"Go West"
Westward expansion through the eyes of a Native American
"'My white brothers - my long-looked-for white brothers have come at last!'"
Life was great before the white men came. The Natives had a surplus of food, a bounty of supplize and most of all they were happy. When the first whites came, Native Americans were kind and generous. They shared supplize, let them sleep in their homes, and even feed them. However, the white did not respect the Natives generosity, for in the coming years life became a battle.
The Indian Removal Act
On may 28, 1830 President Andrew Jackson got congress to pass the Indian Removal Act. The Native Americans were forced to leave their homes and walk many miles to small bits of land where they would be forced to live. The trail the walk is know as The Trail of Tears.
French and Indian War
The war took place during 1754-63. This war "refers to the two main enemies of the British colonists: the royal French forces and the various indigenous forces allied with them." The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France. The british ended up winning the war.
Reason for Conflict
Both Natives and settlers wanted land to gather (farm) and hunt on. The Native american were non-white and non-christian. The white people thought of this to be inferior.
What it meant to be an American as a Native American during Westward Expansion
Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24
Being a Native American during westward expansion meant many things. From, living in fear to being hunted like animal prey. The Fears that the Natives faced was starvation because the with men were eating all the Resources the Indians relied on such as corn, buffalo, and other edible vegetation. Another fear was that the white men could attack at any moment and kill them. "The following spring there was a great excitement among my people on account of fearful news coming from different tribes. Our mothers told us that the whites were killing everybody."
Native Americans constantly felt like hunted animals the way the white treated them. "I'll never forget the way he looked at me. Like I was just another trapped animal---no, less than that, even." Unfortunately, living in constant fear and being treated like an animal is what it meant to be an American as a Native American during westward expansion.
Work Cited
- Werner, Emmy E. Pioneer Children on the Journey West. Boulder, Colorado: West Press, 1995. print.
- Murphy, Dallas. Read Aloud Plays Pioneers. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1998. Print.
- Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: The New Press, 2003. Print.
- DeFelice, Cynthia. Weasel. New York: Avon Books, Inc., 1990. Print