Similarities Between The West And Native Americans
Nicole Novak
HIS104-030
9/12/17
“The West and Native Americans” As Eric Foner stated in Give Me Liberty! An American History, dating back to the times of colonization, “the West had been seen as a place for opportunity for those seeking to improve their condition in life.” (Foner 613) By the mid-1800’s, the U.S. Government had acquired all the land West of the Mississippi River, land previously untouched by most Americans at this time. With the expansion of rail roads, capitalism, the idea of manifest destiny, along with Americans’ hope for a fresh start in a new life with more land, western expansion had begun in America. Western expansion, which included the process of assimilation, hunting of Bison, war, and more led to the rapid decline …show more content…
Many Americans did settle in the West and many achieved their hope for a new life, but the West was not an unoccupied space of land as Turner had described. Millions of Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Chinese, Mormon, and non-Christian American people already occupied those lands.
In order to achieve total control of the West, the U.S. Government would have …show more content…
He is born a blank, like all the rest of us. Left in the surroundings of savagery, he grows to possess a savage language, superstition, and life... Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language and habit.” (Pratt 3)
Pratt’s image of the “savage” Native people compared to many other people’s views of these people at this time. The creation of boarding schools was successful and effective in assisting white efforts of assimilating Native Americans into their culture while exterminating Native American culture. Native American people were not the only among the living who faced mass slaughter during this time. Historians estimate that in 1870, over 10 million American Bison roamed the great West. For hundreds of years, the bison were Native peoples’ number one natural resource. Bison was the number one source of food, clothing, tools, and more. By 1890, only a couple hundred Bison still
HIS104-030
9/12/17
“The West and Native Americans” As Eric Foner stated in Give Me Liberty! An American History, dating back to the times of colonization, “the West had been seen as a place for opportunity for those seeking to improve their condition in life.” (Foner 613) By the mid-1800’s, the U.S. Government had acquired all the land West of the Mississippi River, land previously untouched by most Americans at this time. With the expansion of rail roads, capitalism, the idea of manifest destiny, along with Americans’ hope for a fresh start in a new life with more land, western expansion had begun in America. Western expansion, which included the process of assimilation, hunting of Bison, war, and more led to the rapid decline …show more content…
Many Americans did settle in the West and many achieved their hope for a new life, but the West was not an unoccupied space of land as Turner had described. Millions of Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Chinese, Mormon, and non-Christian American people already occupied those lands.
In order to achieve total control of the West, the U.S. Government would have …show more content…
He is born a blank, like all the rest of us. Left in the surroundings of savagery, he grows to possess a savage language, superstition, and life... Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language and habit.” (Pratt 3)
Pratt’s image of the “savage” Native people compared to many other people’s views of these people at this time. The creation of boarding schools was successful and effective in assisting white efforts of assimilating Native Americans into their culture while exterminating Native American culture. Native American people were not the only among the living who faced mass slaughter during this time. Historians estimate that in 1870, over 10 million American Bison roamed the great West. For hundreds of years, the bison were Native peoples’ number one natural resource. Bison was the number one source of food, clothing, tools, and more. By 1890, only a couple hundred Bison still