American Indians vs. White Settlers

As we all know, the first people to settle in America were not the white settlers but actually the American Indians. They have been here forever. Probably one of the only reasons that people actually believed that white settlers were the first in America is because they chased all of the Indians away and forced them to move. Also, that is what they have taught us, that the whites were here first which we now know is definitely not the case!

Beginning with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U.S. government pushed American Indians west in order to take over their land. Eventually leading to the Trail of Tears(1831), which was an 800- mile forced march made by the Cherokee from their homeland in Georgia to Indian Territory. Despite everything they went through, the government went back on treaties over and over again. There were so many attempts on American Indians to just control them and gain even more of their land. White settlement cut back grazing areas and cut off migration routes. After a while American Indians would not stand for it anymore and they finally fought back to preserve their culture causing the Indian Wars. It's too bad that they were out manned and out gunned by the many white settlers. Then in 1864, the U.S. Army killed about 150 Cheyenne elderly, women, and children in the Sand Creek Massacre. In 1876 in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sioux forces led by Chief Sitting Bull defeated a U.S. Army troop led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

Ghost Dancing was a religious ceremony practiced by the American Indians to bring hope. This made settlers feel threatened and they did not understand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQGW5a0q51w

In 1890, at the Battle of Wounded Knee, the American Indians attempted to surrender, but the U.S. troops massacred them anyway. During the Dawes Act(1887) , white settlers attempted to assimilate the Indians into "society" by Americanization and dividing land up among them. Some long term effects were alienation, legal ambiguity, extinction of languages, discrimination, and very high rates of poverty, crime, and health problems.

-chelsea