Did the Indian policy of the United States during the late Nineteenth Century merit the description of

Thèmes abordés

United States, Nineteenth Century, genocide

Résumé du document

The first pioneers thought the Great Plains had to be ploughed. They wanted to divide the land into plots and sell them to farmers. The Natives were against the idea of colonization. They were nomadic and would follow the buffalo for subsistence. They were deprived of their hunting grounds. The buffalo were almost extinguished and many Natives having no other way of subsistence had to face starvation.

The Native population had been since the beginning pushed further and further west to unwanted and unusable land. At the end of the nineteenth century, they had no place to go, the western coast being inhabited by white Settlers and the north being also settled. The only place where they could go was in reservations. For a nomadic people it was a dramatic change. Some decided to rebel to keep on living the way their ancestors had. Those rebellious acts were quickly crushed by the American troops.

Extraits

[...] A deliberate attempt to change the Natives way of life The definition of a Genocide according to the United Nations can also be the deliberate attempt to destroy one's cultural identity. On that point, many consider that a Genocide was planned during the late nineteenth century. There was a deliberate attempt by the government to change the way of life of the Natives. They were encouraged to dress and live like white settlers. Moreover they were forced to stop being nomadic but were encouraged to become farmers. This was against their traditional believes. They rebelled against this injustice and a group of warriors decided to take revenge. [...]

[...] All this proves that Genocide really happened in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. In fact, at the end of the nineteenth century, the United States was a place where racial prejudices were very strong and the Native Americans were the victims of those feelings. They were decimated because they were different and had another vision of the world. The fierce warriors were relegated to become symbolic mascots. President Andrew Jackson's picture that was selected to decorate the $10 bill is sadly responsible of sending 4,000 Cherokee Indians to their deaths. [...]

[...] Among those who refused to sign was Quanah Parker, a Comanche chief. In 1874 he led a desperate resistance, climaxed by a three-day attack on a fortified camp at Adobe walls in the Texas Panhandle. When it failed, the defeated chief led his people to reservation and rode in Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural campaign.[4] Was he invited in the campaign for his political views or was he just a mere attraction for wealthy easterners? II. A Planned Massive killing First it is important to understand the definition of genocide. [...]

[...] He was tracked down by American troops and was finally forced to surrender. In fact all those who had rebelled were crushed. They had no choice but to accept the way of life the American government was imposing to them. Geronimo ended up in a reservation, selling pictures of himself for twenty- five cents. It was a terrible end for such a warrior. Conclusion The Native Americans had to face great problems, they were very poor, and their way of subsistence had been extinguished. [...]

[...] The Congressman Henry Dawes said that they wore civilised clothes, cultivated the ground, lived in houses, rode in Studebaker wagons, and sent children to school, drank whiskey and owned property[14]. It was also an attempt to steal some of the land they had been given by former treaties. What remained of allotment was sold to white settlers. The Native Americans were also given the worst lands, the best ones being given to white farmers. The members of the Iowa tribe for example only retained 8,568 acres of their land after allotment, while 207,174 acres were declared surplus[15]. Some Natives refused to become farmers overnight and sank into poverty. [...]