Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 14, Lesson 3

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 14, Lesson 3: Indian Lands Lost (pp. 422-426)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Conflict As white settlers moved into the West, the Indian tribes living on the Plains lost their lands and their way of life.

Review why hostility between American Indians and white settlers increased after 1860. Include clashes over land use, the buffalo, and failure to enforce treaties. Explain the annuity system and what happened when the government failed to provide the annuities.

Describe other government policies regarding Indians, including the Dawes Act, and the schools for Indian children. Talk about the effect of losing one's native language, dress, religion, even name. Discuss the ways in which such assimilation efforts failed and why.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ask each student to prepare a letter to the editor supporting or opposing either the Dawes Act or the U.S. government schooling of Indian children. Tell students they must describe the policy clearly, then lay out their arguments for or against it with as many facts as possible.
Have students use the scale of the map on page 425 to estimate the number of miles of land available for Indians to live on in 1890. When they are finished, have students estimate the miles of land available to Indian tribes in 1850 by looking at the map on page 419 and discuss the changes.

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