Westward Expansion Questions

1. What are some of the main reasons that the federal government's policy of assimilation failed?

A) The Native Americans had a very different style of life from the American settlers. They were taught to hunt and live off of it; it was reasonable for the Natives to need the space. Everyone had a role. The men became hunters and warriors. Meanwhile the women took care of the buffalo meat and made clothing. There wasn't a specific person who dominated the group. Lastly they believed everyone shared the land.
B) Secondly there were major cultural differences. The Americans wore clothes, farmed, lived in a house, owned private property, and sent their children to school. The Natives did not have much clothing, hunted, lived together, believed everyone shared the land, and did not send their children to school. Also the Native americans did not believe in God.
C)Another reason was the attitude of the Americans towards the Natives. They were hated and looked down upon. It seemed as if the Natives were treated like dirt. The Americans also claimed the Natives' land with the belief that the Natives had forfeited their rights to the land because they didnt settle down to "improve" it.
D) Finally the government did a really bad job of keeping its promises. An example is in the Dawes Act the Natives were promised land and any land that was not occupied would be sold to the Americans and the profit would be returned to them in order to buy farming equipment. In the end only one-third of the land set aside for the Natives was given to them and the rest was sold to American settlers. Also the profits from the sales was never returned to the Natives.

Also no one wants to be forced by foreigners to change all their ways and customs.


2. How successful were government efforts to promote settlement of the Great Plains? Give examples to support your answer.

The government was greatly successful in promoting settlement of the Great Plains. Examples:

• Homestead Act -From 1862 to 1900 it gained 600,000 families
• Number of people living west of the Mississippi grew from 1% of the nation's population to 30% within 50 years
• Railroads connected both sides of the United Staes, the west coast and the east coast. This made doing business with each other possible and even easier.