Westward Expansion Questions

1. The federal governments policy of assimilation failed for numerous reasons. One being that the Native Americans were independent people that were perfect content with the lifestyle they were living and they had no interest in taking part of the "white" culture. The Native Americans were treated very poorly by the white people. When the two met it often resulted in bloodshed created tense feelings. The Indians sought that the white people had no right coming in their land and claiming it as if was theirs, demanding they join their culture and way of living. The argument was that the Indians were not civilized, but if the white people act as discourteous, ignorant, and selfish, then really, who is the uncivilized one? The Native Americans wanted no part in the white culture, they were happy with their tee pee huts, hunting, and seasonal moving. It was of no interest of theirs to just morph into the white culture and act like them. They were promised houses and a lot of money, but what they really received was a great deal of disrespect.

2. The governments effort to promote settlement of the Great Plains was extremely successful. The land went like wildfire. When Congress passed the Homestead Act people were very eager to move out West and settle their families into big chunks of land that they claimed. Some land was more fertile then others so the Homestead Act was strengthened as more land was given out and a lot more settlers became motivated to move West. For example, by passing the Homestead Act, the government was able to convince people that farming was a possibility that would bring riches in the West and and the motivation that Act brought was phenomenal.