Westward Expansion Research Paper

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

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.

Ever since Jamestown, America has come a long way. In the middle of the nineteenth century American’s were eager to move west. They wanted to see the span of the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Jefferson was able to double the size of the United States by negotiating with France, which ended up being known as the Louisiana Purchase. Americans saw empty land waiting to be filled. They thought the open land meant opportunity and potential wealth. By moving west, they could share their unique way of government and the freedom it represented. They believed that America would be a great nation.

Historically, the people of the United States and the Native tribes couldn’t live together, they fought because the two sides competed for superiority. The United States Government sought to put an end to the violent clashes with the American people and the Natives tribes. A resolution was the Indian Removal Act, with this, the United States became safer, wealthier, and stronger; And the Natives, which they saw as inferior, would leave. This Act wasn’t easy for the Native tribes, they left the land their ancestors had built them, and experienced a long road ahead of them to rebuild again.

In 1492 native Americans discovered illegal immigrants invading their country. It has been a downhill fight for natives ever since. As more settlers arrived on the East Coast, an attitude became prevalent within the European communities that it was their right to expand cities across America in the name of progress and economic development. The manifest destiny was more of a feeling rather than a written statement which lasted from the War of 1812 to the beginning of the American Civil War. The idea of expansion grew, especially by those who wanted to capitalize on agriculture in the United States. Native Americans occupied land in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee. These lands became more valuable to the white settlers as the production of cotton became more popular in the South. As the idea of a manifest destiny grew, so did the idea to remove Natives, which led up to the “Trail of Tears” through the Indian Removal Act of 1830, a final solution to the Indian problem. The United States government removed the five civilized Tribes, Cherokee, Muskogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations between 1830 and 1838. The Native Americans being relocated suffered from inhuman conditions such as disease and starvation while traveling to their final destination, a designated area west of the Mississippi River. The events leading to this final march into the Indian Territories and the atrocities

Prompt: Using information you gathered from a variety of texts, write a letter from the chosen group’s point of view, stating their opinion of Westward Expansion by answering the question, “Was Westward Expansion worth it?” Quote evidence from the text to support your claim.

One of the major atrocities early in the United States (US) expansion came after President Andrew Jackson approved of and signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This document set the foundation for what would be known as the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was the forceful relocation of give main Native American tribes from their eastern lands, to newly established territories located west of the Mississippi River (Dwyer, 2014, p. 33). After researching the Trail of Tears’ impact to the five major Native American tribes, it is easy to see themes such as assimilation, racism, poverty, ethnocentrism, bias, cultural relativity and prejudice within this event.

After the American Revolution, the Native Americans and the American hostile relationship begun to decrease little by little, but after the war of 1812 their relations begun to deteriorate. After the war of 1812, a lot of white Americans begun to move to new US lands in the west where a great number of Native American tribes including the Cherokee. This created hostility between the Cherokee tribe because white Americans are moving into their lands that was given to them by a treaty. The Cherokee people did not want to give up any lands because that is their home and where the want to live. Since Cherokee people did not want to give up, the US government passed the Indian Removal act that made the president trade lands West of the Mississippi

Since the first arrival of colonists to America in 1607, disputes between the Native Americans and the colonist began arousing. In the years following the first arrival of the colonist, numerous outburst of war and treaties were made. Many of these treaties between the US and the natives were broken and by 1830, many Native American tribes found themselves being confined in reservations. During the second latter of the 19th century the US began to become industrialized and expand westward to fulfill the ultimate manifest destiny. The plains Indians, specifically found themselves begin affected by the various technologic developments and government action during the second half of the 19th century due to the completion of the trans continental railroad , gun invention, and broken treaties

The Indian culture and everything they contributed to the successful culmination of the United States has been lost in history. Many historians have attempted to go back in time with minimal resources and reconstruct the history of Indian culture with diminutive weal. The Nation known today as the United States of America has a foundational structure built on beliefs and forms of government that derived from Native American culture; so extinguishing Indians from existence is nonsensical. Although it did not happen overnight the removal of the American Indians from the eastern tribes was forced upon them because of greed, and caused extreme

This text is a sampling of times, places, and people of the Westward Expansion. A teacher teaching the Westward Expansion will find historical images and stories behind the historical times and the sheet music that correlates to the topics. This cross-curricular resource allows for the stories to be read and the pictures to study, and ultimately the music to be incorporated into the classroom learning. Ultimately this book can be utilized to bring adventure, danger, dreams, and the realities of American life during the Westward Expansion to come alive for students. This will make history fun for all students, allowing students to build more of a connection to the past. This is another great resource but because I don’t teach Western Expansion

Throughout the timeline of the United States of America, the government has done a poor job of understanding the needs of the citizens and the environment. They have treated the environment badly when America expanded out west. The government failed to help guide the citizens towards understanding the transition from precious metal to paper money. They also neglected to keep the immigrants coming into America safe from discrimination. The proper role of government is to think about the needs of the citizens and the environment so that the citizens are able to live their lives without having to worry about the government not protecting them and the environment.

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.