“Greed and desire for land were the main reason for conflict
between Whites and the Native ™mericans.” Do you agree?
Greed and desire for land were the main reasons for conflict between the white
population of America and the Native American Indians. They could not mutually agree,
as they both wanted the best for themselves. The Native Americans didn’t trust the
whites and the Whites didn’t trust the Native Americans.
During this period the white population of America was growing very quickly as people
both emigrated to the US and the birth rate went up. By the late 1870’s there were
many more whites in the US than there were Native Americans. They were running out
of room on the East Coast of America. For eŁample between 1830 and 1840 the
population of Missouri grew from about 14,000 to 353,000. The US government
believed in Manifest Destiny: this was to fill the whole continent with loyal white
Americans. This would inevitably lead to conflict, as the Native Americans wouldn’t
have anywhere to live.
Indian religion was profoundly different to that of the whites, it involved a belief in the
sacredness of the land. It also had religious rituals such as the sun dance. Because of
harsh conditions on the plains young children and old people could be left to die if they
were slowing the whole tribe down because the whole tribe could die otherwise. This
could lead to conflict because of racial misunderstanding. A council ruled the Indian
tribes; the chief did not have total power over the actions of his tribe. This was a good
system but the whites could not understand this.
Between 1825 and 1840 the American Government created the permanent Indian
frontier running along the 95th meridian. But broke its promises within eleven years
and whites started going across into Native American land, as they thought they had
given the Native Americans far too much land, about half of America. In 1851 the
American Government went back on this treaty and produced the Fort Laramie treaty in
1851. In this the Government promised to give the Indians $50,00 a year for 10 years if
the Indians didn’t attack the travellers going through their land. The first Fort Laramie
treaty of 1851 forced many tribes to share the same land. This was called the policy of
concentration. This was bad for the American Government as the tribes worked
together. Gold was discovered in Montana in 1862. Gold miners flooded along the
Bozeman trail that ran through SiouŁ country. This would lead to conflict as it disturbed
the Indians’ peace.
At Bluff Creek the US Government peace commission and the Indian Chiefs agreed to lay
down their arms and give up Sand Creek in return for money and land in Oklahoma. .
After 1864 General Sherman was put in charge of sorting out the Indian problem. Some
of his fellow soldiers were very racist. His deputy Sheridan said, “The only good Indians I
ever saw were dead.” General William Sherman faced many problems; papers in the
East said he was to harsh but papers in the West said he was too soft. People wanted
things. Tension started to rise and forts are built along the Bozeman trail. In 1864
Colonel Civington brutally murdered a Cheyenne tribe at Sand Creek, despite the fact
that they were within a reservation. This would lead to conflict as if they weren’t safe in
the reservations then they might as well go and hunt the buffalo.
This was followed by the Fort Lyon treaty in 1861. This agreed to give the Indians
reservations along the Oregon Trail, stop attacking the whites and made the Indians
abandon land given to them in the Fort Laramie treaty. In March 1867 the Government
decided to bring an end to the policy of concentration and introduce a new policy of
small reservations. The government decided to introduce this new policy because they
didn’t want the Indians working together as this was a real danger to the whites and also
the whites needed more land. This was new as the tribes were split up into smaller
groups and the Government gave them food. This was written because the Indians were
killing people that went across their land. The second Fort Laramie treaty was made in
1868. In this the Indians agreed to move to Dakota and leave the whites alone, they also
got their old hunting ground back.. Red Cloud felt pleased with the treaty as the whites
gave up more than the Indians. Other tribes couldn’t live as they used to, as they had
nowhere to hunt the buffalo, as their reservations were so small.
From 1869 President Grant brought in a new peace policy where the Indians would be
given the chance to live like white people-go to school and to farm. His intentions were
good, but the Indians resisted as, this was an attack on their culture and this was alien to
their view of their relationship with the land. The Native Americans lifestyle was
dependant on hunting the buffalo and required tribes to move across vast areas of land.
The Indians never farmed. This would lead to conflict, as the tribes couldn’t get to the
buffalo. Generals Sheridan, Sherman and Custer had the role of insuring all the Indians
went to the reservations and in the winter of 1868-1869 they lead a campaign to force
them to do this. All of these treaties were supposed to last forever, all of these were
broken within a few years and all of these eŁcept the last reduced the land that the
Native Americans had. This added to the Native Americans lack of trust in the Whites.
Both the whites and the Indians broke these agreements as the whites wanted more
land, needed more land, wanted more gold and wanted to build a railroad. The Indians
broke the treaties as they wanted to keep hunting buffalo, their old lifestyle back the
whites broke the treaties and they were unfair. After 1868 all SiouŁ tribes were forced
into areas too small to support the Native American way of life. Many young men
refused to stay within the reservations. This was breaking the law and they were hunted
and killed.
Tensions rose in Dakota from 1868-1876. In 1873 there was a depression, in 1874 gold
was discovered in the Black Hills, which led to many white prospectors going on the
Indians’ land. This was sacred land promised to he Native Americans forever by the
second Fort Laramie treaty.
Custer had massacred a tribe of Cheyenne at the River Washita; again this was inside
an Indian reservation. The Government offered $6 million to the Indians if they moved
out of the Black Hills. The SiouŁ said no to this offer and the government warned that if
they were not gone in 60 days they would be killed. Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and Sitting
Bull had 60 days to prepare for war. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse really believed they
could defeat the whites for good. They did defeat them at both the Rosebud River and
the Little Bighorn.
In May 1869 the first railroad was completed across America others would follow
making emigration to the west and to the plains much easier. This would lead to conflict
as the railroad was going across Indian land and made it easier for white people to live
on the plains. During the 1860’s and 70’s both farmers and rancher began to move to
the plains in large numbers.
The government encouraged this as it was fulfilling
manifest destiny. Technical problems were solved during the 1870’s and 80’s. Now the
plains were far more attractive to live on. This would lead to conflict, as the Indians
would have nowhere to live.
To conclude greed and desire for land, particularly on the part of the white Americans
were the main reasons for conflict between whites and the Native Americans. By the
late 1870 there were many more whites in America than Native Americans and the
whites needed a lot of land, as they were mostly farmers.