Native Americans and the Expansion Westward
... These Indian nations, in the view of the settlers and many other white Americans were standing in the way of progress. ... Although government policy towards Native Americans intended to shift from forced separation to integration into American society, attempts to “Americanize,” the Indians only accelerated the death of their culture and presence in the America. Many attempts to integrate Native Americans into American society at were made, ranging from offering citizenship to granting lands to them. Beginning in the 1860s and lasting until the late 1780s, government policy towards Native Americans was aggressive and expressed no tolerance for their presence in the West. ... The Sioux Indians, who were angered by the loss of their land, killed five white Americans. ... The main Native American peoples in the Southeast were the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw. ... The Native Americans adopted this policy of assimilation in an attempt to coexist with settlers and hinder the hostility. ... When gold was discovered in the Cherokee territory, whites demanded that the United States acquire land from the Native Americans in the region. ... In efforts to prevent this from occurring some native groups such as the Cherokee even passed laws forbidding their people to negotiate treaties and abandon their the homelands.