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. The lives of natives as American troops began to come in and take over. Soldiers killed many natives who meant them no harm. According to S.G. Colley, Colonel Chivington led a surprise attack on the indians and killed many of them. He let his troops mutilate innocent women and children, as well as men, because they were indians. Not only were they massacred by American Colonel Chivington, but many were also killed in fighting for their land. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce begged for surrender as his people were dying because of fighting, lack of food, and freezing to death. …show more content…
The US government wanted the indians to take come into “white ways”. Chief Luther Standing Bear tells his experience after leaving the reservation. He explains how he unexpectedly learned the ways of the white man instead of his original idea of doing a “brave deed”. Also, in Powell’s report, he pushes for Native children to be put into schools to learn english and american ways to work. He pushed for houses to be built to encourage indians to convert to american traditions and ways of life. American soldiers came into Indian territory and took their traditions away, but even after taking their lives and their culture, the US still needed
When it came time to take action the Indians were forced to move westward leaving them far from the land they had come to know as well as having to adapt to new places. The Indians
During the period 1860-1890, western expansion negatively impacted the lives of Native Americans, by turning their lives upside-down under the order of the orders of the federal government. I say this because The Americans massacred the friendly Indians, Disrespected the culture and beliefs by slaughtering the buffalo, and Forcing Indians to assimilate to American culture. Native Americans were negatively impacted by Americans because of the western expansion and in doing so it lead to the incorrect assumption which in fact lead to the massacre of friendly Indians. In the morning of November 29th Colonel Chivington allowed a surprise attack on the friendly native americans which lead to the death of mostly women and children. The Native
The migration of Americans to the west was a good thing for innovation and building up the United States as a country, but the Native Americans who lived in these lands were changed forever. Any Native Americans found in lands where United States citizens wanted land was immediately excavated from their land and brought to an Indian reservation of some kind. Overtime though, these Indian reservations began to limit due to the rising population in Americans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. “They [Lewis and Clark] provided valuable information about the topography, the biological sciences, the ecology, and ethnic and linguistic studies of the American Indian. The mysteries of
The relationship between the United States and the Native American tribes has never been a supportive one, challenging at best. In the past 200 years the relationship between the two has put pressure on Congress’ claim of a world power over tribes and tribal nation’s natural sovereignty, one that is even older than that of the United States of America. This tension, which comes from a sense of where the status of the Tribe fits into the United States Constitution, is creating a slippery slope for the Native American people. But in the book, the biggest question Pommersheim raises in the introduction is: can the modern Indian people escape their federally forced dependence, to become truly self-defining?
His use of the words killed, dead, cold, freezing, sick, and sad are powerful and evoke powerful reactions in the audience oratorically. In conclusion, Chief Joseph's surrender speech was a survival strategy to keep the Nez Perce people alive and together after he realized the battle was a loss. Feeling betrayed, he conveys a powerful message of revelations and challenges of his tribe to the American government, expressing the suffering and anguish of the Native Americans and the ferocity of war. The sincerity and leadership Chief Joseph displayed in his speech make this one of the most touching pieces of oratory in
America has been very unkind to the Native American. Throughout history, from Christopher Columbus’ arrival in 1492, who called the natives “Indios”, thus beginning the label of the Natives as “Indians”, to the 19th Century, a time of enormous hubris, greed, prejudice, Indians suffered enormous violence. From the foundation of the Manifest Destiny in 1845 giving white men all the privilege, while the Native’s saw their culture, and homes ripped away from them. Dee Brown’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” brilliantly captures the actual truth of the plight of the Native Americans from 1860 to 1890. Dee Brown’s reason for writing “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” was to tell the truth of the Native Americans.
The United States gave the Indians time to move west and those that had not done so by choice were forced. The removal of the Indians was a long going issue for The United States, that no one knew just how to deal with. “Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was simply to “civilize” the Native
The American government of the late 1800’s adopted the policy of assimilation because they were influenced by the desire to expand westward into territories occupied by these Native American tribes. All Native American tribes, lived to the west of the Mississippi River. These American Indians, some from the Northwestern and Southeastern territories, were confined to Indian Territory. The Native Americans had endured nearly a century of forced removal westward.
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
Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.
Merrell’s article proves the point that the lives of the Native Americans drastically changed just as the Europeans had. In order to survive, the Native Americans and Europeans had to work for the greater good. Throughout the article, these ideas are explained in more detail and uncover that the Indians were put into a new world just as the Europeans were, whether they wanted change or
The western expansion had a large impact on the United States. Although it had a positive impact on the country as they gained an economic growth, it had a negative impact on the Native Americans who had experienced a decrease in population. Western expansion began in 1803 with Thomas Jefferson purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million as the U.S. population increased drastically. “...from around 5 million people in 1800 to more than 23 million by 1850,” (History.com) According to History.com, the purchase of Louisiana Territory gave them another 828,000 square miles, which stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
The people who settled the west were greatly dependent on the US government and the policies they adopted. The settling of the west in the late 19th century was similar to the settlement of the south in the 1830’s. Andrew Jackson drove out the indians so that the valuable land of the south could be secured by white settlers. Once again, the federal government made it possible to settle the west by forcing indians off of their lands. A recurring theme in American history is manifest destiny and the attempt to develop unsettled lands by the federal government.
Americans had already started an impact on Plains Indians life first by their idea of Manifest Destiny and expanding to the west through God’s given rights for economic benefits like mining and farming in new fertile land. Making expansion deals like the Mexican Cession where the U.S. gained Upper California and New Mexico. The lives of Plains Indians in the latter half of the 19th Century were dramatically impacted by a combination of technological developments and government actions, as they faced increased encroachment on their lands, destruction of their traditional way of life, and forced assimilation into Euro-American society. In the later half of the 19th century Plains Indians were greatly affected by the technological developments
However, it had little to no effect on change Native Americans society, because “Kill the Indian, save the man” was an unjustified concept to begin with. Therefore, the real Americanization is to enlighten ourselves, instead of assimilation, be perceptive to accept different culture and its people. Let eagles be eagles and crows be crows, let’s not worry about lion becomes ox or ox becomes lion, because everything has its function in this