The Indian Wars

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Recommended: Westward expansion in the 1800s

The Native American’s land was walked upon without respect or remorse, taken, and they were forced onto reservations that were in terrible conditions against their will. The settlers moving west caused the Native Americans and settlers to compete against each other and cause major conflicts between them. I think the Indian Wars could and couldn’t have been avoided because settlers had to move since the illnesses were so bad in the east, and they thought the diseases wouldn’t be in the west, and because they needed the extra land. I also think these wars could have been avoided because the settlers didn’t have to take the Native American’s land and the settlers and Indians could have respected each other much more than they did. The Indian Wars took place somewhere in the 1800s and the 1900s. The Indian Wars were generally started with the Whitman Massacre in 1847, but there were small fights before this. Most of the Indian tribes and most settlers were involved in causing and starting these wars. The main conflicts I found were the whites moving west and trespassing on the Native American’s land, then taking the land from the Native Americans and putting them on reservations that didn’t have the best accommodations and weren’t well suited for the Indians needs. The Indian Wars typically took place in the western half of the United States but some wars took place in the east and small fights broke out along the Oregon Trail because either the Indians didn’t want settlers moving west, or the settlers were being vulgar to the Indians. One of the first causes of the Indian Wars was that the settlers were trespassing on Native American’s lands without authorization while they were looking for gold, or just trying to get to Oregon. ... ... middle of paper ... ...ve on. This was important since the Indians were dying in rapid numbers because the reservations they were put on were in extremely poor condition. The conflict could have been avoided if the settlers and the Indians didn’t compete for the lands and they were more respectful to each other. Work Cited 1. Capps, Benjamin. The Indians. Canada: time Inc., 1995.p. 150-170. Print 2. Merrin, Albert. Cowboys, Indians, and Gunfighters. United States: Maxwell Macmillon Canada Inc., 1995. P.132-148. Print. 3. Morris, Richard B. The Indian Wars. United States: Lerner Publications Corp., 2000. P. 2-36. Print. 4. Rachlis, Eugene. Indians of the Planes. United States: American Heritage, a Division of Forbes. Inc., 1997. P. 14 Print. 5. Weiser, Kathy. “Cayuse War.” The Cayuse War. Legends of America, n.d. Web 10 May 2010.

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