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Technology's Impact On Plains Indians In The 19th Century

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Americans had already started an impact on Plains Indians life first by their idea of Manifest Destiny and expanding to the west through God’s given rights for economic benefits like mining and farming in new fertile land. Making expansion deals like the Mexican Cession where the U.S. gained Upper California and New Mexico. The lives of Plains Indians in the latter half of the 19th Century were dramatically impacted by a combination of technological developments and government actions, as they faced increased encroachment on their lands, destruction of their traditional way of life, and forced assimilation into Euro-American society. In the later half of the 19th century Plains Indians were greatly affected by the technological developments …show more content…

This allowed for the transportation of goods and people across vast distances, which opened up the West to settlement and commerce. The expansion of railroads, however, had a devastating impact on the buffalo herds, which were essential to the Plains Indians' way of life. The railroads allowed for the hunting of buffalo to become commercialized and more efficient, leading to the decimation of the buffalo herds, which was the main source of food for the Plains Indians. This was supported by “the Extermination of the American Bison,” which states that the extermination of the buffalo’s was caused by Americans reckless greed, wanton destructiveness, and improvidence. The Buffalo’s also supplied the Indian with food, clothing, shelter, bedding, saddles, ropes, shields, and innumerable smaller articles of use and ornament. William Honardy wrote this document at this point of time because he believed that the slaughter of buffaloes was unjustifiable and wanted to explain why Americans killed the buffaloes. This all shows that with the killing of buffaloes by Americans, they were affecting the Plains Indians way of life using new technological developments like the modern breech-loading rifles and other sporting fire-arms in

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