US Expansion and Its Consequences, 1815–1890

This chapter explores the major historical themes embedded within the familiar narrative of American expansion framed by the end of the War of 1812 and the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. The chapter tracks Native responses to and the impacts of the US effort to clear the trans-Mississippi West of its Native population. It also addresses the realities of the violence that engulfed the American West during and after the Civil War, even as it describes the inter-Indian diplomatic networks, fur trade frameworks, and legislation that enabled Native people to survive the onslaught. The chapter goes beyond warriors and warfare to examine the manner in which American Indians struggled to endure legal, political, and cultural assaults conducted via missionary activity, boarding schools, and allotment.

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