Reflections on the period of the American West involving Native Americans and the Federal government.
A succession of treaties at the beginning of the twentieth century led to not only stripping off the Native Americans lands, but also the demise of close to 4,000 Native Americans. Under the Indian removal Act of 1830, the federal government offered the Native Americans a raw deal of either assimilating, giving up their tribal memberships, forceful relocating to a more controlled Indian reservation or moving west as Harold, (2010) documents. The resistance by the Native Americans, notably the Seminoles, resulted in a series of wars in Florida resulting in mass casualties. Consequentially, the ‘trail of tears’ which followed due to the deaths and forceful evictions is a sad historical truth and a bad reflection on the federal government. Personally, it was unfair for the federal government to evict such a helpless and defenseless people at winter time, knowing well that they could not fend for themselves properly.
Evolution of the treatment of the Native Americans by the federal government between 1776-1935
The harsh treatment towards the Native Americans by the federal government was a sequential process between 1776 -1935. In the events culminating to the war in 1812 in the American Revolution, British Merchants supplied weapons to the Native Americans with the view that they would fight alongside them in the event of a war breakout. The aftermath of the war served to fuel internal rivalry between the Native Americans and the federal government. Additionally, the American Revolution led to the civil war that led to cessation of vast tracts of lands belonging to the Native Americans. Personally therefore, the Native Americans where unfairly treated throughout their lifetime up to the early 20th century. They were considered a burden by the white populace and all their attempts to better their future where futile. Such worse events only worsened towards 1935. Not only where they stripped of their lands but also their culture, and they faced imminent death at the slightest resistance.
Reference
Harold, S. (2010). AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. Teacher Librarian, 37(4), 85.
