AMERICA COMPARED: CONQUERING AND

SETTLING THE WESTSummer Clark

Indian Societies Under Siege

Millions of Americans headed west into the vast territory between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Cavalry was Fighting indians to secure the West for White settlers. Governments negotiated treaties that reduced Indians' lands and curtailed their freedom of movement. There were two key differences between the frontier histories. First, the United States experienced a much more violent collision of peoples than its northern neighbor. In contrast, Canada's government intervened reluctantly in western affairs, often in response to fears of a possible U.S. takeover rather than indian uprising.

Gridded Lives

The government planners, corporate bosses, railroad builders and land speculators who constructed the West, dominated its politics, and controlled its land. From Kansas to California, western towns were surprisingly similar in appearance which was practical and convenient. Both imperial powers displaced semi nomadic native peoples, imposed instant cities upon the landscape, and used those settlements to feed the national economic machine, leaving behind a trail of scarred landscapes and dashed hopes.