The Black Hawk War - Deception and Demise essays

The Black Hawk War - Deception and Demise essays The systematic slaughter of the Native Americans from the time of Columbus to the time of Roosevelt has often been compared to the holocaust of Jews in nazi Germany. Millions of Native Americans were brutally tortured and murdered by an invasion of foreign forces so as to steal their land and recourses (Churchill,126). Those who were not exterminated were forcefully removed from their land (either at gunpoint, the point of a bayonet or by forged treaties) and driven off to federal prison camps called reservations (source). In the early nineteenth century, whites started moving into what is now the state of Illinois. This movement precipitated numerous clashes with the Indians, including Black Hawks war. The defeat of Black Hawk removed a large obstacle to white settlement in the Old Northwest. In 1803, an exploratory push by Lt. Zebulon Pike, an American explorer, into the upper Mississippi valley signified the end of an era for the Sauks and their allies, the Foxes. The Indians debated whether to accommodate or resist the advance of the whites frontier. One group, headed by Keokuk, a Sauk, argued for accommodation, but Black Hawk, another Sauk leader, fiercely opposed such a policy. Black Hawks convictions were confirmed in 1804, when white settlers convinced the Sauk and Fox Indians to sign a treaty decreeing that they move west of the Mississippi. The treaty had no real claim to validity and was hardly understood by the Native Americans. Some refused, however, and soon after the War of 1812, Black Hawk denounced the treaty and proclaimed the Indians determination to retain their land. The next decade witnessed a steady decline in the fortunes of the Sauks and the Foxes. White population pressures forced the Indians to adhere to the treaty of 1804 and abandon their old territory. By the end of the 1820s, all had been forcibly removed and the lands sold by the state at public auction. Despite th...