Lewis And Clark: Disrespecting Of Native Americans

Before, during, and after the Civil War, American settlers irreversibly changed Indian ways of life. These settlers brought different ideologies and convictions, such as property rights, parliamentary style government, and Christianity, to the Indians. Clashes between the settlers and Indians were common over land rights and usage, religious and cultural differences, and broken treaties. Some Indian tribes liked the new ideas and began to incorporate them into their culture by establishing written laws, judicial courts and practicing Christianity, while other tribes rejected them (“Treatment”). Once the United States purchased Louisiana from the French in 1803, Americans began to encroach into the Indian lands of the south and west

It is no secret that the Native Americans were treated unfairly. They were enslaved and forced to do horrid, dangerous tasks. Casas states how harshly the Indians were treated. One example being the dangers act of pearl diving. This was such a brutal task that Indians were forced to perform by the Spaniards. Pearl diving was known for its danger and severity. When fishing for pearls, the Indians were forced to stay underwater for extended amounts of time. Sometimes they were underwater for as long as hours at a time. Pearl divers typically did not survive long do you to the waters being so cold. They would go into hypothermia which made their lungs tighten. This caused them to cough up blood or cause them to have severe diarrhea which made them dehydrated and leading to death. The Spaniards basically murder the Indians in order to acquire these precious

Lewis and Clark were not respectful to the American Indians who inhabited Louisiana. To illustrate, in document B it expresses that an Indian had taken a gun and ran off with it. Then J. Fields saw the Indian running with the gun and called for his brother R. Fields. R.Field stabbed the Indian to the heart with his knife (Document B: Diary Entry of Meriwether Lewis). This piece of evidence establish that they are not respecting the American Indians because the brothers had killed an Indian for just taking a gun. The Indian was probably curious about the technology that they had and were misunderstood.

The question arises of why Thomas Jefferson commenced the great expedition of Lewis and Clark. “ Jefferson wanted to form an expedition that were able to gather valuable information about Western Indians while living at peace with them” (Ronda 1). This was important because the people that were going to move into the Louisiana territory had to make sure they had peace with the Native American. If people take away the Native’s food source, or destroy the materials they make a living out of, is going to cause conflict between the two. “The expedition was fashioned to explore the vast wilderness of what is now North Western United States. It was sponsored by the United States government and was led by U.S. army officers

The relationship between Lewis and Clark and the Native Americans is an extremely controversial topic. It is generally in question whether Lewis and Clark were respectful to the Indian tribes they encountered on their expedition. The answer is much more complicated than a simple yes or no, and the answer changes through each person’s opinion. From multiple pieces of evidence, I believe that Lewis and Clark were mostly disrespectful to the Indians with a few exceptions. The evidence for this position come from: a passage of a letter from Jefferson(document A), a diary entry of Meriwether Lewis(document B), a modified Time Magazine article(document C), and Lewis’s speech to the Otoe(document E). These documents help to support the notion that

The miners were very harsh toward the Apaches. They would often poison their food, or cut fetuses out of the stomachs of women. They would also send young girls off into slavery. They were not friendly toward the white people after this point. They would ambush the people, and murder every person that came into their

Jefferson had secured agreement form the ambassadors of England, France, and Spain that their counties would not try to interfere with Lewis and Clark expedition. The explorers met with Osage Indians on their way of expedition but the Indians were peaceful. For unknown to Leis and Clark, the Spanish had reneged on the promise of safe conduct given to Jefferson by the Spanish ambassadors. Yrujo had warned his Spanish men that American were taking toward the South Sea and he urged commandant Salcedo general of Viceroyalty of New Spain to arrest Lewis and his followers and to seize all the documents that may be found on them. Then Salcedo encouraged his Indian allied to attack Lewis and Clark, but Comanches Indians never found them. The Lakotas was invited to the council by a French-Canadian interpreter who had lived among them and the first meeting with the Lakota was done well. I think Lewis and Clark could have exacted amicable relations if they were acting on their own because they both worked under the order of Jefferson to explore.

On May 14, 1804 in the eastern city of Saint Louis, William Clark and Merry-weather Lewis set of on the westward adventure that would change America as we know it today. Their journey began on the Mississippi River, those rapids would propel Lewis and Clark into the "Corps of Discovery". Across the vast land that these men would soon travel lived the many native-american tribes. The Native people hunted freely across their western lands, lived their life as one with the ground they so carefully treaded on. Soon, the great American adventurers and the native people would meet, but one brought with them the foreshadowing of a new era. An era when American life would be greatly improved with new natural resources and plentiful free land, but only at the cost of ruining the native american people of their way of life. The Lewis and Clark Expedition expanded the knowledge and lifestyle of America but began the elimination of the original American natives way of life and culture.

Not unlike George Washington and the Founding Fathers, who were also handpicked by God, now-President Andrew Jackson selected, tailored, and targeted by Deity as the man who must save the American union to fulfill the Divine Will of a set-apart, free nation. But at first the Indian War took many twists and turns. Prior to the War of 1812 as far back as August 31st, 1803 Thomas Jefferson, now President, sent Lewis and Clark Westward to explore the land beyond the Mississippi River. In preparation, this voyage proceeded from Pittsburgh PA to Louisville KY to St. Louis, MO. At the same time, President Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to meet with Napoleon to purchase the French territory for 80,000 francs. This vast landscape, later known as the Louisiana Purchase, geo/politically doubled the size of the American territory. Enroute, the Indians encountered by Lewis and Clark played a mixed role, some, the Sioux and Blackfoot, were unfriendly, some, the Shoshone, were helpful. The Indian teenage wife of one of the explorers, a Shoshone squaw, played a key role in the success of this mission. She acted as a translator. On November 7th 1805, after a death-defying journey of a year and a half and over 4000 miles, the Lewis and Clark expedition reached the Pacific Ocean and opened up all kinds of economic and political possibilities for the soon-to-be manifest destiny of a bulging

They were led well though. The author holds Meriwether Lewis in high esteem. Jefferson took Meriwether under his wing and into his President's House to be his secretary. Their father-son relationship became a deep friendship, and Jefferson chose Lewis to head the expedition. Lewis chose an associate, William Clark, to join him in command. Though Clark's official Army rank was lieutenant, theirs was a true co-captaincy. Most people’s perception of early builders of America is with a purity of reason and purpose, while, Ambrose shows that they are just as greedy then as they are now. Also in the way of the book Ambrose wipes out the belief that Indians were innocent harmless humans. They were filthy, dishonest, and belligerent, and awful to their women, not totally unlike the mass of mankind.

The instances of social, political, and economic antagonism between cultural and ethnic groups that arose from Westward Expansion were racism and the assimilation forced against marginalized groups of people. According to the Document B, “...China—the greatest and oldest despotism in the world—for a cheap working slave...the meanest slave on earth—the Chinese coolie—and imports him here to degrade white Labor.” One can infer that many were not happy with the fact that Chinese immigrants were doing jobs that white settlers did for cheaper and thought of them as stealing their jobs which added to the conflicts between the two groups, Whites and Chinese. According to Document D, “Many of the Indian dogs were still found in the vicinity lately occupied by the lodges of their owners; they probably subsisting on the bodies of the ponies that had been killed and then covered several acres of ground nearby.” One can assume that Custer was very biased against the Native Americans and reported them as dogs and savages that would leave their kind behind, which further adds to the antagonism between Native Americans and White Settlers.

They welcomed the natives, and willingly started trading with them. They wanted to turn these uncivilized people into civilized Christians. While some Native tribes embraced the English culture, some resisted the colonists’ attempts to change them. Their refusal to conform to European culture, made Europeans angry. Consequently, hostilities soon broke out between the two groups such as the Massacre at Pequot village (Doc 3). This violence of these confrontations with the Native Americans caused a shift in English attitudes towards different races. While, their failure to make the Native Americans part of their culture, caused them to associate all people of color with negative characteristics, some, such as Nathaniel Bacon, who led a rebellion against the Native Americans as he felt that they had to suppressed, felt a sense of .guilt, as they realized that many times they had held innocent Native Americans accountable for the deeds of another (Doc

Jefferson tasked Lewis and Clark to make peace with the Native Americans. In document 2 it demonstrates a medal that was given to tribal leaders as a sign of peace that had Jefferson’s face on one side and two hands shaking that said “Peace and Friendship” on the other side. This meant that the United States had peace with that tribe and that soon they will be able to trade goods with each other. This would benefit both parties because they will trade different goods that both need. Making peace with Native American Tribes was one of the Lewis and Clark’s most important

Native American history is, almost definitely, one of the bloodiest and most tragic series of events ever recorded. From the time when Europeans first landed in America, Indians were enslaved, persecuted, used, violated, and slaughtered by explorers and, later, colonists and

When the words “Lewis and Clark Expedition” are heard, the first thing that probably comes to mind is that they protected and were kind to Indians. That’s because the expedition was strongly outlined by the white men on the journey. Now, Indians speaking about their history and re-interpreting the evidence shows that Lewis and Clark were not the hailed heroes who respected the Native Americans on their expedition. Therefore, Lewis and Clark and their party were not respectful to the Native Americans they met because of their attempts to civilize, the name-calling, and violent acts against them.