Native Americans and Buffalo Soldiers

     Our essential question this week was: In what ways did the U.S. Government discriminate against buffalo soldiers and Native Americans accidentally? And in what ways did they purposely discriminate?  This week we learned about the Buffalo Soldiers vs. Native Americans and the westward expansion.  Buffalo soldiers were African American soldiers form the Union army during the civil war.  They continued to be soldiers after the civil war.  The soldiers were given the name Buffalo Soldiers because they reminded the natives of a buffalo’s spirit.  The Buffalo soldiers were given the difficult assignments that most white soldiers wouldn’t have.  They were given poor transport, horses that were almost dead, and sometimes they had to walk 90 miles.  Even though the soldiers fought brave and hard, they were scorned upon by the people.  Despite serving their country, they were given no sympathy or kindness.    

     Buffalo soldiers shouldn’t be confused with Native Americans who inhabited the U.S.  In fact, they fought against each other in battle.  Before the Westward expansion, the Native Americans were leading normal lives that included rituals like the Sun Dance and Vision Quests.  Well, everyday normal lived for them.  Since the Native Americans lived on the Great Plains, they relied on buffaloes for pretty much everything like food and clothes. 

     

     After the Indian Removal Act in 1830, hundreds of thousands of Native Americans were moved off their homeland in the east to the west so that the American settlers would have more land.  In the 1840’s, the California Gold Rush brought more people westward and settlers began to trespass the Indian Territory.  They had hostile encounters and asked protection from the U.S. army.  Tension slowly led to the American Indian Wars on the Plains from 1861-1890.  In Dakota, Gold was found and the Americans abused the Sioux territory.  At this point, Congress ordered the Buffalo soldiers to fight against the Indians. 

     Personally, I don’t think the treatment of the Buffalo soldiers and the Native Americans was accidental.  Both were from different groups, but they were treated with the same cruelty.  The Buffalo Soldiers give their lives for the country, but they are treated like a piece of trash.  And how many times to the Native Americans have to be kicked out of their homes?  It’s as if the settlers don’t look at these men like humans, but as animals.  The basically viewed themselves as better people which is an irony because they are the ones being cruel and mean to the Native Americans and Buffalo soldiers. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html
http://www.buffalosoldiers-amwest.org/history.htm

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

     With the close of the civil war in 1865, America quickly became in industrial power house.  From 1865 to 1900, there was an escalating industrial growth.  In the growth of the industry, there was an expansion of railroads and steel production.  Immigrants were encouraged to come to the States.  The growth in immigration led to more industrial workers.  During this time, there was also a growth in corporations, trusts and monopolies.  Corporations were companies owned by the public.  Trusts were a number of companies that came together to control a single industry.  A monopoly is a single company that controls all of an industry.  With corporations and trusts, there were a few benefits.  They were both very efficient, time wasn’t wasted on ad campaigns or competition and products were created at a lower price for customers.  After learning the basics of the growing Industry, we learned began to learn about Robber Barons and Captains of Industries.  This led to the creation of the essential question: Were Carnegie and Rockefeller robber barons or captains of industry?

     John D. Rockefeller was a very important poor to rich figure during the late 1800’s.  In my opinion, Rockefeller was a Captain of Industry.  He did both positive and negative things for America.  In 1870, he founded the standard oil company.  While his success grew, Rockefeller put future in oil and bought most of his partners.  His company pioneered vertical immigration where a company secures a market by controlling all of the aspects of a product or service.  This limited competition and allowed the company to manage industries.  Little by little, Rockefeller made all oil companies in America his oil companies.  Despite buying and destroying rivals, Rockefeller also did many good things that should be recognized.  His unjust methods he improved the efficiency of the work.  He developed a system of drilling facilities, railroad delivery, and oil refineries.   This helped the customer and refined the economy.  Rockefeller also was big on philanthropy; the act of giving away millions of dollars for the advancement of medicine, education, and science.  By the end of his career, he donated an estimated $55 million to all kinds of charity.  Even though Rockefeller made very corrupt and sportsmanship like decisions, he did a lot for the people of America. 

     Andrew Carnegie was also a very interesting man who also had many positive and negative attributes.  Carnegie, too, in my opinion is a Captain of Industry.   Rockefeller, Carnegie came from a

poor family.  The more success and fame he achieved, he became a ruthless businessman and was regarded as an innovator for his own greed.  Carnegie also controlled raw material, transportation and manufacturing; vertical integration.  He was among the first to implement the production of steel.  The production of steel, under his control, soon surpassed the British.  Carnegie practiced the “Gospel of Wealth” where he had the moral obligation to use wealth for public good.  He donated money to research, Universities, and many libraries.  Despite being unfair with other business men, Carnegie used a lot of his wealth to help Americans prosper in health and education. 

     Both Rockefeller and Carnegie were not the kindest people in the world, especially towards their competition.  They wanted to become successful people and did as much as they could to get to the top.  But, despite the not so nice path they took, it is important to remember what they did for America.

http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-D-Rockefeller

http://carnegie.org/about-us/foundation-history/about-andrew-carnegie/