Role Of Native American Civil War

Times were a lot different back in the 1800s as compared to today, and unfortunately, for the minorities of the day, most white people did not see them as equals. The Civil War was testimony to this horrific fact. America was expanding rapidly on the heels of the gold rush and the boom of industry. This expansion posed a major problem in regards to the Native American. Most of the southern and eastern tribes had already been removed from their lands and forced to move west in the 1830s.1 Later, in 1867, a peace commission was appointed to persuade western Native Americans to relinquish their land and move to reservations. Once moved onto these reservations, the Native Americans would be wards of the government until they learned to be more like the white people.2

Although the horrors of the American Civil War and Reconstruction within Indian Territory were fresh. Yet, the presence of Indian Territory changed drastically between 1865 and 1889, because of the “Second Trail of Tears”, the unrest of the Southern Plains tribes of western Indian Territory, and the impact of U.S. Polices on Indian Territory.

In the early 19th Century, the Manifest Destiny led many White Americans to conquer new territories and force Native Americans out of their homeland. The growing population caused the need for people to move to have more space for farms and crops. The religious groups were also wanting to sweep God’s word across the nation by going west. The Native Americans were unwilling to give up their land and fought to keep it. Outmatched by the U.S. Military, the Indians were forced to leave and settle in a territory that was not claimed by Whites. Andrew Jackson, the 8th President of the United States, participated in some of the battles with the Natives Americans and the removal of 5 different tribes from their homeland into what is now Oklahoma.1 This research paper is to study about Andrew Jackson, his battles with the Natives, and what led to the Trail of Tears.

“I fought through the civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew”, remarked a Georgia soldier who had participated in the removal of Indian Natives during the mid-1800’s. As a result of the Indian Removal Act, Indian natives have been perceived as mistreated and cheated throughout history. The Indian Removal Act was passed during the presidency of Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. This act granted authorization to the president to exchange unsettled lands west of Mississippi for Indian lands residing in state borders. Initially, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed to expand the Southern United State for farmland and to aid the government in furthering our development as a nation. With this plan in mind, the government provided money to establish districts in the west of the Mississippi River for the Indian natives, ensured trade and exchange in those districts, allowed Native Indian tribes to be compensated for the cost of their removal and the improvements of their homesteads, and also pay one years’ worth subsistence to those Native Indians who relocated to the west.

Before the Eastern World knew that the America’s were there, natives to the American lands were already here and thriving. As the land was discovered, more and more people from the European side of the Hemisphere traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to stake a claim for land in this newfound world. Throughout these Europeans settling in, and making new homes and lives for themselves these natives stayed to their own ways, and were slowly pushed westward. The problems between the Indians and now Americans were brought to the forefront as the population of the states grew, and there was a need for expansion. When the Louisiana Purchase was struck between the United States and France, the land previously inhabited by the natives were now under the control of the United States government. As the population continued to climb in numbers, individuals along with the United States government decided to take actions for the removal of these natives. Throughout the book, The Long, Bitter Trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians by: Anthony F.C. Wallace, the events leading up to, during, and the effects of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Individuals such as Andrew Jackson along with the government used different methods to remove these Indians from the southeastern lands of the United States. Starting in the beginning of the 1800’s,

This Bill was strongly opposed by the north while it was supported by the south. The Bill, which barely passed it both House and Senate, was a support for the popular distribution of fertile Indian lands. The United States government was lured into the relocating of the Indians because it offered more farmland for southern farmers. As far as the actual relocation went, the task of relocating the Indians fell into the hands of the Army, who then mostly signed the task off to contractors. Indian attempts at conforming were futile and quickly crushed. When the Cherokees Americanized their tribe and converted to "the American Way" the state of Georgia quickly went in with militias and forced them along their way. Various tribes of Indians fought on the side of the United States against their Indian brothers in return for promised protection against removal, government promises proved to be false. The government (behind the lead of Jackson) sent a sign that it wanted

The year is 1830. You are out in your farm, gathering food for your dinner. Suddenly, Cherokee Indians burst out of the nearby woods and drag you away by your hair. At their camp, they tied you to a wood pole and build a fire around your feet. The last sensation you feel is sweltering heat as a wave of black consumes you. This is a small taste of what it was like back in 1830. Before the United States was as large as it is now, the U.S. kept bumping elbows with its neighbors, the Indians. President Andrew Jackson introduced the Indian Removal Act to give the U.S. some room. The Creeks and Choctaw Indians already moved out, and only the Cherokee Indians remained. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and withdrawal of the Cherokee was justified because they were bloodthirsty, the U.S. needed room to grow, and it’s not the worst thing in the world for them.

Effect of Dawes Act: more opportunities for white plundering of Indian lands, further undermining of traditional Indian cultures

After the Civil War, thousands of Americans poured into the Great Plains on a collision course with western Indian tribes. Homesteaders, ranchers, and miners encroached on Indian lands and threatened native game and ways of life. They called on the U.S. Army to crush Indian resistance and confine tribes to government controlled reservations.

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, came to power with one important promise to the American people: the removal of Indian tribes “to make room for the whites”. This Indian Removal, conducted in the 1830s, affected all Indian tribes, and they responded in various ways. Some were ready to move to the west and follow orders, tired of resisting the whites and knowing that there was no other way out. However, several tribes stood on the land of their ancestors and fought to remain where they were. One example of the latter was the focus of study for chapter ten—the Cherokee nation. The Cherokee resisted movement to the west through various treaties and pleas, but were eventually moved out due to military force and strong commands from the president.

It has shown the difficulties when dealing with Native Americans and the manoeuvring that was required with each treaty. The challenges of working with the Indian Office. Not only this, the correspondence has shown the influence of the Office of Indian Affairs since its inauguration in 1824. James Calhoun’s correspondence has not been used extensively in order to show the dangers of the travelling during the nineteenth century as well as the challenges of the political environment. My work accepts the theory of borderlands as a cultural barrier as well as geographical one, however the reason the Santa Fe Trail was different to others was due to the cultural outlook. My argument is still that the Santa Fe Trail was only as dangerous as any other trail, James Calhoun faced the same challenges as other in his trade. Challenges faced with Native Americans were similar throughout the country, and James Calhoun did everything possible to help ease the passage of Americans as well as Native Americans through the South west. This argument takes the arguments of borderlands and adds the political component, revealing that the politicians and policies used to protect the traders. They used military escorts, treaties and agreements with Native Americans in order to establish a safe trading state throughout the time period. Prior to the injection of James Calhoun in the

As the 19th century started people were filling up the United States heading to what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Indians living here became an obstacle to the expansion. White settlers were upset and petitioned to remove the Natives. Although Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe argued that the Indian tribes in the Southeast should exchange their land for lands west of the Mississippi River, they did not take steps to make this happen. Indeed, the first major transfer of land occurred only as the result of war.

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

Americans and American Indians were constantly in conflict from 1855-1890, especially on the plains. The cause of such conflicts was the settlement of western territories which belonged to American Indians. Congress reserved the Great Plains for Indians before the Civil War due to Americans believing that the prairie could not be farmed. However, as the use for steel plows and railroads increased, policymakers had the power and desire to incorporate the entire region. Conflicts aroused as a result of American Indians being abused and used by the American government and citizens.

In the beginning of the United States’s history, many people believed that the way to deal with the “Indian Problem” was to adopt them into their White European civilized lifestyle. In order to ingrain civilization into them, U.S. officials tried to teach and encourage them to read and write in English, embody individual ownership of land and other property, including slaves, and tried to convert them to Christianity (“Trail of Tears”). This collective embracement of a White lifestyle led more average citizens to believe they were more civilized than other Indians, but it was actually a report from an agent working for the Indian Office that led them to be known as The Five Civilized Tribes. This agent wrote the name when he noted that each tribe had a constitutional government, with three main branches and was run similar to the United