Sioux Tribe

In life, adversity can be a positive or negative, but by definition, adversity means hardship or struggle. Everyone has faced adversity at one point or another, good or bad. Through American history and still today, everyone has faced adversity. Certain groups of people have faced more adversity than others because they have been oppressed due to race and religion, among other things. Adversity breaks one down until they can be broken no more, and although adversity has a negative connotation, overcoming adversity can make one stronger, turning it into a positive.

The Sioux Indians had lived on the Dakota Territory for longer than the white men had been in North America, and they would rather die than allow the United States to take their land. The U.S. government used this as an excuse to murder the Indians, making it easier for them to take the lands they wanted. However, before the United States resorted to violence, they attempted to negotiate with the Sioux for their land. These negotiations would often end in threats from the U.S. due to the Sioux’s lack of cooperation. This eventually led to battles between the two parties, where the Sioux would most likely lose and forfeit

When the Europeans began colonizing the New World, they had a problematic relationship with the Native Americans. The Europeans sought to control a land that the Natives inhabited all their lives. They came and decided to take whatever they wanted regardless of how it affected the Native Americans. They legislated several laws, such as the Indian Removal Act, to establish their authority. The Indian Removal Act had a negative impact on the Native Americans because they were driven away from their ancestral homes, forced to adopt a different lifestyle, and their journey westwards caused the deaths of many Native Americans.

John Ross once said "Brothers: The tradition of our Fathers . . . tells us that this great and extensive Continent was once the sole and exclusive abode of our race. . . . Ever since [the whites came] we have been made to drink of the bitter cup of humiliation; treated like dogs . . . our country and the graves of our Fathers torn from us . . . through a period of upwards of 200 years, rolled back, nation upon nation [until] we find ourselves fugitives, vagrants and strangers in our own country. . . .” (1830). In may of 1830 the Indian Removal act was passed, From then on indian life was never the same. Removing the indians from their land was unconstitutional and was not justified.

The Lakota is a tribe located in the northern plains of America. They are related to the Sioux by culture, Language, and history. The Dakota are also a related tribe to the Lakota. They are known as Teton or also western Sioux. In the 1640’s the Lakota stayed closer to the Sioux. That lived a more sedentary or riverine lifestyle. They relied on products from agricultural resources. They also relied on wild rice. They hunted fish and small deer .

The Shoshone was a Native American tribe in the western Great Basin in the United States. This tribe was spread into the north and east Idaho and Wyoming. The Shoshone religion was Shoshone rituals. Their population was approximately 8000 members at first, but their population began to increase about 20,000 members. There were three classes in Shoshone tribe, which were the chief and shaman, trading partners, and the servants. The chiefs’ roles were to focus on warfare and hunts. As a result, the Shoshone tribe does fit perfectly into the “tribes” category. On the other hand, the Shoshone tribe is also somehow fit into the “bands” category. The Shoshone tribe was divided into three small bands, which were Eastern Shoshone, Northern Shoshone,

with this legacy. One of the six bands of the Lakota branch of the Sioux

The Black Hills War, also known as the Great Sioux War of 1876, was a series of battles fought from 1876 through 1877, between the forces of the United States and their allies (Shoshone, Pawnee, and Crow) and the Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho). Taking

Many wars happened because the white people weren’t loyal to them, so due to those problems,therefore the Indians hated them. All of their food which was bison, also meaning buffalo, were killed by the military troops and the starving Sioux tribe decided to fight back and to defend themselves from this outrageous problem. Lots of Native Americans and white men died, which in this case, the Sioux fled.

The destruction of the Sioux’s native land had a great impact on their idea of home. When the Wasichus destroyed pieces of the physical being of their home, they also destroyed the emotional and mental ideas of home as well. The killing of the bison, had a very strong impact on the tribe, as well as when the whites forced the Sioux, to conform to their ideals of living, mainly by forcing them to live in the square houses.

The United States federal government tried to resolve its bond with many different Native tribes by treaties. The treaties were formal agreements between the United States government and the Native Americans. Treaties were made by the executive branch on behalf of the president and then ratified by the United States Senate. The treaties made it where Native American Indians would give up their rights to hunt and live on huge sections of land that they had inhabited in exchange for trade goods, houses, and assurances that no further demands would be made in the said treaties (NebraskaStudies.Org). The United States broke many treaties between the Native Americans, but three treaties that had played a role in the extinction of the Indians ways

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was a very significant settlement and had much impact on the Sioux tribes. The purpose of the treaty from the point of view of the Sioux was to have a protected, independent country of their own, and to end the war. On the other hand, the American's purpose was to build a larger economy, assimilate the Indians and basically take over their land. Because of the Americans' greed, the treaty became unfair to the Sioux. "The treaty was full of contradictions--in one breath promising to preserve Indian land and in the next forcing the tribes to relinquish all territory outside their reservations." (Roark, 597) At first, the treaty seemed like it guaranteed the Indians more land, specifically giving them land from

This version surrendered additional land for the Indians, promised Sioux tribes land from the Missouri River to the Black Hills and prohibited entry of white men onto Indian Land, as said in the treaty, “and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employees of the government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article,….". The purpose of this treaty was to abandon the Bozeman Trail and guarantee the Indians control of the Black Hills that were scared to the Lakota Sioux. This version did offer many good things for the Indian tribes but it also proposed other conditions that the Native Americans must follow, such as, “…they will withdraw all opposition to the construction of the railroads now being built on the plains. 2d. That they will permit the peaceful construction of any railroad not passing over their reservation as herein defined. 3d. That they will not attack any persons at home, or travelling, nor molest or disturb any wagon trains, coaches, mules, or cattle belonging to the people of the United States, or to persons friendly therewith. 4th. They will never capture, or carry off from the

The slaughter of the bison played a big factor in the Plains Indian’s removal to the reservations. The bison was a way of life for the nomadic tribes of the plains; it was a source of food, shelter, fuel, and a central part of their religion and rituals (Roark 540). While a way of life for the Indians, bison for the white Americans were not. Even though the army took credit for the conquest of the Plains Indians, it was mostly the destruction of the bison herd that the victory is due to (Roark 540). In 1867, more than five thousand Comanches, Kiowas, and Southern Arapahos gathered at Medicine Lodge Creek in Kansas to negotiate a treaty, and signed the treaty agreeing to move to reservations (Roark 540). Even with all this, the Indians would

Currently, in North Dakota, there is a major protesting taking over. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are taking a stand and protesting against the Energy Transfer Company. The protests derive from an oil pipeline that is in the process of being built. According to their official company website, the Energy Transfer Company are developing the pipeline to provide transportation of crude oil from points in the Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota all the way to Patoka, Illinois. The company claims that this will be more environmentally friendly and it will lower costs. This upset the tribe because the bulldozers that are being used to build the pipeline are ruining the tribes sacred burial grounds, prayer sites, and some culturally significant artifacts, as well