Native American History Research Paper

Native American History and the Deceit of Washington
“I have taken the white man by the hand, thinking him to be a friend, but he is not a friend; government has deceived us; Washington is rotten,” (Brown 262). These were the words of Kicking Bird, chief of the Kiowas, as quoted by Dee Brown in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. In this historical account of the Native Americans in the West, there are cases of repeated oppression of the Natives by the American government. White Americans, motivated by their greed, perpetually forced the submission of the Native Americans through a discriminatory government which demonstrated power through unfair treaties and agreements as well as unrelenting military force in order to further their own white

In fact, it is mentioned multiple times in Brown’s book that the Native Americans think the white men must “hate everything in nature” (Brown 7, 248). Natives talk of them not being “contented” with what the Great Spirit had given them, but that “they would change the rivers and mountains if they did not suit them,” (Brown 321). Reprimanding the white men for their greed, Chief Joseph articulates his opinion when he says, “The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was….The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man’s business to divide it,” (Brown 316).
The greed of the Americans is what ultimately broke off all friendly relations with the Natives. This is exemplified in Brown’s comments on the relationship between the Nez Perces and the Americans, “Thus began a long friendship between the Nez Perces and white Americans. For seventy years the tribe boasted that no Nez Perces had killed a white man. But white man's greed for land and gold finally broke the friendship,” (Brown 317). The Americans’ extreme drive for success and riches ruined the Native American frontier and broke all hopes of peaceful relationships with the

As another example, “The United States government did not bother to obtain consent from the Indians before starting on this armed invasion [of the Black Hills],” (276). The United States not only violated their own treaty that promised the Black Hills to the Natives, but they also used the force of their military to eradicate the Natives from their own land without necessity. The Natives had done nothing except claim what was promised them in writing, and the United States sent armed forces into their land in order to unjustly take it from them. This armed invasion of the Black Hills was an unjustified display of the unceasing greed and power of the United States that they carried out through the use of their