Westward Expansion's Impact on Native Americans/Indians
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LEQ: What impact did Westward Expansion have on a social group [Native Americans]?
Westward Expansion had many effects on the Native American/Indian tribes that the Americans encountered. First of all, arguments, fights, and in-general conflict happened between the Americans and Indians due to different views and goals. The Native American Indians believed that land should be used for hunting and gathering, and not everyone farmed or had permanent houses in their culture. The Americans usually wanted the Indian land for farming, mining, and ranching, they believed that land that hasn't been farmed on is wasted land, and that anyone there is inferior to them. While the Americans ran into these Indians, they usually also had to get food from the Indians' land so they hunted the bison that were frequent there. It was the main resource for clothes and food. The Americans there set out to kill all of the bison, which caused problems for the environment and the Indians who also had to hunt and use those bison for resources. The Americans took the Native American land and practically forced the Native Americans living there to live on "Indian Reservations", which typically was compromised of what would be considered to be very bad land. In exchange for the living conditions there, the American government would pay money to the Indians there but it usually was very little amount of money and didn't always pay them when they were supposed to. The land wasn't very good to farm or hunt, so they usually had to make what they had out of the money given from the American government to buy from other Americans for their food and supplies, or traded. This left the Native Americans very angry and upset at how the Americans treated them, and usually lead up to military conflicts and uprisings from them, as the Indians were left in the conditions of poor and starving. This later led up to things like the Dakota Sioux Uprising. |