Native Americans vs the United States of America

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Times were very hard for Native Americans during the mid to late 1800s. The reasons for their afflictions could only be blamed upon the United States of America. For thousands of years, Native Americans had roamed around the Americas. There had also been many tribes spread across the West that fought between each other in order to have their land.1 It wasn’t until after reconstruction in the United States, that the white Americans started having ordeals with the Native Americans. The main tribes involved in the conflict starting around 1850 were the Lakota people and the Sioux. The relationship between them can only be remembered for broken treaties and wars. It is true that these tribes had only mind there own business for many centuries for the White Americans. It wasn’t around the 1850’s, that the United States were interested in the gold that was existing in the territories the belonged to the Native Americans. This would be the starting point of what historians call the Indian Wars that would last about half a century. The question is though, why? Why were there so many battles between the United States government and the Native Americans? Why was there so many hatred between them? Finally, who caused the violence? Many historians would believe that the government only wanted to have gold and then leave the Indian’s at peace and that they were the ones that acted irrationally. However, this is in fact a lie. It is genuine that they also wanted to rob them from there identity and who the Native Americans were as people. There was something much more than just gold in the Indian Wars. Although it may seem that the United States government only wanted riches from the Native American’s land, they actually wanted to extract t... ... middle of paper ... ...is, Rice Fort, and Sitting Bull. "1876 The Battle of the Little Big Horn." 1. Accessed January 30, 2014. 1 26 Crazy Horse, 1 27 Crazy Horse, 1 28 Marquis, 2 29 "General Custer and the Gold Rush", 11 30 Bridger, Bobby. "Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill." MAS ULTRA 17, no. 4 (December 2004): 1-17. Accessed January 26, 2004, 1 31 Bridger, 2 32 Bridger, 4 33 Bridger, 4 34 McLaughlin, James. "An Account of Sitting Bull's Death by James McLaughlin Indian Agent at Standing Rock Reservation (1891)." PBS. 1891. Accessed January 28, 2014, 1 35 McLaughlin, 2 36 Horse, American, Turning Hawk, Captain Sword, and Spotted Horse. "Lakota Accounts of the Massacre at Wounded Knee." PBS. Accessed January 28, 2014. 1 37 Robertson, Paul M. Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890. Accessed January 30, 2014. 2 38 Robertson, 2 39 Robertson, 3 40 Robertson, 4

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