Native Americans After Civil War

The Indian Removal Act, passed by congress, provided for the resettlement of all Native Americans occupying the east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma.

After the recent readings for Zinn’s book, I began to do some research on the Indians helping the British during the Revolutionary War. I Google “Roles of Indians during the Revolutionary War,” and I sound a very interesting site that backed up Zinn’s statement. Many of the Indians, especially the Shawnee, Creeks and the powerful Cherokee and Iroquois helped the British in the American Revolution. The British promised Indians more than their freedom, they also promised to stop settlement on their land. However, there are some Indians that fought for America as well, those tribes were most involved with people who would become Americans.

The Indian Removal Act also known as the “Trail of Tears” was signed on May 28, 1830 by President Andrew Jackson. Allowing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi for exchange of Indian lands inside the state borders. He forced the westward move of the "five civilized" Native American tribes, the Creeks, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Cherokees and Choctaws. A few tribes went without trouble, but many resisted the policy. About 4,000 Cherokees died when the United States government forcibly moved them during the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839.

Chris montenegro U.S History Mr. Flynn Monday december 19, 2016 What role did Native Americans play In the Civil War? Native americans had a very important role to the U.S during the civil war. During the Civil War, many Native Americans got split up in choosing either the Union or Confederacy, this Became very important because leading up to the civil war the Union and Confederacy started to realize that Native Americans actually did have a very big impact on the way the war would turn out. The Native Americans created separate armies and took part in a lot of the battles. The war not only affected both of the political sides but also had a great impact on the native americans themselves.

Before American settlers came to America, Native Americans lived here. The Great Plains were their home, and had lived here for many centuries. Some lived in communities, while others were nomads. Native Americans were divided into bands which consisted in around 500 people. They had their own government that controlled each band, but most of the people helped in making the decisions.

Native Resistance Towards U.S. Government and Settlers Tecumseh was a Shawnee leader who believed that the Native American way of life should continue to thrive and flourish. The Cherokee are a Native American tribe that was subjected to assimilation of American culture by Christian missionaries and the dwindling of their claimed land. Both tribes had land that was encroached upon by United States government and settlers, but each tribe reacted to this encroachment in different ways. Certain strategies of each tribe were effective while others caused great losses for the Native Americans. Tecumseh and the Shawnee tribe desired unity between all tribes because a united front would be stronger when battling against the U.S. for “the land which

The final perspective is held by the Native Americans. The War of 1812 was an important conflict for the native inhabitants of North America. During the years before the war, the United States wanted to expand its territories. This fueled the invasion of native homelands throughout the territories. The Native leaders who emerged in response to this expansion shared a concern of protecting tribal lands.

Even though Native American involvement during the Revolutionary War is often overlooked. they played a significant role. Not only did the war determine which direction in history America would take, but it also progressed the downfall of the Native Americans. They lost land and freedoms while America gained it. Both sides in the war wanted the Native Americans to stay neutral, however most Native Americans sided with the English during the American Revolution.

Between 1816 and 1840, Indian tribes signed more than 40 treaties to secure their lands. In 1829, President Jackson relocated the eastern Indians and in 1830 the Indian Removal Act forced the Indians to move west of Mississippi. Between 1830 and 1850, 100,000 Indians were were living between Michigan, Florida, and Louisiana. Many Indians was abused during the traveling to the west by the U.S. Army. The Cherokees traded with the European settlers that arrived here.

From colonial times until the end of the Indian Wars in 1890, the people in America went through a series of unfair and unfortunate events. Mainly for the Indians which are also called the first peoples. These events could have been handled with much more consideration for the Indians. There are many times when the Americans went too far including the Removal Act of 1830, the Reservation System, and the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.

Human nature for the first Americans was based on their desire for a better life than what they had in Europe. While they may have initially been looking for freedom- be it religious, political or financial- as time passed, it became more about control. Their desire for freedom put them in conflict with first the Native Americans, then the slaves, then the countries that controlled the lands surrounding their original thirteen colonies. For the Americans to maintain their freedoms, they had to suppress those of others. At the root of these conflicts was land.

Since the colonists got all this new land in the Ohio River Valley they started expanding west. The natives did not like the colonists moving on to their land without their permission. The natives started attacking the colonists who were on their land and they started asking the government for help but got none. Also, when the french left, they left forts throughout the land and British soldiers started moving into them.

The American Revolution lasted six years and the impacts of it were everlasting(Schultz, 2010). The effects were felt by every group of people in North America and many worldwide. Even though George Washington had all of his troops vaccinated against smallpox, the colonists were not so fortunate and as a results some estimates are that as many as one hundred and thirty thousand people died from this dreaded disease. This loss of life combined with the divisions among the colonies into those loyal to Britain and those who wanted freedom would forever change the way of life for the colonists.

Between 1870 and 1900, an estimated 25 million immigrants had made their way to the United States. This era, titled the Gilded Age, played an extremely important role in the shaping of American society. The United States saw great economic growth and social changes; however, as the name suggested, the Gilded Ages hid a profound number of problems. During this period of urbanization, the publicizing of wealth and prosperity hid the high rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. European immigrants who had come to the United States in search of jobs and new opportunities had fallen into poverty as well as poor working and living conditions.

However, in 1830, the Indian removal act of 1830 was signed by Andrew Jackson and suddenly everything changed. “The Indian Removal Act in 1830 forced the relocation of more than 60,000 Native Americans to clear