How Did New Technology Affect Indians

The Transcontinental Railroad definitely changed the lives of Native Americans forever. For example, conflicts arose as the railroad project continued westward. Because of this, military were brought in to fight the Native Americans. They were forced to relocate from their lands. This resulted in widespread destruction of their cultures and way of life.

Mike Flanagan stated in The Old West Day by Day that in 1868, Western Native Americans attacked groups of railway workers in opposition of the growth of railroads, and after forty homestead attacks, ninety-nine white settlers were killed. This occurred one year before the Union Pacific railway was completed, and the progress on the groundbreaking route was far along by 1868. Many involved in the building of the railroad were foreign immigrants who came to America to find new opportunities. The railroad workers were often impoverished and did not intend to encroach on the Native Americans’ hunting grounds, but the Native Americans attacked them anyways. A large sum of homesteaders were similar in circumstance to the railroad workers, and came to the Great Plains in search of a better life.

In the second half of the 19th century. the United States government made efforts to limit the presence of Native Americans and their culture within the Great Plains region. This increased tension betweens Plains Indians and the settlers of the Great Plains region. The development of the transcontinental railroad and discriminatory government land policies had disastrous effects on the lives of Plains Indians. The lives of Plains Indians were affected by technology through the transcontinental railroad.

The Dawes Act of 1887 started an era of forced assimilation which stripped Indian Children of their culture and heritage. Through boarding schools, the government “sought to give the Indian the schooling of the whites, teaching him to despise his old customs and habits as barbaric” (185). Leading up to the Great Depression, government policies reduced Indian-owned lands which meant many Indian families were unable to make a living or provide for themselves. The Wheeler-Howard Act of 1935 effectively ended these policies and introduced freedoms which has been previously denied to Indians. It “gave to the tribe the right to decide whether they would accept important privileges in education, self-determination and self-government” (184).

In the late 1800s, America began to grow and government decided to explore and expand to new lands. After sending explorers to see the new land, they began to move into the western territory where Natives were already settled.  Western expansion affected the lives of Native Americans during the period 1860- 1890 because Americans forcefully took their land, lives and traditions away. The government pushed for the removal of Natives in any way possible or get them to convert to American ways.

In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act in the Great Plains, which allowed the poor to have a chance to own land. During this time, the Civil War was still in action and more people started moving West. First, the Homestead Act and promotion by railroads brought more farmers into the West, which meant more food for the growing population of America and the cultivation of the West. Although this was helpful for the nation, it was less effective than the railroads for the selling of crops because farmers could have a bad harvest or not be able to get crops to the market on time.

Spaniards unknowingly brought bacteria and viruses from the Old World that caused destructive diseases including measles, smallpox, and others. These epidemics decimated the vast majority of Native Americans in the New World. The result was a huge decline in the number of Native Americans, which effectively turned the once-dominant Native Americans into a minority on their own land to the rising number of European and African descendants. Native Americans were not the only ones who suffered. Many of Columbus’s men contracted syphilis after having sexual interactions with New World women.

Specifically, native populations were afflicted with smallpox, bubonic plague, influenza, scarlet fever, measles and several other diseases.    In return the New World gave syphilis.   Since the Spanish only brought male soldiers, they procreated with the native Indians.

In the later part of the 1800’s, the United States had started to become increasingly roaming. The creation of a new mode of transportation dubbed the Transcontinental Railroad shortened a 6 month wagon journey to just a 7 day train ride. This allowed settlers to move west and fulfill the assumed manifest destiny. This combined with the Homestead Act gave settlers the freedom and prosperity they had always dreamed of. The settlers could claim as much as 160 acres of free land.

Life for the Native Americans was much harder during and after the western expansion. For example, the US took land from the Indians leading the formation of reservations, White men almost hunted the Buffalo , an important food source for the Indians, to extinction, and forced the Indians to get rid of their culture. Because of the western expansion, the area of land the Indians could occupy decreased significantly. The government would make treaties with the Indians allowing them to keep a certain area of land, but this would soon be broken ; When the Pacific Railroad Act was passed it stated that wherever a track was laid the company would own any land 200 ft surrounding the track including Indian land ; the Government would make sure that

It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European

The main social issue was the government’s attempt to assimilate the Indians and to eliminate their cultural background as a tribe. For instance, the government discouraged hunting among the tribes, a key element to the Plain Indian’s culture and way of life. Instead, agricultural techniques were to be adopted among their community, most specifically farming. Another abrupt change for the Indians was the imposing of the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act forced the Indians to live with only their family, a more individualistic way of life.

The lives of the Plains Indians were affected by many technological developments and the government actions during the period 1850-1900. Technological developments came into The Plains Indians life and drove them back. When the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869 which united the east and the west it made it easier to trade, communicate, and white settlers could ride the railroad in any part of the country. The transcontinental railroad finished this made it worse for the Plains Indians because they no longer needed the wagon training was over. Having the railroad finished it changed the land and most areas were destroyed.

First of all, Native Americans were settled on a hotbed of natural resources which included oil and precious metals such as silver and gold. There was also much fertile land that would entice farmers and frontiersmen to move out west. On this land there was so much potential economic opportunity for farmers, cattle drivers, miners and many other occupations. The government developed the popular public misconception that the indians were misusing the land and that Americans had the right to take advantage of the opportunities that lie in the west. These ideas led to the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 which authorized encroachment of Indian lands by the US government in order to divide up reservations and control Indian activity.

Business owners made lots of money from the railroads because they were able to transport goods farther and faster with ease. Although the railroads tremendously impacted businesses and therefore the economy, the native americans were negatively impacted because the railroads were being laid on “their” land. This caused distrust between the settlers and the natives because of the “disrespect” for the land. Because of the new ways of transportation, the industrial revolution took place causing skilled artisans to be replaced by unskilled workers that used large complex machines.