6.3 Westward Expansion

Read the following two excerpts and respond to a, b, and c.

“About the Indian wars that plagued the American West…. It is commonly believed that they might have been avoided but for the avarice (greed) and aggression of the white man. … The root of the trouble lay in the Plains Indians rootlessness. It was freedom of movement, the privilege of ranging far and wide seasonally that gave his life meaning and dignity…. (T)hat given time and patience the Plains tribes could be persuaded to abandon their nomadic ways … was wishful thinking….. Civilization may have had a clear duty to save these people from themselves.”

S.L.A. Marshall, historian, Crimsoned Prairie, 1972

“The grand irony of theGreat Plains is that none of the tribes with which the army would clash were native to the lands they claimed. All had been caught up in a vast migration, precipitated by the white settlements in the East….As the dislocated Indian spilled onto the Plains, they jockeyed with native tribes for the choicest hunting grounds. In a real sense, then - and this cannot be overemphasized - the wars that were to come between the Indians and the government for the Great plains … would represent a clash of emigrant peoples.”

Peter Cozzens, historians, The Earth is Weeping, 2016

Briefly describe ONE major difference between Marshall’s and Cozzen’s interpretation of the Indians Wars from 1865 to 1898.

Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Marshall’s interpretation.

Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Cozzen’s interpretation.