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How Did The Nez Perces Led To Their Demise

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Albert Einstein once said “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The Nez Perce had something to the same affect for instance, trusting the Europeans with treaties and being let down once then over again. Trading with the Europeans even if they deemed them unsuitable to keep land. In essence, the reason the Nez Perces were led to their demise is because of the continuation of trust between them and the whites who arrived in the Northwest moreover, how the Nez Perces stayed in a relationship with them. A relationship that was full of curiosity, misunderstanding and miscommunication that showed how it slowly went from choice to control for the Nez Perce. The choice of either dying quickly or dying …show more content…

Also, curiosity of what the Europeans had really intrigued and got the Nez Perces curious of what they had to offer. Trust with Lewis and Clark had the Nez Perces thinking that they were on the same level or even above them and this relationship will ultimately die. Lewis and Clark had promised the Nez Perces a trading post of some sort. Lewis and Clark sent Donald McKenzie and it solidified their relationship. The Nez Perces were great traders. They were very intelligent and knew how to deal. If you wanted to trade a horse or some supplies with them it is going to be pricey because the Nez Perce knew how to get the price up to where they were satisfied with the results. With that in mind you can say that the Nez Perce are obviously smart and crafty. Even more, they knew that they didn’t need to hunt beavers and sea otter, what the Nez Perce wanted out of trade was things they did not recognize. The Nez Perce were really interested in other goods Americans and Europeans had like, “knives, fishhooks, scrapers, Tabaco, pipes, cloths” , they were interested with the materialistic things they had. They wanted to be in trade with them. In all, the Nez Perce would think that they are on par with the whites they were involved in trade with. What the Europeans and Americans thought of the Nez Perce was drastically different. Europeans and …show more content…

America betrayed the Nez Perces and exploited the weakness of the Nez Perces. America failed to keep up treaties and only enforced them when it was convenient to them. The Americans also gave the Nez Perces something to hope for in religion. Europeans also hit the Nez Perces hard particularly with, diseases. Smallpox killed twenty thousand died of smallpox but, the Nez Perce were not weak people. They knew how to take care of themselves and they knew how to make more on a sale. Knowing that the Nez Perce were capable to provide for themselves, it is obvious that they contributed to their own demise. Misunderstandings of disease and miscommunication of who led the Nez Perces also played against them. Europeans and Americans made snap judgments about them and try to rationalize going to war with them. But, the Nez Perce should have cut off contact with the whites however, they were too intertwined with the Americans and wanted what they had. Even if the Nez Perce had cut off contact with the whites enclosing them, would it have been a different outcome? In all this may have been avoided if the Nez Perce did not get so transfixed on what the Europeans and Americans had. One could say, as soon as the Nez Perce started to trade with America and Europeans, it was a war already

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