Mr. Miller
APUSH
February 2, 2015
Native Americans DBQ (1877-1900) In the late 1800s, Americans were continuing to expand Westward as they “worried that the Northeast was overpopulated and that, as a result, the country would face the same problems as Europe—class conflict, poverty, and urban ills” (Document I). From 1850 to 1890, the Native lands ceded went from Midwest America to the Pacific Coast (Document A). This presented a similar problem that they had faced in the past with Native American land. In an attempt to overcome conflicts with the possession of Native American land, the United States set in place policies that were often inconsiderate to the Natives, but that they believed to be better economically, politically, and morally. These policies varied from government provided food for the Natives, to the distribution of the new land, and the treatment of Native for their various practices. All of these things greatly affected the course of Native American people and their cultures to this day. As Americans took over more land in the west, they began to kill the buffalo that lived there for supplies in massive amounts. Document C, Figure 16.2, shows a mound of buffalo skeleton bones that would be shipped to the East for various fertilization purposes and represents the “extent of the devastation” to the buffalo population. Document C also shows the numerous ways that Native Americans used the buffalo in their everyday life. Various purposes that the buffalo served were food from meat and fat, tools and weapons from the bones, clothing from the hide of the buffalo, and many others uses on the long list. No part of the buffalo was wasted by the Natives. When Americans came to their land and slaughtered the population, the Natives were left without any supplies for living. The Natives were forced to live off of food that was provided for them by the government, even though it was the same white settlers who took away their food supply in