Plains Indians Case Study

In the time period of 1800-1850 white Americans expanded across the vast lands on the western side of the continent and regularly encountered conflict with various Indian nations. In these documents, interactions for the various Indian nations were subjected to different cultivation between each tribe per say that there were responses that filled different needs and demands. Some tribes provided benefits such as agriculture and household manufacture and produced the idea that settlements to be blended and conform into one people. Other interactions created conflict because some of our land purchases were not 100% in compliance with the constitution. Yet some Indian nations

The migration of European settlers and culture to North America is an often examined area. One aspect of this, however, is worthy of deeper analysis. The conquest of North America by Europeans and American settlers from the 16th to 19th centuries had a profound effect on the indigenous political landscape by defining a new relationship dynamic between natives and settlers, by upsetting existing native political, economic and military structures, and by establishing a paradigm where the indigenous peoples felt they had to resist the European and American incursions. The engaging and brilliant works of Andres Rensendez and Steve Inskeep, entitled respectively “A Land So Strange” and “Jacksonland”, provide excellent insights and aide to this analysis.

The history of the United States with regards to its native population is inaccurate and assumes that the history of this country began when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock (Richter, pp. 4-5). With regards to the native people’s

The Plains Indians religious beliefs were quite similar and interesting. The Plains Indians believed in Animism. Animism is the belief that everything possesses a spirit. Besides Animism, the Plains Indians only worshiped one other “god.” That was the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit was the mother of all things. They would perform ceremonies for her. Sacred items were also important to the people of the Plains. They would have items that they believed had spiritual or talismanic powers. The items would be located in a pouch at the person’s side. The Medicine Man would also carry around multiple pouches with different talisman. This could come in the form of a peace pipe or a calumet or something that they

The government tried to make the Indians happy by signing treaties at Fort Laramie in 1851 and Fort Atkinson in 1853 with Chiefs of Tribes, so that they would retreat, and let the whites have their lands. The problem with this was the whites thought that the chiefs represented all the Indians in that tribe, but most of the Native Americans didn’t recognize authorities outside of their families. In the treaties, they promised Indians they wouldn’t be bothered if they moved into small reservations, such as Dakota Territory. They were also promised food, clothing, and other supplies, if they would surrender their lands. The problems Indians had after moving into the reservations, were some of the Indian agents were corrupt, and would only give them moth eaten blankets, spoiled beef, and other defective provisions. One of the acts of cruelty against Indians happened, “In 1864, at Sand Creek, Colorado, Colonial J. M. Chivington’s militia massacred in cold blood some four hundred Indians who apparently thought they had been promised unity” (576). In other words, J.M Chivington’s militia brutally murdered and tortured about four hundred peaceful Indians, just to make sure they wouldn’t cause any trouble. Another act of cruelty against Indians happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The Battle of Little Bighorn, began because Colonel George Custer, found gold in Black Hills of South

The whites came to America and wanted all the Indians to move west. “Before these laws could be put in effect, a new wave of white settlers swept westward and formed the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa.” (Page 6) So they could live on the east side of the United States, this went on for years. “For two centuries these events were repeated again and again as the European colonists moved inland through the passes of the Alleghenies and down the westward-flowing rivers to the Great Waters (Mississippi) and then up the Great Muddy (Missouri)” (page 4). The problem was that the Indians didn’t want to move west. They wanted to stay on the land that they lived on forever, and make peace with everyone. “The five nations of the Iroquois, mightiest

On the morning of November 29th, 1864 soldier under command of Colonel John Chivington attacked a Native American village in Sand Creek, Colorado Territory (Benson). While the Native Americans believed that they were under the protection of the Army, the soldiers under Chivington’s command had other plans. By the end of what was to be called the Sand Creek Massacre over two hundred Native American women, children, and elderly laid dead (Benson). In a study by the University of Denver in 2014 it was concluded that the University of Denver’s founder and then governor of Colorado Territory, John Evans, was largely at fault for the massacre (Benson). The report stated, “We conclude that John Evans’s pattern of neglect of his treaty-negotiating duties, his leadership failures, and his reckless decision-making in 1864 combine to clearly demonstrate a significant level of culpability for the Sand Creek Massacre”(Benson). It was deemed that Evans’s culpability was comparable to that of Colonel John Chivington, the one who personally planned and carried out the massacre. Evans intentionally strained tensions instead of calming them and rejected opportunities to engage in peaceful negotiations with the Native American’s of the region. Additionally, he successfully lobbied the U.S. Department of War for executing a military infantry regiment,

Between 1492-1776, although many people moved to the “New World”, North America lost population due to the amount of Indians dying from war and diseases and the inability of colonists to replace them. John Murrin states, “losers far outnumbered winners” in “ a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.” This thought of a decreasing population broadens one’s perspective of history from that of an excluded American tale full of positivity to that of a more unbiased, all-encompassing analysis. The Indians and slaves have recently been noted as a more crucial part of history than previously accredited with.

The mobs then drove Mexicans from their claims. The Chinese were left to reword the old exhausted claims, but the Indians were simply slaughtered (TheAmericanWest). This then made the Indians very very angry because not only were their sacred land being mined on, but their people were also killed. However, what made the Indians extremely mad was “when the Settlers started mining in the Black Hills, that started the real conflict.” It was the most sacred place of the Sioux, so mining there was not a good idea at all (TheAmericanWest). As the Sitting Bull once said “`We want no white men here. The Black Hills belong to me. If the whites try to take them, I will fight`”

How Did The Environment Affect The Native American Indians With Particular Reference To The Woodland Indians?

The somewhat nomadic lifestyle of the plains natives often interfered with White America’s exploration of the great Wild West. To solve this inconvenience, White Americans moved the Natives onto reservations, which were smaller plots of land, sometimes not in the tribe’s home area, and were subject to White American authority. The creation of reservations was just one of many assaults on Native culture and destroyed the Native’s idea that freedom meant the ability to roam.

In the year of 1827 the Cherokee Indians declared themselves a nation by drafting a constitution. “The discovery of gold was made just after the creation and passage of the original Cherokee Constitution” (“A Brief History of the Trail of Tears 1”). Aware that the native Indian land was in danger of being encroached upon by new settlers, the Indians went to the government to create an arrangement to protect their lands. “The Cherokees signed treaties ceding portions of their land to the United States” (Bjornlund 8).

First of all, the Plains Indian were great travelers that roam free throughout the lands and were great fighters who used guerilla tactics. With time, came the genocide of the of the buffalo, this was because the Americans would just kill them for sport and leave the meat to rot. Another issue that came was the creation of reservation. As you know the plain Indians were always free to roam the land and all of the sudden the Americans tried to restrict them to one place, which could not have happened since the Indians hatted farming. In addition, you cannot forget the creations of boarding school which were founded by Francis Pratt. At the schools they tried to persuade the American way of life such as religion, clothing, and language. If a Indian spoke their native language they beaten for not

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

The “Indian Problem” was the “burden” that the United States Government faced throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Government considered the Indians to be a “problem” due to the fact that native tribes were halting the expansionist policy popular in the 1800’s. The main aspects targeted and defined as the “Indian Problem” by the Government were the Indian’s religious practices, household structure and land ownership, and educational differences. The variety of responses