clearly marking the boundaries
of the Lakota Nation.
According to the treaty,
those lands are a sovereign nation.
If the boundaries
of this treaty had held --
and there is a legal basis
that they should --
then this is what the US
would look like today.
Ten years later.
The Homestead Act,
signed by President Lincoln,
unleashed a flood of white settlers
into Native lands.
1863:
An uprising of Santee Sioux in Minnesota
ends with the hanging of 38 Sioux men,
the largest mass execution in US history.
The execution was ordered
by President Lincoln,
only two days after he signed
the Emancipation Proclamation.
1866: The beginning
of the Transcontinental Railroad --
a new era.
We appropriated land for trails and trains
to shortcut through the heart
of the Lakota Nation.
The treaties were out the window.
In response, three tribes led
by the Lakota chief Red Cloud
attacked and defeated the US army,