After interviewing individuals living in the 1930’s, Mari Sandoz wrote the biography of Crazy Horse, with vivid details regarding cruelty and the governmental overtaking of the Indians’ homeland. Sandoz writes through the eyes of an Indian, using their language style to capture the essence of the times. Although it was sometimes difficult to follow because of my unfamiliarity with the language, there are great lessons to be gained by following the life of Crazy Horse. The United States government, our government, compromised and prepared treaties with the Indians as they tried to capture their homeland. As the Indians were pushed and confined, they were forced to succumb to the all-mighty government who made promises they did not intend to keep and were solely focused on their own interests.
In a speech made by the chief of the Iroquois Confederation, Canassatego states that settlers are migrating into Iroquois land and disrupting Indian hunting (Doc B). His remarks explain that the white settlers are encroaching on their land and that earlier treaties have been unfair. Pontiac’s rebellion caused the Proclamation of 1763 to be put in place by King George III leading to an increase of tension from the colonies to the British, angry that they had won the war yet were not able to settle in the territories they had gained. Economically Britain accumulated a significant amount of debt paying for the war, which in turn caused an increase in taxes for
With the French defeat in the French and Indian War (1754–63), Indians west of the Appalachians found their survival threatened because they could no longer play off the French against the English. Aware that the presence of only one European power in their vicinity meant that the old trade system had broken down, in 1763 the Ottawa Chief Pontiac rallied many groups formerly allied with the French in an effort to oust the English from the Ohio Valley. Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–66), although relatively successful in cementing a pan‐Indian alliance, ultimately failed. The English government tried to achieve peace in 1763 by a royal proclamation separating Indians and English settlers at the crest of the Appalachian Mountains. While the proclamation's promise that all land west of he Appalachians would be reserved for the Indians weakened Pontiac's alliance, it did nothing to lessen Euro‐American pressures on Indian land, as American traders, squatters, and speculators flowed unchecked into the Ohio
This first skirmish between these two sides happened in 1755, when a young officer by the name of George Washington and his militia tried to take down one of the French’s main forts, Duquesne. However they failed as the French proved to be a much greater force than expected, and Washington was forced to surrender and retreat. The French had the Indians on their side which was a big advantage to them, and more Indians who had been kicked out by the British colonists also saw this as an opportunity to settle some old scores. This resulted in a second loss for the British as they once again tried to take Fort Duquesne. This time though, they lost 70 percent of their men, and their general, Edward Braddock.
While some groups favored escaping white harassment through resettlement, many more opposed the idea of leaving their ancestral homes. Their desire to stay was reinforced by the unhappy experiences of small groups of Cherokees, Delawares, Shawnees, and others who had accepted a land exchange and gone westward between 1785 and 1800. After the War of 1812 and the elimination of the British as a potential ally, Indian removal became a basic item in virtually all treaties with Native groups. In 1817 John C. Calhoun, a strong advocate of Indian removal, was named secretary of war by James Monroe. Calhoun joined forces with the war hero Andrew Jackson and Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan Territory, to urge formal adoption of a removal
After the War of 1812 many problems over keeping the balance between slave and Free states, arose which contributed to the growth of sectionalism in America. Thomas Jefferson referred to the Missouri Compromise as the geographical line that would cause more irritation in America every time an issue came about (Doc F.) Although the Missouri compromise created a new slave state in Missouri and a free one in Maine, this did not totally resolve the conflicts about allowing slavery in certain parts of the nation. Jefferson feared that the nation’s perseverance would be affected due to this dividing line.“The agriculturists bear the whole brunt of the war and taxation, and remain poor, while the others run in the ring of pleasure, and fatten upon them.” (Doc. A). The Tariff of 1816 placed a high tariff on manufactured imports in order to place a protective veil around typically northern businesses.
The Indian Removal Act was also very controversial, while Native American removal, in theory, was voluntary. In reality, vast amounts of pressure were put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties. Most observers’ weather they were in favor of the policy or not, were aware that the passage of the act would mean the inevitable removal of most Indians from the state. From 1820 to 1824, Jackson was instrumental in negotiating 11 treaties; which deprived the eastern tribes of their land in exchange for land in the west. As a result of the treaties, the United States gained control of over three-quarters of Alabama, and Florida, as well as parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
By `1754 France and England were fighting for territory, and the Indians became pawns in the effort. The French and English tried to persuade the Indians to fight for them, and in the end the Indians decided to fight on the side of the French, believing that the French were not out to colonize, therefore making them more of an ally. In `1760, after six years of war, the French withdrew, but the English remained. Pontiac, an Indian, continued to fight for the prosperity and independence of the tribes. He rallied tribes to his cause and became very powerful, calling his forces “Pontiac’s Confederacy”.
But as time passed, people started to believe that slavery was unconstitutional. Debates were fought, muskets snapped, and cannons roared in order to secure the future of our country. After a war that separated the country for the first time in her short history, slavery was abolished; but laws and manuscript can only do so much. For the generations that were imprinted with this natural racism, it would take an equal amount of explanation and understanding to have any hope of a change in their mindset. Langston Hughes’s poem depicts this as the “Negro bearing slavery’s scars”, stating that no matter how much time has or will pass, the social and mental damage has already been done (20).
However, in some instances I think he went too far, such as forcefully making Native Americans leave and some of the comments he made about the issue. For example, Jackson says “Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people” (Hollitz, 209). But Jackson’s comments don’t seem to coincide with his actions regarding the Cherokee Indians in Georgia. The Cherokee had attempted with great success to become more Americanized, but were ordered by Georgia to leave as per the Indian Removal Act created by Jackson. The Cherokee incorporated laws, a constitution, interracial marriages, and even tried living like whites do.