The Native Americans, Research Paper Example

As Gregory Dowd wrote, “There was no winning strategy for the Indians.”  In the late 1600s and for most of the 1700s, the Native Americans were living within the geography of what would later become the thirteen colonies.  As European settlers came to the new land, they forcefully took over the land that was inhabited by the Native Americans.  This forced the tribes to travel west in sight of new land and settlement.  Meanwhile, most of the Eastern seaboard had been settled by the English, and the French continued to move west to find new land and move into the Ohio Valley.  Consequently, the French and Indian War resulted due to land disputes and vicious European settlement tactics.  Some of these tactics involved the Europeans providing peace offerings to the Native Americans, which were really blankets that were infected with small pox (HistoryWorld.net).  These tactics killed thousands of Native Americans that did not have the medical capabilities to defend themselves from such a horrible disease.

Despite the fact that most of the Native American tribes were inevitably destroyed by warfare and disease, many tribes evolved with the new culture of the European settlers and began a strong trade business. “Trade with the Europeans proved a strong attraction, enabling the Indians to acquire valuable new products, such as guns, steel hatchets, cloth, and kettles. The fur trade in particular made many tribes powerful and more aggressive” (WVCulture.org).  As the trade continued to increase, the American colonists waged war with England for their independence.  Many Native Americans were promised land and resources in payment for fighting with the colonists.  Despite the promises, many of the tribes were destroyed through the Revolutionary War or were pushed further west to find peaceful territories and hunting grounds that had not been torn apart from war, disease or the hunting tactics of the Europeans.  None of the tactics that the Native Americans attempted to use to build relations with the settlers made much difference at all.  The American colonists and the French settlers took advantage of a weaker race that had less technology and were not nearly prepared for the greed and insatiable desires of the settlers.

References

Brown, R. (2000). Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791 second edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

HistoryWorld.net. (n.d.). History of the american indians. Retrieved on October 14, 2009, from Web site: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=ncd

Middlekauff, R. (1985). The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. New York: Oxford University Press.

WVCulture.org. (n.d.). Native american clashes with european settlers. Retrieved on October 14, 2009, from Web site: http://www.wvculture.org/history/indland.html