ABSTRACT
One of the major new forces contributing to the development of an expanded educational system in the post-Civil War era was the national government. If the creation of a more powerful national government was one aspect of modernization, another was an emerging "majoritarian" consciousness in the minds of American citizens that rationalized this nationalizing trend. Mechanization in agriculture forced more and more farm families to seek their fortunes in the nation's burgeoning cities. This relocation process put great stress on traditional family structures, which, in turn, had a direct impact on the nation's school legislation. By the late 1870s the inadequacies of reservation day schools as civilizing agencies were becoming pronounced. Standard school uniforms replaced tribal clothing. Names were changed in a variety of ways, but the basic purpose was to give Indian youth a new identity. Examinations were essential to the new urban school courses, providing immediate evidence of student achievement or failure.
