Essay on Material Science

Submitted By kimsimple
Words: 636
Pages: 3

Before one can fully have a vivid picture of the Dakota conflicts, it is very important that one is familiar with their roots. The Dakota people lived by hunting and gathering lifestyle in the past several centuries before encountering the Euro-Americans late in the 17th century. They were accustomed to roaming the land, living on the many nearby rivers and lakes in the summer months, and migrating to the woodlands and prairies in the fall, winter, and spring. 1 The Dakota tolerated early white settlements with relatively little disruption to their traditional lives. This does not shock me to see how generous they were to allow strangers to come and share the land with them. It was part of their beliefs and tradition as native people as seen on the night flying woman when Ingatia broker writes “We did not own the land acre by acre as is done today, but we respect the right of all people to share in the gifts given by the great being” 2
When the Euro-American came into contact with the native people, their main agenda was not friendship or brotherhood as the native people thought. They took advantage of their kindness by first building their colonies and then afterward imposing their colonial rules. This is in my perspective the root cause or the foundation of the war. This poison started to spread deep and faster into the native peoples’ lives when they were forcefully removed from their land and allocated into the reservation. To make matters worse the idea of demonizing the way they worshiped and tactically encouraging them to assimilate to the Christian way of worship was wrong. I cannot understand why the white settler thought that the God he worshiped was more worthy than the native people. From all these, I think it is safe to say that neither the Euro-American nor the Native people made an effort to understand each other, and as a result, a cultural conflict developed. In addition, one important thing that cannot be ignored is the treaties the Dakota Indians signed with the US government in 1851 and 1858. While some people can argue it was a good thing, others think it was out of desperation by the Dakota people. My perspective on these treaties is that the government was stealing from native people. Although the treaty gave the Dakota people the full force and effect over and within the limits of the reservation lands, the treaty also stipulated that United States have the rights