After the Civil War, some wanted to exterminate the Indians. The “reformers” thought it would instead be wise to “Christianize” them. A key weapon: boarding schools that would purge Indian culture. “Education cuts the cord that binds [Indians] to a Pagan life, places the Bible in their hands, substitutes the true God for the false one, Christianity in place of idolatry … cleanliness in place of filth, industry in place of idleness, self-respect in place of servility, and, in a word, an elevated humanity in place of abject degradation,” read an 1887 report from agents overseeing the Dakota reservations. At these schools, the children were taught to abandon Native spiritual traditions and embrace Christianity. Senator George G. Vest explained that “it is impossible to do anything for these people, or to advance them one single degree until you take their children away.”