Native American tribes were forced to give their lands to the Americans and move into reservations. The tribes were free to live as they wanted on their lands or "reservation", as long as they lived peacefully. The government force them to assimilate into the American way of life; if they didn't agree they were left off and treated unequally. Many Native Americans were infected with many diseases. Whites instead of giving them medicine, they gave the Native Americans alcohol to relieve their pain; not to disappear the disease. The government controlled all agreements between tribes and they hay no option to deny it. Many Native Americans saw their reservation lands as a way to maintain alive their Native American culture, most of these reservations still exist today and are just the same as they were in the 19th century.
The Ghost Dance religion was invented by Wovoka. He had a vision during an eclipse of the sin in which he saw Christ coming and received a warning from him about the the evils of the white man. Wovoka spread this religion to free Native Americans from suffering. In order to avoid the white power they had to resurrect the Native Americans by dancing to them. Whites intervene because they thought the new borns will take control and whites would loose power and disappear. Whites told all Native Americans to give up their weapons to avoid them from gaining power. A deft man didn't gave his and all whites became violent and it became a "battle" in which I really consider a massacre.
Big Horn "battle" |
Whites were manipulative and aggressive people. They killed many innocent and indefensive people. Whites had to have what they wanted when they wanted. They wanted to change the Native American's culture and thats what they did. To achieve this goal they had to use a lot of violence; to me this was something unnecessary in which it could be achieved with other methods others than killing and starvation.
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/woundedknee/WKghost.html
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/nativeamericanreservations.htm
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