Problems Native Americans Faced

Differences of Problems Faced by Native American Groups

Both northeastern Native Americans and southwest Native Americans have their own problems facing the growing colonist population. Due to less government control in the Southwest, the difficulty to obtain resources, and a greater military opposition, the southwest Native Americans have a harder time facing the new settlers than their counterpart in the north.

One problem for the Native Americans in the Southwest, such as the Apache and the O’odham, was less government control over the settlers of the region. This allowed settlers to take advantage of and rule this part of the nation as they wanted to. An example of this would be when the government made treaties, such as the Medicine Lodge

This treaty was passed, even though some people believe that not enough native people signed it, and the native people were forced to move. This treaty also stated that anyone was considered breaking the treaty if they did not move and the settlers could do what they wanted with these people. The government could not control how the settlers applied pressure towards forcing natives out or what the settlers did to natives that didn’t leave, resulting in many cruel things happening to natives. The settlers of the region felt the right to do this because they believed it was their destiny to obtain the land and that they were superior than natives. This belief that it was the white settler’s destiny to obtain all the land west of the Mississippi was called manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was also a problem that mainly affected the plains and southwestern Native Americans because the plains people were the people who were on the farthest west frontier of the United States, stopping the settlers from achieving Manifest Destiny. Another way the settlers of the region would take advantage of the Native Americans was through making

Normally these resources, such as food, would be obtained through farming and hunting. Eventually, because of white people coming into the area, they were forced to resort to raiding to obtain resources. Although raiding and attacks did happen with northeastern Native Americans it was not used to obtain resources as often as it had to be in the Southwest. The Natives of the Southwest, such as the Apaches, had to resort to this because of what is known as “The Cycle of Violence.” in the Westward Expansion packet. This would start when settlers came to the area and forcefully took over land. This caused tension between the white settlers and the Native Americans of the Southwest so the Native Americans fought back. In response to this the settlers would attack Native American settlements and destroy their crops and food sources. Then there was not enough food to maintain the Native Americans. To solve this, the Native Americans would raid the settlements, both US settlements and Mexican American settlements, to obtain food. This would increase troubles for Mexican Americans and white settlers so the people of these settlements would retaliate and the cycle would start over again. This magnitude of violence over resources was not experienced in the same way in the