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U.S. policies regarding Native Americans
U.S. policies regarding Native Americans
US government treatment of native americans
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After many years of battling with the Native Americans for land, the United States grew tired of the fight and sought "peace". The first Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 acknowledged the Lakota territory, which consisted of North and South Dakota, parts of Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming as belonging to the Sioux Indians. This was a considerably large section of land equating to about five percent of the United States (Calloway, 2012). The U.S. government realized the abundant natural resources of gold that existed in this territory and attempted to enact the Bozeman Trail. This trail ran through Sioux territory into the gold mines of Montana. This attempt at utilizing Indian land to get at the gold brought about Red Cloud's war in which the U.S. army was brought to a complete halt. This was an embarrassment to the U.S. and through this slaughter brought about the second Treaty of Fort Laramie in an effort to bring about "peace". The second treaty enacted in 1868, was full of deception and disharmony. This short analysis of the treaty will examine the snares which were purposely weaved into the wording of this lengthy document, which benefited the United States and chipped away at the Native Americans culture, freedom, and land.
In the spring of 1868 an invitation was sent to various Indians of power to come to Fort Laramie to sign the new treaty. The treaty was meant to end the war, so that all could live in harmony with one another or at least that is what the Sioux were led to believe. Many of the Indians decided to sign the treaty and receive gifts, however, many including Red Cloud, refused to sign until all of the U.S. military presence was gone from their land and the fort vacated (Calloway, 2012). They made it clear tha...
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...agedy.
By 1873, gold was discovered at a time of desperation for the United States. The Black Hills in Lakota territory was abundantly filled with it. The fact that the gold was located in the Great Sioux Reservation mattered not. The U.S. government was going to mine the gold regardless of the consequences. They were desperate and greedy. Their first attempt to gain access was to buy the Black Hills from the Sioux. The Sioux clearly objected and most of the peoples told the government it was not for sale. Those who were agreeable to the sale of this gold rich land asked a higher price than the government was prepared to pay. The government's second attempt and ultimate victory was much more nefarious in nature.
Works Cited
Calloway, C. G. (2012). First peoples A documentary survey of American Indian history (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Shoemaker, Nancy. “ Native-American Women in History.” OAH Magazine of History , Vol. 9, No. 4, Native Americans (Summer, 1995), pp. 10-14. 17 Nov. 2013
Unfortunately, this great relationship that was built between the natives and the colonists of mutual respect and gain was coming to a screeching halt. In the start of the 1830s, the United States government began to realize it’s newfound strength and stability. It was decided that the nation had new and growing needs and aspirations, one of these being the idea of “Manifest Destiny”. Its continuous growth in population began to require much more resources and ultimately, land. The government started off as simply bargaining and persuading the Indian tribes to push west from their homeland. The Indians began to disagree and peacefully object and fight back. The United States government then felt they had no other option but to use force. In Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson on May 18, 1830. This ultimately resulted in the relocation of the Eastern tribes out west, even as far as to the edge of the Great Plains. A copy of this act is laid out for you in the book, Th...
The Sioux Uprising started because of broken promises and brutal racism. The Sioux sold their sacred hunting land for gold but the gold was late. The settlers were already sowing their seeds of hate and the Indians were becoming subhuman. So while the arrogance and stupidity of racism caused a war in the South, the white people were too naïve to realize they were about to witness a war in the North. The Sioux Uprising cost innocent people their lives but also brought a family together. Overall, the gold was thought to be the main cause, but it was not the only one. While paying the gold to the Sioux would have delayed the uprising, the Dakota Nations rebellion was inevitable.
The Cherokee Trail of Tears resulted from the execution of the Treaty of New Echota (1835), an “agreement” signed under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). With the expansion of the American population, the discovery of gold in Georgia, and the need for even more land for American results in the push to move the Natives who were “in the way”. So with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Congress acted to remove Natives on the east coast of the United States to land west of the Mississippi River, something in which was never embraced or approved by them (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). Many state governments, such as Georgia, did not want Native-owned land within their boundaries, while the Natives did not want to move. However, under the Removal Act, the United States Congress gave then-President Andrew Jackson the authority to negotiate removal treaties.
The federal government proceeded to find a way around this decision and had three minor Cherokee chief’s sign the “Treaty of New Echota” in 1835 giving the Cherokee lands to the government for 5.6 million dollars and free passage west. Congress got the treaty ratified by only one vote. Members of their tribes murdered all three chiefs who took part in the signing of the treaty. After this event there was not much the Cherokee’s could do and were forcibly moved west on what they called and are known today as the ‘Trail of Tears,’ which became a constitutional crisis in our history. In this instance the lack of cooperation between the branches of the government was the downfall for the Cherokee nation. The way the Cherokee’s were forced west caused losses of up to twenty percent of the nation. This figure is only a guess and scholar’s think it was more a third of the nation was lost. The ‘Trail of Tears’ was also a morale issue in the United States, later having an impact on our history the way other Native American races in general are treated in the future.
Dorothea M. Susag, Roots and Branches: A Resource of Native American Literatures--Themes, Lessons, and Bibliographies (1998).
Jacquelyin Kilpatrick , Celluloid Indians. Native Americans and Film. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999
LaDuke, Winona. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 1999. Print.
Despite the fact that these agreements were a clear violation of existing British law, they were used later to justify the American takeover of the region. The Shawnee also claimed these lands but, of course, were never consulted. With the Iroquois selling the Shawnee lands north of the Ohio, and the Cherokee selling the Shawnee lands south, where could they go? Not surprisingly, the Shawnee stayed and fought the Americans for 40 years. Both the Cherokee and Iroquois were fully aware of the problem they were creating. After he had signed, a Cherokee chief reputedly took Daniel Boone aside to say, "We have sold you much fine land, but I am afraid you will have trouble if you try to live there."
As the West of the Appalachian Mountains became known as the “Indian Land” proclaimed by the King of England in 1763, as properly known as the Proclamation Line of 1763, the U. S. government believed it to be part of their land after their gain of independence from Britain. The reason for this happening was due to the fact that the Indians lost to the French in the French and Indian war which was also known as the brutal Seven Years’ War from 1754-1763. As a result, The U.S. took advantage of the situation and insisted on acquiring the land of the Indians in the West through three different policies (Chris ...
One of the critical tasks that faced the new nation of the United States was establishing a healthy relationship with the Native Americans (Indians). “The most serious obstacle to peaceful relations between the United States and the Indians was the steady encroachment of white settlers on the Indian lands. The Continental Congress, following [George] Washington’s suggestion, issued a proclamation prohibiting unauthorized settlement or purchase of Indian land.” (Prucha, 3) Many of the Indian tribes had entered into treaties with the French and British and still posed a military threat to the new nation.
Several Native Americans from the Cherokee tribe had feared that the whites would encroach upon their settlements in the near future so they moved west of the Mississippi many years before the Indian Removal Act was put into place. This good foresight and early movement allowed for them to pick the time that they wanted to leave and they allowed themselves the leisure of moving at their own pace and stopping when they wanted which cut down on casualties extremely and this also allowed them to allocate the appropriate amount of supplies for the trip before attempting to make it prematurely and causing catastrophe to hit. They established a government and worked out a peaceful way of life with the nearby surroundings and allowed themselves to blend into the area that they desired rather than an area that was designated for them. There was always a large tension building between the whites and Cherokee which had reached its climax after the discovery of gold in Georgia. This drove a frenzy that many people wanted in on to make out with a good sum of money as gold was in high demand and worth a lot at the time. When the gold was found it started a miniature gold rush and pulled in whites and
Conquistadors came over to get all the gold they possibly could. The Spanish were cruel and took advantage of the Native Americans who were living there. Not only did the Spanish want the gold but they also wanted the land. The Native Americans were enslaved by the Spaniards and were forced to mine for gold. The Spaniards gave the Natives extremely high gold quotas to meet. Most were unable to do so and because of that they were punished. Natives would have both of their hands cut off(Document 1). The other reason was so that the Spaniards wouldn’t have a problem with resistance from them. The Native Americans were majorly taken advantage of for gold.
Immigrants took land illegally and crimes against Indians went unpunished. The Indians signed more treaties giving up most of their lands to the United States. With foreign tribesmen coming and settlers being angered a conference was conducted at Fort Greenville with Tecumseh as “principal speaker”. Settlers now occupied these lands, but the Indians did not want to give up their lands feeling that it was given to them by the master of life. Tecumseh agreed that the Greenville treaty line and other established boundaries and it should stand so the border could be used as a defense against further American
Political. As an esteemed war hero during the Civil War, Custer was an icon who carried the support of the American people. With the people’s support our government could shift the nation’s progress westward for expansion. Custer had confined the Indians to the Black Hills reservation, and they had made it their home, then he discovered gold in the region. The government immediately wanted the land back in exchange...