Texas A&M University (TAMU) HIST106 Practice Exam 1

The phrase "Kill the Indian and save the man" is profoundly associated with the ideology of assimilation concerning Native Americans. This expression reflects the belief that in order to transform Native Americans into productive members of American society, their indigenous identities, cultures, and practices must be eliminated. The idea suggests that the only way for Native Americans to achieve success and integration into mainstream American culture was to abandon their traditional ways of life entirely.

This phrase encapsulated the sentiment of many reformers and government officials during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who advocated for policies aimed at forcing Native Americans into adopting European-American customs, languages, and lifestyles. This approach was evident in various assimilationist practices, including the establishment of Indian boarding schools, where Native American children were taken from their families and communities to be educated in a Eurocentric environment, often under harsh conditions.

The other options do not fully capture the intensity of the assimilationist agenda associated with this phrase. While some of them touch on integration or modernization, they lack the stark portrayal of the cultural eradication that this specific phrase vividly conveys.