Native American Relocation
Native American culture and its role in American history have always been a fascinating subject. There have been reading assignments on Native American’s removal and resistance, Black Hawk and his rebellion, and Emerson’s letter to President Van Buren. These pieces gave us a brief overview of America’s goals at the time, the action they took to achieve these goals, the Native Americans’ reaction, and the opinions held by the American people. These readings only scratched the surface of Native Americans and the role they have played in American History. The main cause of the interaction between Americans and the Native Americans was an increase in demand for land by Americans. As they pushed west and south, the frequency of interactions with Native Americans increased and so did hostility. I am aware that land demand issues were normally approached at first with peaceful negations. The American government would meet with the tribes and develop a treaty that resulted in less land for the Native Americans and more land for Americans. This would satisfy the Americans for a period of time but demand for land would just continue to increase. At this point Indians would either get restless and rebellions would ensue or Americans would violate the treaties and make moves on the Native’s land. In either situation the superior force of the American troops would result in them defeating the Indians. The Indians would then be forced to comply with American demands, meaning less land. Although this is a broad and brief overview of Native American history, in order to better understand Native Americans one must delve deeper into specific events and actions.
Beginning in the Jefferson presidency era, Native Americans were allowed to live east of the Mississippi under the condition that they integrated into civilized culture. Jefferson’s goal was to make