After reading pages 564-74, post two comments reacting to the following statement/prompt. Your first comment will be your response to the prompt, and the second will be a reaction to your classmates. Feel free to post more than twice.
In what ways did the US government fail to deal with the Native Americans in a fair way?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The U.S. government really did not treat the Native Americans fairly. They just wanted to get rid of them and some Presidents even hated them, which is completely wrong. The government would force the Native Americans to constantly move. They gave them no option whether or not they wanted to leave. For example, in the 1850s, when Kansas and Nebraska terrorities were available to white settlers, the government forced the tribes living there to move to a reservation with a lot less land. That was completely unfair considering the Native Americans were there first. Also, after the government realized that their was gold near Pike's Peak, so they pretty much demanded the Indians leave that area and move to a reservation with less food and room. The government had the idea that they could walk all over the Native Americans and do whatever they wanted to them. It was completely not right and there were times when the Native Americans would rebel.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. government really did not treat the Native Americans fairly. Their only goal was to get rid of them. The government forced the Native Americans to move from their homes constantly and did not give them an option on when. The Kansas and Nebraska territories were evacuated of the native tribes and that was completely unfair considering that they were there first. Similarly in Pike Peak after the government realized there was gold there they forced the Native Americans to leave. This was in no way fair to the Native American's but the government did not care and kept being unjust.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Courtney in the fact that the Government had the idea that they could walk all over the Native Americans and do whatever they wanted to do to them. That was not fair at all and there were times when the Native Americans could not take it anymore and had no choice but to rebel.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. government did not treat the Native Americans fairly. In 1830, the eastern tribes had been moved to preserve west of Mississippi to end strife by seperating whites and Indians. Later years, white entered theses lands to Pacific Coast. Then the government forced the tribes to move farher back, leaving them less than 1.5 million acres of land. Likewise, the white settlers began to covet the plains and mountains, which was belonged to the Indians assigned from the earlier treaties. These actions were totally unacceptable. The U.S. governement just cared about the benefit of the whites, but completely ignored the promise to the Indians. The way the governement treated the Indians were extremely selfish.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Grant's Peace Policy was unfair to the Indians. He required all the Indians to accept the white culture in every area. This was very difficult for the Indians to completely gave up their original living style and to become the "civilized citizens".
I agree with Courtney and Pasha. The government should have had a good discussion with the Natives before starting all the actions, or at least try to talk with them. All of the unfair things the U.S. governement did were pushing them aside. Causing the Natives felt no respect from the U.S. governement. The only thing they could do to oppose was to form a rebellion.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S government treated the Native Americans very unfairly. They simply did not care about the Native Americans or the fact that the U.S was their land in the fist place! All they wanted to do was kick them out and the poor Native Americans had to leave all that they had behind. It was extremely cruel of the American government to do this.
ReplyDeleteIndians were simply described as "wards of the nation" to the U.S. government. The Indians were forced to do many things they did not want or understand. Many were herded from both coasts into the mid western areas and then forced into reservations. Many massacres occurred during this time causing many Indians to be murdered or punished for no reason. When Grant's Peace Policy for the Indians was announced it urged civilization and ultimate citizenship. However, many longed to remain as they had but were forced and bribed into making decisions. Ultimately this caused many Indians to fall into depression, destitution, and alcoholism.
ReplyDeleteCourtney brings up a good point the The U.S. government did not treat the Native Americans fairly. The government was forcing the Native Americans from place to place to reservation. Kansas and Nebraska being the perfect example of this. The government consistently felt that had they controlled the Native Americans and did whatever they wanted to them. Ultimely this caused the Native Americans to rebel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tiffany about the Whites being the major priorities. The government favored the Whites over the Native Americans and made sure that they got their way no matter what. Grant's Peace Policy made everything even more unfair! The Native Americans had to give up their entire cultures just so they could blend in with the Whites.
ReplyDeleteThe Native Americans were not treated fairly. One example of this is Sand Creek massacre. The Whites followed the strategy of burning Indian crops and villages as a means of destroying or driving off the Indians. The army's purpose was to control all of the Indians onto reservations that were created onto the West. They slaughtered buffalo herds, which the Indians considered to be very sacred. As a result, the Indians felt despaired and came into the reservations.
ReplyDeleteAlso, President Grant declared that the Indians accept white culture in his inaugural address in 1869. The US Government did not understand the Native Americans and treated them like garbage.
I agree with Courtney; the Native Americans should have had a say when their territory was taken away. The Government obviously did not care that they were taking away the little things that the Native Americans had, so the Native Americans got angry and rebelled.
ReplyDeleteThe Native Americans were not treated like human beings. They burned their villages, destoryed their crops which made them have to move, and they did it all over again destroying their new land. They murdered animals that the indians lived off of so they cut off their only other food source. Also, the buffalo were one of the major belongings to the Natives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with courtney, the Whites just drove the Natives away with no reasoning as well as no consideration on how the Natives were first here, and now the US goverment is forcing them to move many times. They would take advantage of them because they believed they can, only Indians would fight back, not much happened. They still were forced out of their land.
ReplyDeleteNative Americans were most certainly not treated fairly pertaining to the fact that they didn't have a say in ANYTHING. Their homes were destroyed and property was taken away. Despite the fact that the Govt could care less, it just wasn't fair whatsoever to these people. They had been settled there and therefore it was THEIR property. Caucasians were obviously favored in the states and it really isn't/wasn't fair.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the 19th century the United States government treated the Native American population unjustly. Beginning around 1830, Native Americans were forced off their land to designated preservations map out by the Untied States government. Furthermore, the mistreatment continued through the Civil War. During this time Native Americans unwillingly sold their land to the US government and often times received delayed payments for the transaction. Violence soon followed across the frontier leading to Native Americans killing hundreds of white settlers. The US government retaliated by sentencing over 300 Sioux Indians to be hung. While the number of executions was reduced to 38, it still remains as the United States largest execution. Later, the tribe was once again forcibly moved to a different territory. Cycles of violence and battles between the US army and Native American tribes continued throughout the 1800s which ultimately resulted in the eradication of the Plains Indian culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erin and her position on the Peace Policy. The United States felt that they were doing the Native Americans a favor by formally accepting them to the nation. Nonetheless, the matter of truth reveals that the Indians were forced against their will to adopt the white culture and completely denounce their allegiance to the tribe.
ReplyDeleteTiffany brings up Grant's Peace Policy, which is a good example that shows how unfairly the U.S. government treated the Native Americans. Asking the Native Americans to give up their culture may have been one of the hardest things they had to do. Moving from place to place was difficult, but loosing their culture along the way and becoming a "civilized citizen" was even worse. By accepting the Peace Policy and accepting the ways of the white culture, it showed how the government expected the Native Americans to do whatever the Whites said without a question. The Peace Policy was also unfair because everyone deserves to practice and carry on their own customs and culture. Everyone is an individual, however the government did not see the Native Americans like that.
ReplyDeleteThe US government did fail to treat the Native Americans fairly. The government unwillingly forced the Natives of their rightfully owned land. The Native Americans were not harming anyone and had no reason to leave. The government just wanted their land and did not like them at all. There were numerous attacks to drive the Native Americans off their land and they had no choice but to leave. The new land that the government provided for them was much smaller and was not good for farming. The government also wanted their land because they found out that there was gold in the area. Many Native Americans died because the whites wanted the western land and would stop at nothing to get it. It was unfair the the Native Americans were driven of their land by the US government.
ReplyDeleteCourtney and Tiffany bring up a very important aspect which is Grant's Peace Policy. The government told the Native Americans to get off the land and to become civilized citizens. I agree with Courtney in the fact that everyone has the right to their own culture and customs. A person's culture is something that can neve be taken away even though that is what the government requested. The government obviously didn't care about the Native Americans and only wanted their land. The government treated the Native Americans unfairly and only wanted their land and didn't care about their culture.
ReplyDeleteThe Native Americans were not treated fairly by the U.S. government. It was clear to see the straight up just wanted to remove the Native Americans from their original territories and move them west. The government kept moving them without their approval without a care. Even though the Native Americans were originally there first, it was a careless fact and they were simply just treated unfairly by being abused and having to move around whenever the government forced them. Also they took away their only food source, by killing the animals the used as food.
ReplyDeleteNisha bring up a good example about the Sand Creek massacre and how the whites followed the strategy of burning Indian crops and villages as a means of destroying or driving off the Indians, as she said. Also Courtney brought up a good example in saying, in the 1850s, when Kansas and Nebraska terrorities were available to white settlers, the government forced the tribes living there to move to a reservation with a lot less land. I agree with both and their examples proving that the Native Americans were treated extremely unfairly by the U.S. government.
ReplyDeleteThe Native Americans were treated very poorly by the US government. They were seen as more of pests than they were human beings. The government and the American people just wanted to get rid of them. When people began to move out west into Kansas and Nebraska, the Native Americans were forced off of the land they were originally pushed onto. The government pushed them into reservations where there were far less resources. Grant’s Peace Policy was also enforced to change the Native American’s way of life. They were required to forfeit their cultures and become civilized citizens. Making a group of people follow a certain culture is completely against what America was originally all about. The Native Americans were greatly abused during this time period and some massacres of the tribes even occurred. This was no way to treat human beings.
ReplyDeleteAaron brings up a very good point by saying one of the reasons the Native Americans were kicked off of their land was for gold. Pike’s Peak was one of these instances. Nisha also brings up a strong example for the unfair treatment of the Native Americans, the Sand Creek Massacre. Indian crops and villages were systematically destroyed in a means to drive off the Indians. In the process many Native American lives were taken. This is a dark time in American history; the government is allowing the massacre and torture of a group of people.
ReplyDeleteThe US government wronged the Native Americans by perpetually taking their land from them via the "policy of concentration"; just roughly 20 years after tribes had been moved to preserves west of the Mississippi, some went from having 15 million acres collectively to 1.5 million. The natives, despite being promised large lands forever, had deja vu when physically forced off their land because other men coveted the resources/wealth of that area.
ReplyDeleteNot only were natives moved around the country and given a small fraction of what land they once had, but the Plains Indians lost all with their separation from the once-mighty buffalo. The Us government, then, acted wrongly, as destroying a group's way of life to make a quick buck goes against all ethics.
John raises some good points, and I like how he draws a connection between Native Americans and pests in the eyes of the US government; it didn't even bother coming up with great reasons for pushing the natives off their land. It didn't care if they knew why they were being pushed off (because Americans wanted money) or not. The government didn't see natives as a threat, because they were so small and technologically backward; it didn't see natives as equal citizens, otherwise they would not have wrong'ed them; it saw them as pests, because it only bothered to communicate with the natives to tell them that they were being pushed to another land by the hand of unfairness.
ReplyDeleteThe government did a terrible job of dealing with the Native American issue throughout the history of the US. They constantly pushed the Indians away, treating them poorly. Whenever they wanted to expand, the government simply forced the Indians to pick up their belongings and move to a new home, treating them almost like animals and less than humans. Forcing the Natives to move to somewhere new especially onto the reservations was wrong and a violation of basic human rights. The government never gave the Native Americans compensation for the wrong doings they did to them, they continually forced them to move, they abused them physically and bullied them, and they failed to recognize their rights.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Courtney said about Pikes Peak and Kansas and Nebraska. Whenever the government found an opportunity for improvement or expansion or more wealth they uprooted any families and tribes of Natives in order to get what they wanted. This was cruel and unjust treatment of the Natives
ReplyDeleteThe US government dealt with the Native Americans in an unfair and unjust way. The Native Americans, who as we all know, owned American soil before any other culture, were constantly forced to move their communities elsewhere. For example, in 1831, the US government forced native americans to leave their homelands in the east, and move west to Oklahoma. This is known as the trail of tears because the Indians were frustrated and upset, and did not have to leave their homelands. Also, during Andrew Jackson's presidency, President Jackson passed a removal act which forced Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River. Simply, the US government wanted to create more room for the white population to live. They had no problem asking the Native Americans to pick up their belongings and move. The US government must not have realized that they did not claim American land first.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Courtney, and as I even mentioned in my own post, it was unjust that the US government bullied the Native Americans, "... considering the fact that Native Americans claimed US soil first." I do not think the government had the right to treat the Native Americans that way, especially since the land was not theirs to begin with. If the English and whoever had been the first people to claim US soil, then I would understand that they had the right to force certain people to move. Obviously forcing people to move if an unjust situation in itself; however, this makes more sense. Nonetheless, the way the US government dealt with the Native Americans seemed brutal and inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteThe United states did not rightfully handle the situation with the Native Americans. As expansionism and manifest destiny unfolded to the west, they became an obstacle to the government. They wanted to rid themselves with these people but did not want to suffer political upheaval for rash actions. As people began to move out west, the Native Americans were forced off of the land they were originally forced onto, the government again relocated them into reservations where they were unable to lead the lifestyle that had existed for hundred's of years. Also the necessities and resources they had depended on all that time had become unavailable in these new lands. Grant’s Peace Policy was another change the Native American’s way of life. They were required to forfeit their cultures and become civilized citizens. This contradicts the exact principals that the United States was founded upon. Due to the resistance, large outbreaks of violence and corrupt actions ensued.
ReplyDeleteI agree with peter's post. The series of events surrounding the United State's actions all point toward the magnitude of the United State's ethics at the time and how greedy they were to put down native people to make their own gains are downright selfish and immoral.
ReplyDeleteThe government failed to give the native Americans any freedom. Natives did not have the luxury of choice and could not decide where and how they would live. The government planned out their lives, indirectly killed their relationship with buffalo -- their source of culture -- and pushed them around the country through violent methods. The government just failed to act with decency to the natives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gregg. The government became obsessed with fulfilling Manifest Destiny and other selfish ideologies, so acted unfairly to the native Americans. Grant's Peace Policy was the killing blow. It destroyed the notion that they were normal citizens and considered equal by the government; the government is not allowed to require anyone to forfeit their culture, so if they do and get away with it then that group is clearly low on the food chain.
ReplyDelete