Native Americans Challenges

Some of the challenges faced by Native Americans from the United States government are the acts passed that allowed whites to overtake their land and the soldiers sent to enforce acts and to relocate Native Americans. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave the government the right to use the force of soldiers to concentrate the Cherokees into camps. One of every four Cherokees died during the long winter trek from cold, hunger, or disease. This march was called the Trail of Tears. Native American tribes from the south and north also moved west to the internment camps and the issued land. If the Native Americans resisted this intrusion of their way of life, they were punished by the superior-armed soldiers who were there to enforce the government …show more content…
In 1884 gold was discovered in California. This discovery led to a surge of thousands of fortune-seeking easterners crossing the Indian Territory. The Oregon and Santa Fe trails were quickly filled with wagons. These wagons were filled with whites who either intruded on the Native Americans’ land for a little or settled down to intrude forever. As white settlers moved into the Native Americans’ land, buffalo and other animals moved out, leaving Native Americans without food. Western officials sent urgent messages to Washington asking for supplies for the Indians. No supplies could be sent until Congress approved the money to buy them. This angered the tribes and resulted in unrest and numerous wars between the Native Americans and the …show more content…
In 1800 almost 30 million buffalo lived on the plains of the west, providing Native Americans with a source for food, shelter, and clothing. They skinned the buffalo and used the pelts to make clothes, blankets, and tepees. The Native Americans used the meat for food, drying or smoking it to preserve it, then carving tools from the leftover bones. They even used the manure to kindle fires in order keep warm. Wasting was an act foreign to the Native Americans, especially when it came to the buffalo. By the late 1800s, the buffalo population was quickly diminishing as a result of overhunting, disease, and Eastern manufacturers. While the buffalo was used in the east as a fashion statement, it meant frustration and hunger to the Native Americans. This fueled conflict between the Natives and the settlers on the Plains. An example of conflict between the two groups of inhabitants is when the tribe of Kiowas were forced to go to a reservation. They resolved to abandon the reservation and fought the white hunters who were destroying the buffalo. Unfortunately, they were overpowered. Some tribes went back to the reservation, while others hunted buffalo at Palo Duro Canyon, the last remaining range. Ultimately, the Army destroyed their village and forced the Kiowas to surrender. As hunting and using buffalo was sacred to the Native Americans, they did everything they could to continue