Contested Plains by Elliot West

The subject of this chapter summary will be the eighteenth chapter of Alan Taylor’s American Colonies. The chapter is called “The Great Plains” and discusses the history of that geographical region from 1680-1800. Taylor begins by explaining how warfare both sustained and weakened New Mexico. It maintained unity, because without an external enemy to focus on, the Pueblo people would rise up in revolt against Mexico. However, the constant warfare discouraged any new settlers from putting down roots there. Spain's holdings in North America were weakened by the foreign policy of the motherland, which focused on the colonial core of the territory, not the exterior regions. For Mexico, New Mexico was just a buffer zone between itself and other

In “Times are Altered with Us Indians by Colin Calloway,” Indian peoples are shown to have created thriving communities before the Europeans arrived in their lands. They had developed long histories, effective fishing, farming, and hunting techniques, political systems and social structures, hundreds of languages, had advanced culturally in the form of artwork and architecture, as well as have far reaching networks of trade and communication, way before Europeans had “discovered America.” Once Europeans had arrived however, they had caused Native Americans prosperity to falter. The most devastating cause of change for the Indians were diseases like smallpox, plague, measles, yellow fever, and influenza brought by the Europeans, and caused several tribes to be completely wiped out and some tribes to only have a few survivors. The diseases, as well as alcohol, caused the social and political structure to be affected negatively because elders, providers, family members, healers, and counselors perished so all the resources and knowledge in these people perished with them and were not able to be passed on to the survivors. Eventually, Indian life began to be taken over by European ideals as a way to survive, by converting to Christianity, trading with the Europeans, having the Europeans interfere in their politics, and having war-caused by the Europeans- ruin their remaining communities. Indians role in colonial America are different than they are portrayed in traditional

Before the arrival of the European, Indian have already inhabited the places living by hunting animals and growing crops, having their own languages and cultures their land have been rooted there for generation after generation. But the Europeans, have taken those away from them, killing countless Indian with their diseases, and driving them out of their house, trying to convert them into Christian, viewing them as savage animal condemned them into an endless inexpressible sufferings. The North American Indians traditions and cultural been burn down in a matter of time, their traditions were obscured, and the chain of their recollections broken the moment when the European set foot on the New World. As the European tyranny increasing Indian habits started to change their becoming restless, and when they were pushes to their limited the Indian become more warlike, and more barbarous desperately fighting in order to earn some respect from the European. After American become independent the problem with Indian was still an issues, many war between Indian and the American has happen. More and more Indian having to move westward into the Louisiana territories continues losing their home and their lifestyles, they have also tried to bring this issues to court but was turn down, not only the Indian trying to adapted to the new environment, by creating their

“The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado” Written by Elliott West. I chose to write about this book because of the large range of events and transitions that occurred throughout the American West that the author includes in the text. Elliot West highlights the struggles that many endured while trying to create better circumstances for not only themselves but also their families by moving to the west. He chronicles the adaptations that many white settlers arriving in the west faced in order to be able to make a living for themselves. But another reason why I found the book interesting was because of the way Elliot West provided perspective for each side of the struggle over the American West. He gives us the

In his “Great Plains Thesis” Walter Webb builds on his thoughts regarding Emerson Hough’s “The Way to the West.” He does this by examining the Great Plains and the people who lived there. This thesis provides a structure for studying and understanding the relationship between the Plains environment and the cultures of people inhabiting it. Webb explains how treelessness, levelness, and semi-aridity affected the different people and nations within the Great Plains. He compares the Plains to the wooded areas of the East while describing forced adaptations in American lifestyles.

Oklahoma was once referred to as the “Unassigned Lands” (Fugate,138). This land was land inside Indian Territory that had not been claimed by one of the tribes (Hoig). Whites believed they were entitled to this land and wanted to get the statement across that America is a “white man’s country” (Dorman, 38). Immediately after Benjamin Harrison, the United States of America’s president at the time, announced the land would be opened for settlement, people began gathering their belongings, loading their wagons, or preparing their horses for travel. Thousands of people crowded the borders of the Unassigned Lands in hopes of establishing a settlement in the area (Fugate,140). At noon on April 22, 1889, people dashed across the land with their belongings seeking a plot of land. The Oklahoma Land Run was an exciting, puzzling, and in some cases, a violent day in Oklahoma’s history.

Changes in the Land, by William Cronon, is the story of how the Europeans came to the New World and how their life in New England changed. However, the story can not be told without describing the life of the Indians, who were in the New World far before the Europeans. The Europeans introduced civilization, as they knew it back in Europe, to the Indians, who already had their own civilization; these conflicting beliefs made the lives of Europeans and Indians of the 16th century radically different.

This investigation examines the historical question of “to what extent did the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1874 lead to the Great Sioux War of 1876?”. One key source chosen to support this investigation is a book from the United States Department of the Interior. This is relevant because it provides access to information compiled from the United States government’s extensive database of information regarding conflict in the Black Hills. The other significant source is a firsthand account from a Cheyenne woman that lived through and experienced the events leading up to the Great Sioux War of 1876, including the Black Hills Gold Rush.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.

When the Euro-Americans (whites) and Native Americans came into contact, there was conflict. This conflict eventually led to The Plains wars, which the Native Americans lost. In this essay the details as to why the Native Americans lost the plains war will be explained. These details include seven main points, which are- the end of the civil war and the manifest destiny, different attitudes towards land, the whites upsetting the population balance, the effect of reservations, the start of the Californian gold rush, the weapons that both the sides used during war, and the actual wars that made up the plains war.

As the result of the invader of European on the physical aspect, the relationship between the natives and the invaders was clear: conquest, enslavement, the expropriation of all the wealth and resources of the land. However the Native Americans were also affected on the non-physical aspect. As the traditional base of existence changed due to the Colonists’ victory, the local Native communities had to adapt certain aspects of their culture in order to survive.

Native Americans endured a lot of environmental changes. From strangers invading their land to being exposed to many illnesses, these issues changed and shaped the values of many tribes. Newcomers provided the challenge of adapting to new ways of life and cultures, such as being able to hunt better, use weapons to their advantage, and the idea of trading items for more useful items.

The livestock that included horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were changing the ecology and landscape as well. The livestock were loosed to graze on grasses; they trampled the grass, which destroyed the land as well as the inland native peoples crops. Pigs were destroying the clam and mussel banks that the coastal Indians relied upon as part of their diet (Calloway, 2012, p. 83). The whole environment was changing. Where the Indians showed stewardship of the land, the Europeans ravished the land and consequently destroyed the Indian's way of life. The Europeans put forth a very clear message that there was no room for the Indian's way of life. Their way was much more "civilized" and the Indians would have to submit or be ravished just as the land was. The Europeans were taking the native peoples land and ultimately their freedom.

The introduction of weapons, alcohol, and other European things and ideas also great and unpredictable effects. The Europeans encountered many sophisticated Indian cultures and some owe their survival to the Natives. The Europeans introduced the idea of “ownership of the land” to the Indians. Of course, tribes fought over territory to hunt, fish and occasionally practice agricultural on, but the idea of “ownership” of land was something they didn't comprehend. For some Indians the land was considered sacred, the idea of agriculture was thought of as insulting to the Earth, and many aspects of nature. For the Indians, things in nature like rivers, ponds, and even rocks, were like the saints in Christian cultures. Even after they had made deals with the Europeans for the purchase of land, they didn't understand what they had done and that led to further conflict. Europeans also changed their barter system. They had built complex economic relationships with other tribes and understood commerce as it existed in their barter and exchange system. Europeans had a destructive impact of this trading culture, trading different things than the Indians were used to and also through the use of currency.