Traveling Trunk Lesson Plan 5: Treaties

Essential Question

How has conflict resulted from the migration and settlement of people as they expanded across the continent, and how were they resolved?

Objectives

Understand why treaties did not always work between tribal members and whites.
Understand how it feels to sign something you do not understand.

Traveling Trunk Items

coffee beans, hard tack, Washita Battlefield brochure
Pictures: tribal members at a treaty meeting, treaty map

Hook

1. As students enter the classroom/transition have them read and sign a “treaty document” written in Spanish/French/other language.

2. Explain that what they just signed will have an impact on the rest of the class period.

3. As the government official of the treaty, explain what was just signed to the students.

Explore

1. Explain treaties were often used to try to prevent conflicts between people on the plains. Most of these treaties placed tribes on selected areas of land to protect them from settlers. Most of the time these treaties failed. Chief Black Kettle signed three peace treaties with the government and his village was still attacked in November 1868.

2. Read/show list of treaties signed by Plains tribes and US government in the Washita Battlefield brochure.

3. Open PowerPoint and use it to teach about treaties. (Every 1-5 minutes, during PowerPoint an activity stick will be pulled from the cup and the action will be carried out):
   • Possible events:
     1. Supplies do not arrive
     2. Not all the supplies arrive
     3. Members are caught outside the “reservation” – supplies are withheld as punishment
     4. A building/farm/etc. is destroyed near the “reservation” – supplies are withheld as punishment
     5. Supplies that arrive are broken or destroyed
     6. Other
4. Debrief with class. What was it like to sign something you didn’t understand? How did it make you feel when supplies did not arrive or when there was not enough to go around? Would you have signed the treaty had you known what was in it? Would you have compromised? What would you have fought for/tried to keep?

Associated Files

Lesson Five PowerPoint (PPTX, 7335 KB)
Treaty Document (PDF, 78 KB)