A) Analyze how each of the following factors contributed to western settlement from 1854 to 1890:
-The desire for natural resources including fertile land, timber, and precious metals and minerals that had been discovered in western territories contributed to western settlement from 1854 to 1890 because the opportunity to profit from these newly available resources drew both independent settlers and corporate interests to the West. The discovery of gold in western territories sparked the Gold Rush, as prospective gold diggers migrated En Masse into the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. Settlers of the west were also inspired by the ideology of Manifest Destiny, the idea that Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire North American continent.
-Federal government policies contributed to western settlement from 1854 to 1890 because the government passed legislation which encouraged western settlement. The Homestead Act granted large amounts of western land to citizens who met certain requirements, and people were drawn by the availability of cheap land for farming, logging, and ranching. The US government also helped westward expansion by promoting trade and transportation-granting land to railroad companies and extending telegraph wires across the country. The Indian Appropriations Act of 1851 established the reservation system; reservations of specific land for American Indians to inhabit as a method of keeping Native American tribes off of the lands that white Americans wished to settle.
-Technological developments contributed to western settlement from 1854 to 1890 because they made it possible for people and resources to migrate more easily and more quickly into western territories. Improved transportation by rail brought settlers to the American West, and extended telegraph wires across the country allowed settlers to communicate more efficiently with the rest of the country. Technological developments in land development, mining, and new agricultural machinery allowed settlers to more easily extract resources from the new land which they needed to live and make income. The railroads opened up the West not only to settlement but to the world market, making it possible to ship meat and crops to distant cities and even across oceans
B) Explain how that settlement led to conflicts with and damage to American Indian communities-
Western settlement led to conflicts between white settlers and American Indians over land and natural resources which resulted from Indian resistance to the imposition of the reservation system and the repeated attempts of the US Army to forcibly remove Native Americans from their tribal lands, damaging American Indian communities. Relations between white Europeans and Native Americans were dictated by competition for natural resources that had been discovered in western territories. Because settlers of the west were inspired by the ideology of Manifest Destiny, they settled further into western territory believing that it was their right and destiny to do so. Because these settlers took over the lands that Indian tribes inhabited and used, they increasingly came into violent conflict with Native American Indians that they encountered over land and natural resources. The settlement also led to conflicts between the U.S. government and American Indian communities because of differences between Native American and American conceptions of land and ownership. Because the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which authorized the forced removal of Indian tribes from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to designated “Indian territory” west of the Mississippi River had resulted in fierce resistance to the forced relocations that was crushed by the force of the U.S. Army, Native Americans in the west resisted the imposition of the reservation system on their own territories established by the Indian Appropriations Act of 1851 in the same way, sparking a series of bloody battles that ultimately led to the forced relocation of most Native Americans onto the reservations. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills region of South Dakota brought prospective miners into the area and onto the hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians. The US Army responded to the pleas of the white settlers and miners for protection against the Sioux, resulting in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This conflict was significant because although it was a major victory for the Sioux, they abandoned their encampment fearing further reprisals from the US Army, which marked the beginning of the end of the Indian Wars, as remaining tribes were forced to cede their lands and move onto the reservations.
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