Disputes with the Native Americans from the Beginning

Before the white men had moved west Native Americans occupied the land west of the Mississippi River. The Plains Indians were nomadic tribes that moved around throughout western North America. Then in the mid-1800s the east of the United States was starting to get crowded; the idea of moving west was beginning to look very entertaining. There were a lot of natural resources out west such as, precious metals, wood, In 1849 gold was discovered in California and the 1849 Gold Rush occurred. Hundreds of thousands of men moved west to pan and mine for gold. Some of the Americans moved west because they thought it was their God given right to expand throughout the entire continent; no matter who lived there already. Now the settlers were walking right through Native American territory and that angered the natives. This caused skirmishes between the two peoples. On top of that the United States government was passing all sorts of acts to isolate Native Americans. All of these things affected Native Americans. Western expansion and government affected Native Americans by depletion of resources, assimilations, and governmental actions.

The native population declined and their well being was not a priority. The US settlers became obsessed with this notion of westward expansion even if it meant that natives were going to be mistreated and oppressed. The creation of the railroad was the final nail in the coffin to the natives’ fate. The railroad allowed easy access and transportation to the new land. As stated in the text, “… Between 1790-1840, some 4.5 million people crossed the Appalachian Mountains – more than the entire U.S population at the time of Washington’s first inauguration.” (Pg. 336) This shows the dramatic increase in population and demand for westward expansion. Since natives occupied the land that was needed for building such infrastructure, the European settlers

For citizens all throughout the United States. By traveling via train passengers could reach their destination in 90% of the time compared to the travel methods before. This also caused a large increase in Western Settlement. Now, families did not have to worry about the harsh and long travel they would have had to make to go West just a few years before. People did not have to worry about weather, supply shortage, disease, and more, as railroad travel helped all of those situations. However, every good thing has a bad side, and it is important to note that the increase of Western Settlement forced more Indians out of their land, which began to cause violence between white men and Indians.

When thinking about relevant theories to the Native American conflict, there are a few that can be applied in a few different ways to help explain the various aspects of this conflict. Three of the theories discussed in this course – primordialist theory, social construction theory, and psychological theories - contain aspects that are applicable to this Native American conflict, while other theories do a poor job of explaining the conflict. On the other hand, one theory from this course – instrumentalism – is not useful in explaining the conflict.

Many people associate the beginning of the defeat of the plains Indians with the Fort Laramie Treaty signed in 1868, yet ever since the Spanish set sail for the New World in 1492, European and American Powers tried to push out the natives. Throughout 1870-1900, better known as the Gilded Age, the federal government attempted, but failed to confine Native Americans to specific areas. The plains Indians were ultimately defeated because of the governments willingness to deploy military forces, construction of railroads and buildings on Indian settlements, and most impacted by the butchery of the buffalo, whom the Indians maintained every aspect of their life around.

The transcontinental railroad was starting to be built in 1863 by two main companies, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific. In the 1800’s the railroad was seen as one of the best things and also one of the worst things that took place in the US. The railroad brought many negative effects westward for the Native Americans and Chinese, but had many positive effects for Americans in the US. Some of these positive and negatives came from events like The Great Plains, Buffalo, Manifest Destiny, and Railroad Surveyors. This essay will focus on how railroad expanding westward created more positive opportunities for the Americans to start up new lives for themselves. But it will also focus on how the Americans and the railroad expanding westward took over the Natives Americans lives and left them with little to no land to survive with. Many other obstacles and situation also came along with the Americans as they tried to build up the railroad for the people of the US.

Native Americans thrived from nature and their way of life depended on the land of the grassy Great Plains. Their life changed due to horses, and then afterward guns, being introduced to them by the Spanish; which made it easier for them to move and hunt. As settlers moved in, the Native nations were treated poorly and had little to no ability to stand up for what they believed in and how they wanted to live with all the restrictions laid upon them. The federal government created policies, such as The Concentration Policy, “relocation”, and The Dawes Severalty Act, as settlers began moving west which eventually lead to many warfares’s.

The relationships between the two were somewhat composed, but many conflicts and tensions rose between the two regularly. When the colonists arrived, the Native Americans were able to help by teaching their lifestyles to the new travelers, training them to effectively grow crops and build canoes. Also, the textbook states that one of the primary reasons they were able to survive in the harsh conditions was because of Indian's guidance in creating a livable colony. The Indians were joining settlers with trading activities as well as being educated with religion and culture. But when conflicts arose, including the colonist's desire for land, tensions grew more and more. The Native Americans were now though as a "threat" to the colonists' hopes

Westward expansion during the 19th century had several far reaching effects on many people. During the period of Manifest Destiny Indians were forced onto reservations, deprived many of their resources,and most of their land, and of course, their culture. At the start of the twentieth century, there were approximately 250,000 Native Americans in the USA – just 0.3 per cent of the total population. The United States’ Indian removal policies, laws, and acts changed many Indians’ lives for the worse. During the 19th century, the removal of Indian tribes had many negative environmental, social, and cultural effects on Native Americans.

Although white European settlers and the native Indians had existed moderately peaceful for around 40 years pressures rose in the mid-seventh century. Conflict arose due to decline in Indian territories, population, and their cultural integrity. These differences ultimately lead to conflicts in which collectively became known as King Philip’s War. What types of complaints did the Indians have against the settlers? How were the Indians expected to survive if the settlers kept taking their land? The primary sources in this collection of source documents touch upon on what each group (Indian or white settlers) did to survive: an excerpt from a narrative written by John Easton, a second hand account written by Thomas Church, a report written to the English leaders by Edward Randolph, a petition written by an Indian named William Nahton, and an excerpt of an account from a book written by Mary Rowlandson. These documents illustrate the main causes that sparked the war between the Native Indians and the white English settlers, narratives written by both sides to find peaceful solutions, and actual accounts of people who survived the conflict. The second hand account written about Benjamin Church’s meeting with the Indian group known as the Sakonnet Indians displays that the Indians knew their only chance of survival was to fight while the report written to English leaders by Randolph suggest that the settlers who viewed the Indians as uncivilized had ultimately forced the Indians

Back in the 1800s we were expanding west constantly, and finding new areas. Though this was good for us, it negatively impacted another group of people. The Native Americans living in the area that we moved through to get to where we wanted were constantly pushed out of their homes and forced to move. This is only a small example of how Native Americans were impacted by the western expansion of the United States.

The westward expansion was a fresh start for white emigrants, not so much for the Native Americans who were already living there. From the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s the Native Americans were mistreated by the US Government by being forced from their home, from their way of living. By 1881 white emigrants killed off the majority of the buffalo simply for their hides or just for sport. Even though treaties were signed battles still broke out between white settlers and the Native Americans. Many Indian Tribes battled the US Army for control of the West.

Imagine living in one place your whole life, that place is the only place you know. Now imagine people you have never seen before come, kill your family, spread disease, and take the land for themselves. That is what happened to the Native Americans in the 1700’s and 1800’s. One of the most disrespectful and saddest times in American History was in the 1850’s with Westward Expansion and the war on Natives. During that time, there were many new cities being built in the East and the United States inevitably got too crowded in the East. Americans traveled west for more land and opportunity, but this is where most of the Indians were living at the time. Did the Native Americans have an aggressive nature, or did the Whites cause them to be hostile? The Whites greed almost caused the extinction of Native Americans and caused them to become hostile towards the Whites.

In the second half of the nineteenth century America advanced, not only technologically, but also governmentally. As new forms of transportation, such as railroads, changed the economy forever, more accurate and lethal weapons were being created, the building factories increased productivity, and the settling of land created a new social era, one could say life was improving in America, but what about those who never asked to be American? Those who already had their own technology, weapons, and government: the Native Americans. More specifically those of the Great Plains region of central america, as tribes east were already dislocated and close to extinct. Westward expansion into native land brought the tribes there more advanced technology and a very dissimilar political views that would lead them to their demise.

As race had a tremendous impact on various immigrant groups, it also impacted the lives of Native Americans and Africans Americans. During the early years of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, American set forth building railroads west. However, Native American groups stood in the way of the construction of railroads. From 1861-1890, a serious of Indian Wars broke out between Native American tribes and the US army. However, many Indians were pushed to reservations and mostly lost their battles with the US Army. As a result, the US government took control of the “vanishing Indian” land. Under the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, the US government divided tribally held Indians lands into 160 acres for white American families. Furthermore, American Indian Boarding School were also created by the US government during the late 19th century to educate and assimilate Native American children. They had to follow American standards of living. Thus, native Americans forcibly lost their land and had to adopt American customs ( Srole Lecture Wk 1- 8/22/17). As Native American endured hardships, African Americans also encountered racism.