Native American Resistance
This website's topic is Native American Resistance, which is how the Native Americans fought back against the colonists moving westward. It includes: why conflict occurred, manifest destiny, some pictures, and information about leaders of the resistance.
General Background
At first the relationship between the Native Americans and Colonists seemed like it would be peaceful and last for a long time, however the relationship soon turned bitter and the Native Americans were almost wiped out for a couple of reasons. First, the Colonists were hungry for land. After the Seven Years War, the Colonists wanted to claim the land that they had won. The British tried to stop this with the proclamation of 1763 which kept the Colonists east of the Appalachian Mountains, but when the British lost the war the colonists continued to move west in greater numbers. The Continental Congress also tried to stop the Colonists from violently encroaching on Native American land with the Northwest Ordinance, but that attempt to peacefully over take the native land failed. Second, it was hard for the Native Americans to resist, because diseases brought over from European immigrants wiped out large numbers of their population. According to Historian Henry Dobyns, epidemics wiped out large amounts of Native Americans. Diseases like smallpox and typhus (a disease that causes rash, fever, and headaches) wiped out three fourths of the Native American population within weeks of the Europeans arrival. Many Native American leaders tried to stop the expansion westward, such as: Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull.