Essay On Westward Expansion

872 Words4 Pages
Westward expansion occurred through the U.S. citizens existing beliefs of superiority over Native Americans and rights to western land this ideology was promoted by the federal government which led to the displacement and killing of Native Americans and the purposeful impairment and alienation of native culture. Existing beliefs held by American citizens about Native Americans and the Western Land they occupied were further endorsed by the federal government which led to the institutional displacement and killing of Native Americans. Document B explains the unprovoked killing of Native Americans in a camp two hundred miles from the post of United States troops. The U.S. Indian Agent reports of a massacre of mostly women and children Native…show more content…
Indian Wars erupted due to tension between the settlers backed by the federal government who were encroaching upon native land and the Native Americans occupying this land. The result of this tension led to Indian Wars such as the Sioux Wars which contained events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre in which federal troops killed 300 Sioux men, women, and children and the killing of General Custer during the battle of Wounded Knee which caused public opinion to turn even more against Native Americans. As a result of these Indian Wars all Native American tribes were effectively put onto reservations. The purposeful impairment and alienation of native culture was strongly emphasized by actions taken and legislation passed by the federal government of the United States. In Document A, Santana, Chief of the Kiowas, describes the destruction of timber and killing of buffaloes by soldiers who sit in camps where his people have lived for generations. In Document D it explains the scarcity of buffalo on the frontier, the writer of this letter believes that there is an institution in place in the frontier which will collect a store of skins until the American bison are hunted into extinction. The buffalo was crucial to

More about Essay On Westward Expansion

Open Document