Native Americans After Reconstruction

In 1830 the US government called for the relocation of the native American tribes who stayed east of river Mississippi to the lands that were west of the river. The president worked out a deal of land exchange with the tribes that were located in the land. This was known as the Indian removal act. The native American was to migrate voluntarily even though most United States citizens did not follow these orders.

government, thought Westward Expansion would positively impact Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson felt that Indian Removal would protect the Native Americans and give them more freedom. He also thought that, eventually, the influence of European Americans would guide them to become a more “interesting, civilized, and Christian community” (Doc 9). Additionally, government believed that boarding schools would be very beneficial for children, teaching them valuable skills, and helping them become more civilized “ladies and gentlemen” (Doc 8). However, these people were blinded to the impact it had on the lives of Native American by their own desire for land and power. The mass slaughter of buffalo robbed the Native Americans of their most valuable resource and the source of all their daily necessities. Forced assimilation killed Native American culture and identity, and uprooted their lifestyles. By taking away and selling Native Americans’ land, the U.S. government was constantly driving Native Americans of their homes, onto undeveloped, cramped land, making it nearly impossible for them to sustain themselves and their way of life. How is someone positively affected by having their means of survival, identity, and home taken

government has unspecified and unorganized policies, which were unprotected for Native Americans who lived in the west because of all the new coming Americans. During westward expansion, a majority of who moved were whites, who didn’t know the Native Americans who already lived in the west. The Natives felt their land was being conquered, because of the U.S government policies(Louisana Purchase & Homestead Act) and the whites not wanting them to be there, which lead to fighting between the Natives and the whites. These acts and policies such as the Indian Removal Act often resulted in violated treaties and violence. The Indian Removal Act was the removal of Native American homes and tribes. “This also confines the Indians to still narrower limits, destroys that game which in their normal state, and constitutes their principal means of subsistence.” Resulting in westward expansion, Native Americans began rapidly decreasing in the area by wars and new diseases caught by new coming

Reconstruction was a period of time after the Civil War (1865-1877) that was supposed to be the rebuilding of America. It was also the process used to readmit all the Confederate states back into the Union. There was controversy, however, on how to go about rebuilding the nation. Abraham Lincoln proposed a lenient plan. After he was assassinated, Andrew Johnson proposed a very similar plan. The Radical Republicans, a group of legislators that were in favor of freedmen’s rights, were opposed to both plans under “Presidential Reconstruction”. They initiated “Congressional Reconstruction”. Because of the conflicting views, there was little cooperation between the Executive and Legislative branches. This lead to many unsuccessful

In 1830, the Jackson administration instated the Indian Removal Act. This act removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands to make way for an increase of additional American immigrants. This act forced many Native American tribes from their homes including five larger tribes, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creek, and Seminole. These tribes had populations were estimated to be around 65,000 people strong that lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. (Foner, 2012) The American Indians fought for their rights and beliefs through the American court system. Their other objective other than fighting for their rights was but in the end, they were forced out of their homes to move

During westward expansion, the Native Americans got kicked to the side. The settlers coming west often saw the Indians as a threat to them and their families. However, this was not the main reason the Indians were pushed aside. The settlers saw the Indians had fertile land and wanted it for themselves. The Indians were the opposite of what the settlers thought they were. The Indians often helped the people moving west across the plains; giving them food, supplies, and acting as guides. However, the U.S. Government did not see this side of the Indians, instead they forced the Indians onto reservations. During the time of the expansion of the United States to the present, the Native Americans went through many things so that the United States could expand; they were pushed onto reservations, and forced to give up their culture through the Ideas of Manifest Destiny and Social Darwinism.

After the Civil War, the United States had many problems to solve. The country had to figure out how to integrate newly freed slaves into society and bring the former Confederate states back into the Union. Reconstruction was period of time after the civil war in which the United States addressed these problems. Reconstruction had two different phases: Presidential Reconstruction took place from 1865 to 1867, and Congressional Reconstruction took place from 1867 to 1877. Presidential Reconstruction began with Abraham Lincoln, who proposed the Proclamation of Amnesty and the ten percent oath plan. Lincoln was focused on leniency and forgiveness; under his plan southerners would take an oath of loyalty to the Union, and after only ten percent of a state’s voters had taken this oath, the state could be readmitted. After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson took over Reconstruction. Johnson wanted to punish landowners, but liberally handed out pardons, as he greatly enjoyed the power that he had over southerners. Under Johnson, former confederates were re-elected, and southern states discriminated blacks. Eventually, Congress took over Reconstruction. During Congressional Reconstruction, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were passed, and the freedman’s bureau was created. Overall, the failures of Reconstruction outweighed the failures because it took a very long time for it to achieve its goals, and the South was still able to

After President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, everyone was eager for the construction to begin. The railroad was needed to connect California to the eastern and midwestern large cities in order to ship valuables and natural resources. The problem for the Indians was that the tracks would be set right through their ancestral land. Unfortunately, The United States could care less about the native’s wants because the construction of the railroad was seen beneficial to them. One of the many reasons was because it provided Americans and immigrants with jobs. The decline in buffalo began when they would stampede across the tracks. White workers decided that they were getting “in the way” and would kill massive herds at a time. This leads in to the most important reason for the decline of the Plains culture and their ultimate defeat, the Buffalo.

America’s westward expansion really affected the lives of the Native Americans in several ways. Since Americans were wanting land for farming, ranching, and mining, it took away the Native Americans land for hunting and gathering. In general, this dramatically changed the face of American history.

Politicians believed the U.S should conquer western lands which prompted the Indian Removal Act in 1830 by Andrew Jackson.The Act enabled the president to make a deal with Indian tribes in the Southern United States to move to federal land by the Mississippi River in exchange for their territory. The indians tribes had no choice to accept, they were forced to leave their homelands and walk

As a nation, America has gone through many things including war and political changes. People in the United States went through much throughout history. The people that once lead this country had different intentions and targets. One moment in history that was very important and very influential today is the Reconstruction Era. The Reconstruction Era was a time period that contains many accomplishments, failures, leaders, and aims. There were many events in this era which made people call it a failure and a success. In the year of 1865, right after the Civil War, Reconstruction began. The Reconstruction Era was known as the time of “repair” after the civil war. At that time, the leader of the nation was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln wanted the south to join the Union so he freed the African Americans. When looking at the Reconstruction Era, there are many events that make up this era such as the reconstruction amendments, the freedman’s bureau, and the Ku Klux Klan.

Lincoln had one plan for bringing the rebel states back into the Union; Andrew Johnson another; and the Radical Republican Congress a third. Discuss the aims of each president, and explain why and in what ways Congress took control of Reconstruction.

There is a subject matter that is at crossroads right now. We know that Reconstruction means to rebuilt, re-gain and to improve. The Reconstruction era was in the time period of 1863-1877. To re-built from something, one has to be destroyed in some sense. That “destruction” was the Civil War of 1861 to 1865. Through these four long years, there was huge separation and debate on slaveholding. The North fought for the belief and want to free slaves while the south didn’t. In 1860 President Lincoln was elected, Abraham Lincoln believed and wanted the best for our great country. In 1862 he issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, in which declared that all slaves in states in rebellion against the Union "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.". This meant slaves in states in rebellion and authorizes the enlistment of black troops. President Lincoln's proposed plan for reconstructing the Union was to

The states had run out of room for available farmland. They could not move west because the Indian’s were occupying that land. Jackson signed the law in 1829. He negotiated with the Indians to exchange their land in the east for land in the west that was outside the borders of the United States. Jackson set aside all the land west of the Mississippi River for the Indians. In theory, the Removal Act was a peaceful and reasonable way for the Indians and the Americans to come to an agreement without fighting. It was until Jackson’s successor that things began to get violent with the trail of tears and the forceful removing of the Indians. Jackson just set in motion the

Indian removal act – Passed in 1830, this act forced Native Americans to leave their tribal lands and settle on federal lands to the west of the Mississippi River.