Native Americans DBQ

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In the years between 1864 and 1900 there were many acts against Native Americans put on by the government and a general hatred by the public. Battle of Wounded Knee, Dawes Severalty Act, Little Bighorn, Seminole War. The negative response towards Native Americans started early with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which was the forced movement of Native Americans to the West. The battle between the colonists and the Native Americans at the heart of the bloody conflict was the Government wanting the Natives to Assimilate or leave because their skin color, language, culture was alternative to the up and coming world . “The only good indian is a dead indian”(Document A). The indians got in the way of many ideas or cultural norms western civilization …show more content…
My heart is sick and sad….I will fight no more forever.” quoted from Chief Joseph in 1877. In the year of 1877 Chief Joseph lost the Nez Perce War to the U.S Government as well as the sale of the reservation to white settlers. A sad lost for Chief Joseph and the Native tribes. This quote is an example of what has been left after the loss to the Government. The Natives were suffering stripped of their quaint agricultural lives by the Western World taking control of land that the Natives had held for many years before.(Document C). Is it wrong for me to love my own, …because my skin is red…because I was born where my father lived…(Document D). This among other examples was said by Sitting Bull a famous Sioux Leader. A leader that many looked up too saying these things questioning why something so delicate like love or unchangeable like race is wrong. Sitting Bull is showing how the natives are the innocent ones. He makes a jab saying, “because I was born where my father lived”, because he and his people are the real natives the europeans are the intruders so why should they have a say where they go. This is not the only moment when you see a powerful leader such as Sitting Bull become emotional, but you also see Chief Spotted Elk murdered at Wounded Knee which was a bloody battle slaughtering many Native Americans. Chief Spotted Elk shot down being weak is showing how far this