Were the Native Americans Savages

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Many Americans believed the plains Indians to be savages because of their life style. They have many different views on their land, religion, law and order and society. The harsh conditions of the Great Plains meant that both the new settlers and the Native Americans had to struggle to survive, and they fought hard against anyone who threatened their way of life. 

There was certainly little understanding between the various sides in the conflict. The conflict was seen as a 'clash of cultures'. The Native Americans felt that white Americans were devils who ruined the earth. Differences of culture caused them to hate and despise each other, and led to war. The white settlers believed that the Native Americans were inferior. 

Many white Americans believed in manifest destiny. They believed that white American people were destined to occupy and govern all the territories of North America and to take over the Plains. They took the land that Native Americans believed belonged to everyone.

The Native Americans had different attitudes to religion than the white people. The Native Americans believed when you die you would go to the happy hunting grounds and believed the in the Great Spirit called the Wanken Tanka. The white Americans thought this was a superstition. They believed in Christianity and believed that there was only one god in a true religion. The white Americans believed you would go to heaven based on how good you were. Christian preachers thought '...the Indians have no religion, only ignorant superstition'. The Native Americans also believed
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