Essay On The Sand Creek Massacre

The railroads opened more efficient trade routes, but it also created conflict with the Native American tribes in the area. Indians in the area had already established towns, but the whites wanted the land. In the 1830 the government adopted a policy of separating the whites from the Indians. The tribes were moved and some went west to the great American desert. The Indians suffered illness like small pox that was brought over by the white settlers. This caused 40% of the tribe population to die. The tribes were sent to settlement camps that were based on treaties that the whites seldom stood by. This led to battles and one called the Sand Creek Massacre occurred while the tribe slept and resulted in a horrible massacre of the Indians. A federal peace keeping commission in 1868 enacted the Treaty of Fort Laramie to make up for government mistreatment of the tribes. The treaty admitted U.S. defeat in the Great Sioux War in 1868 and gave the Sioux perpetual land …show more content…
The camps were mostly male but had female prostitutes who were abused and even killed. The mining camps also led to the creation of saloons, and many camps had ten times more saloons than other businesses. The camps were full of foreign-born citizens and whites would force Mexicans and Chinese from their claims. Racism was very strong especially against the Chinese who held menial jobs and were sometimes attacked. In 1885 whites killed 28 Chinese workers and drove away all 700 residents from the local Chinatown in Rock Spring. Mining technology increased the devastation on the land and required more money up front to operate. Corporate Mining also hurt the miners who were forced to live on less money and work a riskier job. Mining Unions worked to create a social network for the isolated miners as well as be a voice against the corporations. The government often sided with the mining companies over the