solemn legal obligations—would not always be honored by the United States government.

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Map: Worldviews

Long before their contact with the Europeans, Indigenous people populated the Americas. While it is difficult to determine with certainty the number of Native Nations that lived on the lands that are now known as the United States, what is indisputable is that these lands were extensively occupied. This map shows some of the diverse Native peoples, governments, and societies that lived and thrived on their homelands before contact with Europeans and Americans.
European nations viewed the homelands of Native Nations as territory to be taken and used for profit and settlement. By the early eighteenth century, several powerful European nations laid claim to vast territories that were already inhabited by many different Native Peoples and Nations.
Native Nations
European Nations
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How did the Intentions of the Horse Creek Treaty Compare with the Outcomes?

Instructions
Learn more about one important treaty in both Native American and American history—the 1851 Horse Creek Treaty. Explore a timeline, interpret selected treaty articles, and examine two maps. Consider the motivations, intentions, and outcomes of this treaty.
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Did Parties to the Fort Laramie Treaty Honor Their Treaty Obligations?

Instructions
Follow the story of an important obligation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Examine the timeline; interpret selected treaty articles; and use the images, quotes, and passages to determine whether nations met their treaty obligations.
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Is a Treaty Intended to Be Forever?

Instructions
What did the evidence reveal? Is a treaty intended to be forever? Construct an evidence-based argument about the motivations, intentions, and outcomes of treaty making between the U.S. government and Northern Plains Nations.
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