The American Westward Expansion was one of the key events of the nineteenth century. To a great extent, it established the relationship between the White people and Native Americans and influenced their lifestyle. It was the time of mounting tensions between the two nations. The aim of this paper is to study how the life of the Plains Indians, especially the Lakota Sioux, changed under the influence of the Westward Expansion at the end of the nineteenth century.
Generally, the Plain Indians had always been hunters and needed big land territories to sustain their hunting societies. The American Westward Expansion mothered the armed conflicts between the White people and Natives, and the major reason of those conflicts was the possession of the lands. The Indians and Europeans had completely different views on how the land should be used. For instance, the Lakota Sioux, “semi divine people” who came to the Black Hills due to Iktomi and could not return, had a very moral culture that manifested itself as “the culmination of lives and love of their ancestors” (“Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present”). They respected the Mother Nature, and their culture was “living with the living things, the Great Spirit” (“Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present”). On the contrary with the European consumer culture, the Lakota Sioux connected with nature, and it was and still continues to be sad for them to see what the White men has done to it.
The critical time in the life of the Lakota Sioux happened in 1890. December 29, 1890, was the day of the Wounded Knee Massacre, “the Mass Grave at Wounded Knee Pine Bridge” (“Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present”). In the 1890 cold winter, the big group of the Lakota Sioux travelled with a white flag of truce and was suddenly surrounded by the U.S. Cavalry. The drunken soldiers disarmed the Indians who included mostly women, children, and old men, and massacred them killing about 148 people just for fun. As the Lakota Sioux representatives say now, that day “a people’s dream died in a bloody snow at Wounded Knee” (“Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present”). As the result of the massacre, the Indians were confined to reservations, and until 1924 when they got the American citizenship they could not leave them without permission, and, hence, could not hunting free anymore. Thus, the Indians were not “in a way of progress” anymore, and Europeans got a chance to develop the American land without their interference (“Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present”).
The Lakota Sioux call the White men “wasichu” that means “takes the fat.” In their opinion, the Whites are conquerors that always want to intervene in the course of nature. Throughout history, they had been taken natural resources and getting rid of everything preventing the progress. The Whites sent the Indians to reservations because the Indians did not do anything with the land that contradicted the European convictions. Since then, the Lakota Sioux have been living in the limited areas without normal work and communication lines but continues to keep their ancient traditions and proud their national identity.
The Wounded Knee Massacre.
Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present. (1999). Retrieved from http://fod.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=11179&loid=6793
References
Sacred Spirit: The Lakota Sioux, Past and Present. (1999). Retrieved from http://fod.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=11179&loid=6793
