The document summarizes the expansion of American settlers into Native American lands between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean in the 1800s, and the conflicts that arose. It describes how both the U.S. and Canadian governments confined indigenous peoples to reservations and tried to assimilate them through education, while the U.S. pursued a more violent policy of war and removal. It discusses several Native American resistance efforts, including the 1862 Sioux war, the Sand Creek Massacre, and the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, before concluding that the violence resulted from Native attachment to ancestral lands containing resources desired by settlers.

1. Patricia Fonseca
May 2, 2012
History 141 Course #31136
History of the Americas Since 1800
Professor Arguello

2.  Americans flooded the territory between the Mississippi
River and the Pacific Ocean with rapid velocity, creating
farms, ranches, mines, and towns.
 It wasn’t long before conflict between the Native
Americans and the settlers grew to alarming standards.
 The federal government confined the Native Americans to
small reservations in remote areas that were deemed
useless by the settlers. Many Native Americans refused to
be driven from their ancestral lands and waged war
against federal troops.
 The Canadian national government had also taken over
Native Indian lands and were engaged in war with the
Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
 Missionaries and educators tried to rid the Native
Americans of their native practices, language, and
religion. They were offered land in exchange for adopting
citizenship and renouncing their tribal rights.

3.  The war against Native Americans was much more
violent in the United States than it was in Canada.
 National policies supported the settler’s expansion and
the removal of Native Americans. Canada had a small
population, large territories, and less-aggressive
policies against the Native Indians. Canada’s
“Mounties” were concerned with keeping the peace
and establishing a civil government while the U.S.
Calvary approached it as a war for land.
 America did not establish social policy for its people of
mixed-race.
 Canada recognized its mixed races as distinct people
and established rights accordingly.
 Both nations assumed that the Natives had to become
integrated into the society and economic system of
their particular country.

4.  Some Natives fled their lands to escape assimilation,
some resorted to warfare, others just embraced the
change and hoped that education would make the
influx of whites easier for the younger generations to
deal with.
 With the end of the Mexican War resulting in continued
expansion into New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska,
Native Americans were relocated to Oklahoma.
 In the summer of 1862, the eastern Sioux waged war
with settlers from their homeland.
 By 1864, the Sioux, Pawnees, Cheyennes, and Arapahos
had cleared most settlers from the central plains. This
resulted in retaliation from the Colorado militia. The
Sand Creek Massacre was waged against a peaceful
Indian village.
 The Johnson administration established a general peace
commission to end the conflict.

5.  October 21, 1867: Leaders of the Kiowas, Kiowa-
Apaches, Arapahos, Cheyennes, and Comanches
signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge.
 The agreement was to remain at peace, surrender
hunting territories, live on the assigned reservations,
while accepting the white man’s instruction in
farming.
 Despite the treaties that subsequently followed,
many violent uprisings occurred.
 The Plains tribes kept up a pattern of minor raids.
 1867: Colonel Custer led a large part of the Seventh
Cavalry Regiment on the banks of Little Bighorn.
 The Sioux had gathered a large force of northern
tribes for the battle.
 The war ended the following summer as Sitting Bull
and hundreds of his followers fled to Canada.

6.  The violence between the Native Americans and the
settlers was due to a number of factors.
 The Natives had strong leaders and strong attachment
to their homelands. Most had warrior traditions.
 Their lands were well suited for agriculture or roads
and trails.
 Minerals desirable to the settlers were found within
the tribal lands.
 Many settlers were unhappy with the thought of
letting the Native Americans control and monopolize
these lands.
 Many settlers were content with letting the federal
government push the Native Americans off of these
lands to open up the resources.