Native Americans Dbq

Native Americans were greatly affected by the expansion of the United States during the 1800s. As the U.S. moved west, they stole large amounts of Native American land by settling the land and killing the Natives who once lived there. Also during this time, their culture was being taken from them due to assimilation. While United States citizens were expanding into the west, many Native American lives were lost. They were also responsible for destroying a major food and supply source for Native Americans.
Expansion in the South made it difficult for the Natives to keep their land. Over the mid to late 1800s, the Native Americans lost almost all of their land to the U.S. Document 1 shows that almost all of the Natives land was taken over the

At the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, hundreds of women, children, and elderly people were killed while the men were away hunting. They were killed because people of the Colorado militia wanted that land so they fought for it against defenseless people. This made the men afraid to go on hunts for fear that another attack would occur. Document two shows the Native Americans being surrounded by a militia, and they couldn’t do anything about it because they had no one to protect them. Their way of life was also harmed because with the expansion came the building of a railroad. The U.S. citizens were killing buffalo to feed railroad workers and to give leather to factories. Around 1 million buffalo were killed each year and soon they were dying off. In document five, it shows what each part of the buffalo was used for. It shows that the Native Americans used every part of the animals just to survive. They used it for food, clothes, shelter, and tools. With the buffalo being killed so rapidly this was causing the Native Americans to rethink how they were going to get supplies and

In the sixth document, two pictures are shown, one of Indians and one of American looking people. However the pictures are of the same people, only one was taken after assimilation occurred. Assimilation is when one culture takes over another, and it’s seen in this because the first picture shows Native Americans on the ground with long hair and animal skin clothing. In the second picture, they are shown in chairs, with short hair, and wearing suits, just like Americans. Some Americans believed assimilation was a good thing, but Natives like the leader Sitting Bull thought the opposite. In document four he says “If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place.” He’s saying that he is an Indian and no one should try and change who he is. In 1887, the Dawes act was passed, this forced Native Americans to be more like whites. It made them farm with whites and send their children off to American boarding schools. In the boarding schools, their children learned how to farm, do manual labor, and how to speak English. They were being taught the American culture. Assimilation was the main reason as to why Native Americans lost their culture.
The U.S. expansion greatly affected Native Americans. They lost land, their culture, and many lives. Native Americans would now have to adapt to a new way of life. They had lost power to the U.S. which made the Natives angry