Railroads and Native Americans

Native Americans As the Railroads expanded out west Native Americans started to loose their land to the trains and settlers Settlers believed they had a greater right to the land because they could produce more out of it Some Native Americans who felt outnumbered and tired of dealing with settlers signed treaties and moved to federal land called reservations Many times the U.S. government would go back on their treaties with the Indians and take back the land they gave them

Native Culture Destroyed Conflict between Native Americans and American troops lead to the lost of lives of many Indians Indian culture started to disappear with the Native American deaths Native Americans depended on buffalo to live but the federal government encouraged the buffalo to be hunted to take away the Native American food Railroad companies would kill buffalo in order to feed its workers

Dawes Act Goal of this act was to break the Native America tradition by requiring Indians to farm individual plots Land was given to each native American family headed by a male The land given to the Native Americans was not suitable to farming Many Native Americans had no knowledge of farming so many sold the land