Native American Assimization

Native American land and culture was impacted greatly by the western expansion of the United States in countless ways. Before the U.S. wanted to expand and take over land in the west Native Americans roamed freely and lived in villages along rivers and streams without disturbance. The Continental railroad had many reasons to do with conflict between Natives and whites. Furthermore people and miners looking for opportunities and gold in the west pushed Natives off of their land and claimed it as their own. This caused the Natives and the U.S. to have many violent battles in desperation to keep their land this caused devastating massacres of Natives. In the mid to late 1800s Native Americans experienced many changes in where they lived, their

move to the west. For example they were affected by assimilation. This is when two cultures blend together and the more assertive culture forces the other to completely change its ways. Assimilation was a way for Native Americans to survive according to some people. An example of this is the Dawes Act of 1887. This encouraged Native Americans to farm with settlers and divided the lands into plots for each family. This did not benefit Native Americans as not all of them wanted to farm and if they did they did not have the tools or skills to do so. Furthermore the government also sent numerous Native American children to boarding school. They dressed in european clothes, learned english and farmed. In document six it shows the children and what they looked like compared to others. Some tribes chose American culture and some refused to accept

Buffalo were very important to the Natives, they used them for almost everything. Buffalo were used to make teepees, clothes, food and weapons. They even boiled the hooves for glue and used their sturdy humpback for shields. Buffalo were relied on very heavily in the west which is why it was such a big problem for the Natives. In a passage called “Interview: Native Americans” it stated that Indians hunted with bows and skills while the white used an accurate long distance rifle. While Natives tried to preserve the buffalo the Americans killed them for meat for the railroad workers and hunted them for game. Buffalo were hunted nearly to extinction. Before the U.S. arrived in the west there were about 15 - 16 million buffalo roaming. They were hunted down to one thousand in the whole west. The chart in document five shows the population of buffalo in the west from 1800 to 1889. It shows the population significantly drop in 1870 due to overhunting. The Native Americans had many strains on their