15. Document Project 15: American Indians and Whites in the West

Quiz for Document 15.7 Thomas Nast, “Patience until the Indian Is Civilized—So to Speak,” 1878

Quiz for Document 15.7: Thomas Nast, “Patience until the Indian Is Civilized—So to Speak,” 1878

Document 15.7: Thomas Nast, “Patience until the Indian Is Civilized—So to Speak,” 1878

Choose the best answer to the question.

Question 1.10

1. Thomas Nast depicts Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz counseling patience to western settlers. What can you infer about what Schurz means by patience, based on the cartoon?

Allow time for the federal government to educate and refine the Indians.

Give the U.S. army the opportunity to secure the West.

Wait for industrialization to spread to settlers of the West Coast.

Let the western settlers and Indians learn to understand each other’s customs.

Question 1.11

2. What does the political cartoon imply regarding Indian motives for violence?

Settlers instigated violence with the Indians.

The army would put an end to the violence with force.

The Americans instigated the violence, but eventually they would stop.

Americans bore no responsibility; Indians were naturally violent until “civilized.”

Question 1.12

3. Why might Thomas Nast have included the phrase “So to Speak,” in the title of his political cartoon?

He believed the settlers could not be patient.

He questioned how “civilized” the Indians could be.

He blamed the settlers for the lack of civilization.

He did not want the settlers to be violent.

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