Natives in America Essay Sample

The U.S. pursued the Native Americans through policies, assimilation, and genocide because they were threatened by their culture. We finally get to hear their perspective on their treatment in America and their response to what occurred during these times. 

The U.S. Government pursued a two-pronged policy against Native Americans because they dominated the lands and their culture made it hard to control them. They sought these plans to remove Natives from their homes to make way for American settlement. They proposed these policies with ill intent so that the Indians would have no choice but to agree if they didn't want to go to war. If treaties or other forms didn't work they used military efforts to spark disputes between the two to push them to sign. The Dakota War in 1862 baited them into fighting by refusing them food and even after the war hunted those who fled while killing many children and women. 

The Battle on the Greasy Grass of 1876 is another battle that occurred due to the government pressuring the Sioux to sell their land and go to a reservation because of violating the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Native Americans of course resisted which led to the U.S. Army getting violent and the Sioux protecting their people and land. There was no real violation just the Americans being more greedy for land and trying to conquer whoever was in their way which was the Native Americans at this time even though they lost a great defeat in that battle. 

The Red River War in 1874 came to be because of negotiations between the Americans and Indians who refused to resettle after being thought to have come to an understanding that they were given lands to hunt. The Americans took that as them raiding and proclaimed war on those deemed hostile. The war ended after many Indians were starved, cold, and killed by soldiers thus leading them to be moved to the Fort Sill reservation. 

Assimilation was important concerning American Indians in the 1800s because the U.S. government wanted to destroy the native culture and have them adopt American culture for their benefit so their culture would be wiped away. In the documentary "Unspoken: Native American Boarding Schools" we learn how the U.S. government brainwashed Native American children by taking them away from their families and stripping them of their culture, hair, and language to assert them into having a European mindset. They knew that by taking away these children from their families they were hurting their parents and leaving the children with no knowledge of their true identity thus leaving them with no culture to pass on but the ones they ingrained in them. 

In the documentary "We Shall Remain Geronimo" the Government took the Chiricahua to Boarding schools where they cut their hair, converted them to Christianity, and forbade them from speaking their native language. They converted them to be western because their old identity cluttered them and to forget it. A sickness then spread throughout the school where only those children who had it were returned to their families. 

Congress also sought religiously minded people in hopes that it may sway Indians to accept their western ways. They brought in female missionaries to instill American gender roles, family structures, and religion. They wanted to replace the Indian's social structure with American ideals and norms so that their culture would eventually vanish. 

The Navajo signed the Treaty of Bosque Redondo which gave the Navajo people the right to return to their homeland after being forced to go to a reservation. The period of the long walk was a set of forced marches by the Navajo to the Bosque Redondo reservation after being threatened they would be shot. The condition of the reservation was horrible many died of sickness and it was unstainable.  

A branch of the Nez people resisted moving to a reservation while under the leadership of Chief Joseph they tried to flee to Canada but were intercepted by the U.S. Calvary. They were outnumbered but continued to fight against them and were attacked nearly twenty-four times before exhaustion and hunger took them. They surrendered and were imprisoned and moved to a reservation. 

The Native Americans participated in religious ceremonies and dances where they celebrated their culture and ancestors whom they believed would rise and make everything better for them. Their ritual practices, traditions, and dances quickly spread and it reached the Dakotas whose practice of it frightened settlers and made them press for war. Many Lakota leaders were arrested and killed but others fled and joined other groups to whom they spread the practice too. The Calvary men found were seeking refuge and it quickly became a massacre of many native children, women, and men. 

The Sioux in Black Hills of South Dakota continued to resist white settlement in 1874. After an expedition to their land and discovering gold, settlers flocked to the territory, not caring about the Indians' rights which frustrated them. The government wanted the Sioux to sign a new treaty that would give them control over their land to search for gold which they refused which resulted in conflict with the Sioux coming out triumphant. 

In conclusion, learning History from the Indians' perspective has been pretty insightful. History through the lens of Americans is biased against the truth in what they taught in school. This has expanded my knowledge of Native treaties, schools, and genocide I wasn't aware of. 

Footnotes 

The American Yawp, Chapter 17, Section 3

The American Yawp, Chapter 17, Section 4

The American Yawp, Chapter 17, Section 6

Calloway, "Our Hearts Fell to the Ground", page 133 

John Howe, "Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools" Unit 1, Lesson 2

Dustin Craig & Sarah Colt, "We Shall Remain: Geronimo", Unit 1, Case Study 1