Western Settlement Essay Western settlement destroyed traditional Native American ways of life through, moving into traditional homelands of the Native Americans, traditional ways of the Native Americans were destroyed. Western settlement destroyed the traditional use of the buffalo by hiring men to kill off buffalo. And finally, traditions and religious practices were destroyed by the absorbtion of Native American culture to western and Christianity practices. Through moving into the traditional homelands of the Native Americans were destroyed because the lands were taken by the western settlers. In 1830 the railroad expansion from 73 miles in 1830 to 30,636 miles in 1860 which trespassed into Native American homelands, violating the treaty of Fort Laramine.
The white people decided that they wanted to take the land away from the Indians and formed a government against the Indians. The children were taken to these reservations for education but they were not allowed to know about their heritage, they had to learn the American way. This was hard for the elders to understand, they wanted their
In most of the slave states, the onward march of cotton cultivation placed an enormous pressure on remaining Indian lands. During the 1820’s, other states, like Missouri, forced its Indian population to leave the state. Soon after Missouri forced its Indians to move, other slave states, including Georgia, followed with the policy of expulsion. The Indian Removal Act of 1830, provided for uprooting the Five Civilized Tribes-the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole- with a population of about 60,000 living in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. These tribes had made great efforts to become everything republican citizens should be.
Some of the sites included were Four Lakes, Union Gap, Yakima, Cascade Mountains, Fort Benton, Fort Simcoe, Fort Walla Walla and the Walla Walla Valley. (Schuster, 56) The treaty stated that they wanted the Indians to give up millions of acres of land to the settlers. The making of the treaty was a conflict and problem for several reasons. The Indians did not the treaty and already knew that they would be put on a reservation with 40 or more tribes. They surely did not want to be on a small piece of land with an enemy tribe!
If they did choose to stay the Indians will have to obey the states laws anyways. Why not move to the west of the Mississippi River and try to claim their own independent state there. Lastly, is the race and color card. The Indians are clearly not white men; therefore they would probably be thrown into slavery and be treated like the African American. Even worse, if the Indians bear their grounds many will be killed by the white men for trying to hold the land and the Indian race can be even extinct.
Many of these acts proved to be failures, and left conflicts unresolved. The Allotment Act of 1887 was passed to provide each family of tribal members 160 acres of land in hopes for assimilation with the non-Native Americans. This act ended in failure with poor planning, and no effort with teaching Natives how to cultivate land like White homesteaders in order to survive. Later, this resulted in many White landowners taking possession of these lands. The few Native Americans that managed to keep their land, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a federal government committee, served as trustee and held the legal titles over these lands.
Indians depicted it as becoming denationalized as document H explains. The Cherokees repeatedly protested. Document I clearly states that the Cherokees believed that had the right to their land. To move beyond the Mississippi, to unknown territory, was a great burden to them. The treaties created were not fulfilled even though they guaranteed Indian privileges and protection from intruders, thus driving the Natives to exile.
Andrew Jack, our seventh president, was admired by many. He was said to be the common man and to this day has been one of the most famous presidents yet. Although he was preferred it is historically inaccurate to associate Andrew Jacksons name with democracy, because many of his actions were undemocratic, including the passage of the tariff of 1828, his Indian Removal policy, and his spoils systems. An example of Jackson’s undemocratic actions was the Indian Removal Act. In 1830 Jackson and congress passed this act which removed Indians by force east of Mississippi, in 1831 the Cherokees sued Georgia but the Supreme Court ruled that their nation was not a foreign nation so they could still be removed.
During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears." The Choctaws and Chickasaws began their removal to the west without force by the Government. In 1836, Creeks who clung to their homes and refused the “voluntary” removal ran the risk of having their land taken and were then removed with force. The majority of the Seminole tribe in Florida were eventually forced out, but only after a seven year war between 1835 and 1842 cost the Government over $20 million.
As the Indians were forced to leave the land white people just came over and took part of the land that belong to the reservation and there was nothing the Indians could do about it. The discovery of gold made matters even worst as Americans came across the land looking for fortune in large numbers and in the process destroyed the land and the ecosystem. Their vast numbers drove away the bison herds and forced them to change their emigration patterns, which made it a lot more difficult for the Indians to sustain themselves. In addition to being forced to move to small reservations they were put on rationed food and supplies from the U.S government and to change their culture all against their will. The reservations were not set on the best land; those were given to white Americans.