Indian conflict played a significant role in the founding of the United States, starting almost immediately after Christopher Columbus’s landing in the Americas. When the Spanish settlers arrived in the “new land”, they brought crops, livestock, and advancements in weaponry from their homes; this increased violence between tribes and brought new diseases/invasive species to the Native’s land. Along with bringing physical representation of Europe, the Spanish brought religion, offering protection from disease as a trade-off for the Indians conversion to Catholicism. Unfortunately, this was not the only trade-off, as the Indians had to pay an additional taxes (called encomiendas) to the white men in crops, and were angered when the settlers wanted equal numbers of produce during a severe drought. As a
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During the next couple centuries, tensions increased between the Indians and European settlers leading to Lord Dunmore’s War in the Year 1774, where Governor Dunmore of Virginia sent an army of 3,000 to defeat 1,000 natives (as they were found to be raiding settlers and traders). Finally, conditions between the settlers and Native Americans reached their lowest point during the 1800’s, as the American government passed new bills to relocate Indians onto reservations if they did not assimilate, and initiated wars if said tribes did not abide to them. Author Helen Hunt Jackson perfectly described the 19th centuries unusual cruelty through her book title “A Century of Dishonor”, alluding to the large amounts of oppression Native Americans faced and to the greedy nature of whites (ex. their need for excessive railroad expansion through territories). The 1800’s was truly “A Century of Dishonor”, as Americans disregarded previous treaties they established settling Indian boundaries and utilized brutal force to raid Natives of their property; although most battles between the Natives and Americans were uncalled for, some Indian actions needed interference by the
During the next couple centuries, tensions increased between the Indians and European settlers leading to Lord Dunmore’s War in the Year 1774, where Governor Dunmore of Virginia sent an army of 3,000 to defeat 1,000 natives (as they were found to be raiding settlers and traders). Finally, conditions between the settlers and Native Americans reached their lowest point during the 1800’s, as the American government passed new bills to relocate Indians onto reservations if they did not assimilate, and initiated wars if said tribes did not abide to them. Author Helen Hunt Jackson perfectly described the 19th centuries unusual cruelty through her book title “A Century of Dishonor”, alluding to the large amounts of oppression Native Americans faced and to the greedy nature of whites (ex. their need for excessive railroad expansion through territories). The 1800’s was truly “A Century of Dishonor”, as Americans disregarded previous treaties they established settling Indian boundaries and utilized brutal force to raid Natives of their property; although most battles between the Natives and Americans were uncalled for, some Indian actions needed interference by the