| In 1789 the US government passed a law
which said that the land of the American Indians could never be taken from them
without their agreement. One hundred years later, however, the Indians had only
a very small part of the lanai that originally belonged to them. How did this
great injustice occur? After 1812 white settlers began to move west across North America. At first, the settlers and the Indians lived in peace. However, the number of settlers increased greatly every year, and slowly the Indians began to see the white settlers as a danger to their survival. To feed themselves, the settlers killed more and more wild animals. The Indians, who depended on these animals for food, had to struggle against starvation. The settlers also brought with them many diseases which were common in white society, but which were new for the Indians. Great numbers of Indians became sick and died. Between 1843 and 1854 the Indian population in one area of the country went down from 100 000 to 30 000. More land was needed for the increasing number of white settlers. In Washington, the old respect for the rights of the Indians disappeared. The old promises to the Indians were broken; the federal government began to move groups of Indians from their original homelands to other, poorer parts of the country. Some Indians reacted angrily and violently to this treatment, They began to attack white settlers, and the Indian Wars began. For thirty years, until the late 1880s, different groups of Indians fought against the injustices of the white man. They had a few famous successes, but the result of the struggle was never in doubt. There were too many white soldiers, and they were too powerful. Many Indians were killed; the survivors were moved from their homelands to different areas of the country. It was a terrible chapter in the history of a country that promised freedom and equality to everyone. |