Oklahoma Academic Standard 3. The student will evaluate the major political and economic events that transformed the land and its people from the outbreak of the Civil War through allotment and land openings.

Objectives: 

 3.3  Analyze the influence of the idea of Manifest Destiny on the Boomer Movement.

 3.4  Compare multiple points of view to evaluate the impact of the Dawes Act (General Allotment Act) which resulted in the loss of tribal communal lands through a transfer to individual property and the redistribution of lands, including the Unassigned Lands and the Cherokee Outlet, by various means.

In a Nutshell

Students should understand that American desires, sometimes rooted in the idea that the Anglo culture possessed a superior right to possess the land, contributed to national expansion. The philosophy of Manifest Destiny contributed to the public’s increasing demands to open any unclaimed land in Indian Territory for settlement. Students should also understand that the opening and distribution of lands in Indian Territory was welcomed by many Americans seeking a chance to claim a piece of the last American frontier. Nevertheless, the various laws and acts that legalized and enabled such a movement was in opposition to the heart of tribal principles and ideals concerning communal living, tribal sovereignty, and land ownership. 

Teacher Action 

Student Action 

• Guide students to appropriately apply and demonstrate an understanding of academic vocabulary in a social studies context regarding the influence of the concept of Manifest Destiny on the Boomer Movement.

• Provide opportunities for students to evaluate the extent to which historical, and cultural perspectives affect an author’s stated or implied purpose while analyzing primary documents concerning the impact of Manifest Destiny.

•  Facilitate students to gather, organize, and analyze various kinds of primary and secondary source evidence on related topics, evaluating the credibility of sources concerning the impact of the Dawes Act and the loss of tribal communal lands.

• Assist students to analyze the impact of laws, including the concept of sovereignty in relationship to the opening of former Indian lands to non-Indian settlement. 

• Evaluate authors’ points of view and how authors can reach different conclusions regarding justifications for Manifest Destiny.

• Write independently over extended periods of time, varying modes of expression to suit audience, purpose, and task; synthesize information across multiple sources and/or articulate new perspectives concerning the influence of the Boomer Movement.

• Develop questions about multiple historical and/or contemporary sources pursuing further inquiry and investigate additional sources regarding the transfer of communal lands to individual property and the redistribution of lands by various means.

• Compare points of agreement and disagreement from reliable information and expert interpretations associated with compelling and supporting questions, such as “How does public policy reflect cultural differences regarding land ownership?” 

Key Concepts 

Misconceptions 

• Unassigned Lands unoccupied as a result of the treaties of 1866; call to open the land to public settlement; impact of Elias C. Boudinot's editorial; illegal invasions by settlers, Boomer movement led by David L. Payne

• Manifest Destiny ideology; push for free public land for economic gain

• Charles C, Carpenter, David Couch, Frederick Turner  

• Helen Hunt Jackson's publication of A Century of Dishonor as first major treatise exposing federal relations with American Indian tribes

• reformers' solution of individual tribal ownership of land to facilitate assimilation into white American society

• impact to tribal land claims and sovereignty

• opening of the Unassigned lands and Cherokee Outlet through land runs

• reservations forcibly broken up; tribal citizens forced to enroll and receive individual allotments

• various means of protest; transition from communal tribal land ownership to individual ownership; impact of grafters and predatory land speculators; defrauding of tribal citizens of legitimate land claims'

• Angie Debo’s research published in And Still the Waters Run

•   Chitto Harjo, Crazy Snake Rebellion, Four Mothers Society, Curtis Act 

• Students may be unaware that the Unassigned Lands were originally American Indian tribal lands, specifically Creek and Seminole, that were taken punitively following the Civil War.

• Many students may be challenged to understand the complexity of the purpose and effects of the Dawes Act, as well as the intentions of individuals and groups involved in its passage.

• Many student’s may be unaware of Angie Debo’s career as a significant achievement both in scholarship concerning government relationships with American Indian tribes but also as a significant moment for women’s representation in the field of history.

Instructional Resources