The True Intent of Westward Expansion Polices

This week in class, we continued with our independent student learning, on the topic of buffalo soldiers and native Americans. The buffalo soldiers were African American troops that were created because the government felt that there was a need for more of an army presence in the Midwest. These soldiers mapped out territory, repaired forts, and had a steady job with food and respect- to an extent. These factors made many African Americans move to the great plains for the job, because it was not the type of opportunity that they commonly got in other places. While the term “buffalo soldiers” was not their official name, this is what they were called by native Americans because they fought many of these tribes.  In addition to the buffalo troops, the government created many policies with the goal of more westward expansion. One of these was the allotment program, which divided up the native Americans land, so each individual would own some part of the land, as opposed to a whole tribe owning a large amount. This may have seemed like a good idea, but it was not the way that the native American culture worked, and even more, 90% of the land was given to the public, not back to the native Americans. The essential question that we created for this unit was  “Did the government have good intentions when enacting policies for westward expansion? In what ways did these policies impact the natives and buffalo soldiers?” Using informative videos as well as pictures and documents, I was able to come to a conclusion.

buffalo soldiers riding through the desert 

On the surface, the concepts behind westward expansion and buffalo soldiers seem like a great idea, especially for expanding the land and power of the united states. But, if you looked deeper than the policies and titles, it is clear that this was in fact a violent and inhumane way to expand the united states. The intentions may have been innocent and good, but the way that they were carried out left a trail of destruction, violence, and countless losing their families, homes, and lives as they knew it. Of course, the intention of this expansion westward was not violence and war, but when you take tribe's land and all that they stand for, a fight against it is inevitable. in the 1860s, gold was discovered in this region, which caused the number of immigrants to increase drastically. This made the simple lives of the native Americans even more complicated and the violence towards them to leave their homes even worse. In 1868, the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie was signed, which promised the native Americans possession of the Dakota region if they stopped fighting. Many people agree to this, and move to the reservation led by Red Cloud. Others, including leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, refuse to leave.In 1876, the U.S government orders all native Americans to go to designated reservations, but the native Americans ignore this order. This leads to the Battle of Little Bighorn. After all of this violence, the U.S government enacted the Dawes Act, which stated, “To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section; To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section;” While this act had good intentions, to make sure that the native Americans did not lose any more of their land, it disregarded the way in which the native American tribes lived. Unlike a normal American, they lived together and shared their land, something that the Dawes act took away from them.
I personally believe that at its core, the policies that the U.S government created for westward expansion were made from good intentions. But, I think that their disregard for the native Americans and their culture and land caused an unnecessary and horrible amount of violence towards these people. The buffalo soldiers, a minority themselves, were placed in this position because of the circumstances. The job that they had was not one that was appealing to a white man, and therefor it was put on them to do the work that the white man don't want to do. In the end, these policies for westward expansion caused a great amount of suffering to the native Americans, and regardless of the U.S governments intentions, the outcome and execution of these policies was something inhumane.



Sources:
Quote: http://www.edline.net/files/_FFJNJ_/72e885a0a31113a13745a49013852ec4/Excerpts_from_Dawes_Act.pdf
Image: http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/BufSold.html