Push West Research Paper

The late 19th century American push West should be taught as how the West was lost. As the settlers moved Westward the natives of the area were forced into reservations.The Great Plains was Where the Buffalo roamed, but with westward expansion came the destruction of the Buffalo. When Lewis and Clark first explored the last there were over three million Buffalo roaming the Great Plains. with the push West came the hunting of the Buffalo for sport, millions were killed just for fun.The loss of the American buffalo was a loss to the entire West that changed it forever. the Native Americans of the West lived on their land for hundreds of years. so much so that the natives rooted their culture into the land , they depended on the land for their
Native American culture was very rooted in the land comma their lives depended on the Buffalo and their beliefs were tied to the land. Most Plains Indians did not believe that anyone owned the land, this made it easy for the Americans to cheat the natives of their land with treaties and laws they usually couldn't understand. In December of 1890 the Lakota Indians had been chased down by the soldiers set to force them into a reservation, camped in the cold at Wounded Knee many died from the cold alone, after a small conflict the soldiers opened fire upon the mostly helpless Natives. The Great Plains was the Native Americans land that did not see it that way. the natives were cheated, lied to, and slaughtered, their culture was built around the land that was taken away. the treatment of the natives was terrible especially when they couldn't fight back, the massacre at Wounded Knee shows how the West was lost by the cruelty of America. The Native American's lands taken from them, the West was taken from them. the Native Americans of the Great Plains have lost the last due to the wickedness of the American