Blog #7 – Which way would you have chosen in 1874?
In the battles of the West, the American government’s fight with the Native Americans included both forcing them onto reservations (and eventually assimilation into the larger white culture) or the destruction of those tribes that did not cooperate with the reservation concept.
In the essay, “Sitting Bull and the Sioux Rebellion,” we read about how Sitting Bull refused to let his people join in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) even though a series of Indian victories had forced the U.S. government to close the forts on the Bozeman Trail had led to this “favorable” treaty. Almost all of South Dakota had been set aside by the treaty as the “Great Sioux Reservation” and that’s where Sitting Bull and many other Sioux remained until Colonel George Custer explored the area in 1874 for gold. This discovery opened the flood gates and forced Sitting Bull and others to make a decision:
1. Fight to preserve their way of life – culture, religion, language – and remain free to hunt buffalo as their ancestors had, or;
2. Join the reservation system with the assurances of the U.S. government that there would be peace and plentiful supplies (for now, you’ll have to suspend your knowledge of the coming Dawes Severalty Act).
Each path has its own risks and rewards. To flee and/or fight, you live in constant fear of attack from the Army, yet you are able to stay true to your peoples’ history. To join the reservation system, there is peace, but there is also the dangers of boredom, the white man’s whiskey, and giving up your way of life. In essence, you can preserve your people but at the possible cost of their way of life. They’d now become either dependent upon government hand outs or have to learn to farm – neither of which the Sioux people done before.
Please answer the following questions in a minimum of 200 words (total):
1. So which path would you chose and why?
2. Do you think your choice would be different if you were older? What about different gender? Why or why not?
Due Thursday, December 9 before class begins.
In order to best suit myself I would attempt to fight off the advancing armies of the United States. Before confronting the soldiers I would first attain more powerful, advanced weaponry as well as plan my battle strategy with my people. This would allow for a greater chance of victory. The idea would not be to kill off the armies but to force them to retreat so that we aren’t portrayed to the public as savage beasts and so that we might gain some respect. This choice gives more benefit than assimilation because it leaves us independent and able to roam the land freely, continuing to be the nomads that we are. We would maintain our religion and language rather than becoming the Christian English speakers that the whites ultimately want us to be.
This choice would be significantly different if I was different in age or gender. If I was only a few years younger, as young as the age of 10 or 11, I would likely make the same choice to fight. The same would go for if I was slightly older, up to the age of 35; However, if I was younger than 10 I would likely choose to sign the Treaty of Fort Laramie because I would not have the emotional or physical maturity to fight. If I was older than 35 I would urge my people to fight but I myself would not fight because of the fear of dying when I have a family to lead. If I was a woman then the decision would also be different. I would probably choose not to fight regardless of age because by the time I was old enough to fight I would be, in that culture, preparing to start a family and getting married. It would be too vital for my family’s future for me to risk my life in order to save the culture while I had kids at home.
Well first off being a woman and an underage woman at that I do not think my opinion would really matter to anyone and no one would listen to me at all. However in the sprit of this assignment I shall pretend I have authority over a tribe. I believe both options are plausible, either running to Canada and maintaining my ancestor’s traditions that are centuries old seems all fine and dandy until one finds themselves starving watching their people die everywhere and still are not anywhere near Canada. And in my opinion being pursued by the American army is not a fun way to spend a winter break. On the other hand it seems disgraceful and almost shameful to quietly allow oneself to be hustled off to a reservation far away from where you live and to be subdued to another foreign, ineffective cultures way. But after careful consideration and weighing both options I would have to say I would pick the lesser of two evils and take my tribe to a reservation. There is a quote that goes “it is better to bend then to break” (Aesop) and I believe giving in a little is better than being exterminated. I feel that it would be easier to attempt preserve a culture and fight a battle of customs then to watch my family and friends starve and be killed by the army. By this time it should be blindingly obvious that there are less buffalo in the plains and knowing that there would be food and other supplies on the reservations would be a small comfort. I would also trust my people not to get sucked in by negative influences such as drinking and other matters that could potentially be harmful (I can see myself doing a “this is your brain on drugs skit”) and would attempt to adopted to the ways of agriculture, learn to farm and hope for the best. This would be the best choice for my people.
However if I was a 20 year old male (shudder) I would have to say I would stay and fight, most young adults are convinced of there own invincibility and I would be no different. I even feel I would try to rally up my peers thinking I could beat the snot out of any white man out there. I feel that this attitude would lead to a rash action ad my own undoing, and possibly the undoing of my entire tribe, for if I injured a white man the army could destroy my entire family as an example to others.
In conclusion I would take the path of Red Cloud and go to a government reservation. Even though this choice could be the wrong one and many of my followers may hate me for it (didn’t Sitting bull got a lot of negative feedback after he surrendered?) I still believe it would lead to the least loss of life, which I believe is more important than anything.
I would have to decide that I would have gone to the reservation. You may have lost some freedoms such as to hunt buffalo but you kept the freedom of life. You also may loose parts of your heritage but you will at least get the chance to pass on your knowledge of the old ways onto your children. Also you get the opportunity to re-grow the population, and train the children how to fight in case an attack is imminent. Overall it is better to keep the woman and children safe then to rush into battle and risk the lives of your people. I don’t think my choice would be any different because even if I were older id still value family and survival over everything else. I don’t it matters if you are male or female i think my choice would be the same because family and survival is just as important to women as it is to men.
I would personally sign the treaty. In that culture teenage girls would not be allowed to fight. They focused primarily on learning the ropes on how to raise a family, sewing, cooking, things like that. I would think about my family in the future. Sure I would want to keep my culture and not submit, but some things are bigger than us. I suppose some people would disagree with me but if all you had to look forward to was a family, I would want to protect that prospect in any way possible. If I was a male, I would want to fight. In that culture, I would imagine a teenage boy would be prepped to hunt and fight if necessary. I would want to protect my culture, and truthfully I think a teenage boy would be headstrong and want to fight probably with a warped vision of war. If I was older, I would be even more inclined to sign the treaty, because I would probably have a family and would want to protect even more because it’s no longer a prospect but a maternal instinct. If I was younger, maybe less than 10 years old, I would probably cling to my mother and would want to do whatever she wanted to do, as I was heavily dependent on my mother, as most younger children are.
1. I would choose to fight for my land because of a couple of reasons. One being that there had been times when the white people had broken their treaties to Indians before and I wouldn’t want to take that risk and because by giving in so easily you’re giving the whites power over you where as if you hesitate they might hesitate more to fight with you because they know that you’ll fight back. I would also do it because I wouldn’t want to let go of basically everything I have (my freedom, culture, religion, and language) so easily. Even if the odds were against me you can’t know for sure that you’d win or lose “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t make”.
2. If I was male I think I might even be more tempted to fight them because I’d be stronger and it’d be a more evenly match possibly. However if I was older, I might think more about the consequences and decide not to take that risk. I think if I was older I might think too much was at risk. On the flip side, I might have thought that’d I’d been a part of this culture so long and I’d want to continue to be a part of it. All in all I don’t think gender would change my decision too much but the older i got i think i’d start to be more cautious of fighting for my culture.
If I were alive at the time I would probably vote to join the reservation. Although, if I was alive at this time, being a teenage girl, I would really have no choice in the matter. I think it would be best to move to a reservation because it would stop the fighting with the whites, at least temporarily. Also, off of the reservation the buffalo was what we relied on as food. Being that there weren’t many buffalo I would say it would be better to go to the reservation and survive off of the food we received from the government. It would be better not to fight because if we fought we would just lose more people. Sure, if we join a reservation we might lose some of our culture, but if we fight and lose our population, there won’t be anyone to be a part of that culture.
If I were older I don’t think my choice would be any different. In fact, because I was older I would guess that there would be even less buffalo then there were before. If there are less buffalo, then there is a smaller chance we will be able to survive on the plains. If I were male I think I would want to fight because on a reservation I would get really bored and wouldn’t be able to hunt. Also, I would probably have more faith in the army that we could fight off the white settlers.
In the 1874, I would have attempted to fight off the armies of the United States. But before I would have made my move to try to defeat them, I would have a made sure that my weapons would last. Also have multiple of weapons on top of that. If I did that we would have lasted longer in the war, and probably had a better chance of winning. There is no definite chance of winning the war, but it would have been a good try to win.
I think if I were older my choice would have been the same because I probably would have had children, and its really important to me that children are safe. Also with the knowledge that I would have gained from being an adult would have helped my explanations. With the different genders I think that being a girl would cause me to be more emotional and caring for things like family. Not being sexist but at that time the men weren’t really focusing on family, they were focusing on winning the battle.
First off, being a woman in the tribe, i think that the chief would lisen to what i had to say but my opinions would be at the would be at the bottom of the pile. If that wasn’t bad enough I am only 15 and I would just be coming into my own so I believe that the chief would hear me out but no action would be taken on what I had to say. If I was able to make a choice I would defiantly chose to fight. I believe that if a person losses their culture they lose themselves. A prime example would be the history of African Americans. After being taken from Africa and brought to the United States African Americans lost all type of connection to Africa after about two generations. We lost our language, culture, and the very special connection to people of our own race. I believe that the same thing happened to the Indians. They were forced onto reservations and they essentially lost who they were. It’s better to have something worth fighting for than to be lulled into conforming, but as they say hindsight is 20/20
I believe that if I was older my choice would remain the same. This is a quality that my mother and father have instilled into me from birth. This is a core value that I have and I don’t think that age or gender would change that. I understand that men were the ones fighting in the battles, but during wars women have to step up as well, just like during the time of Rosie the Riveter. So I don’t believe gender or age has anything to with it, this attitude is a value
that I value and it will no ever change
If I were alive at that time I would have chosen to take my tribe to the reservation. Some of my tribe might think that going would mean giving up our culture, but how much of our culture is left to preserve? The buffalo are almost all gone, making following and hunting them difficult. And if my tribe didn’t move to the reservation and was massacred by soldiers, no one would be left to preserve the culture anyway. The white men hopelessly outnumber us and have better weapons. There’s no way we can win and the sooner we come to terms with the fact that our old way of life is gone, the better.
If I were a boy, I would be a smart boy and still go to the reservation. I don’t think having a Y chromosome would seriously cloud my judgment, and no matter what gender I am I’d rather not be shot or mutilated. My opinion wouldn’t change if I was a different age. When I was little I followed authority blindly and never wanted to do anything wrong. If I was older I might be responsible for taking care of a family, so I would definitely go to the reservation. There’s no way I would endanger the lives of my children to preserve our tribe’s pride.
If I were in this situation at the time, I would choose to fight and stand up for what’s right. I wouldn’t let the whites take over everything I have and push me around. Even though it’s a huge risk, I would be willing to take it. Its better to stand up for what you believe in than to give in easily. Although the reservations might bring peace and supplies, I wouldn’t be satisfied with knowing that I didn’t do everything I could to stand up for my culture. Even if I don’t survive, I will have set an example for generations after me to stand up for the Native American culture and not let the whites take it away.
Certainly, if I was older I might have a different choice. I would have gone to the reservations because I wouldn’t want to risk loosing anything and I wouldn’t have the energy to fight. In my later years, I want peace and I could find it in the reservations with food and medicine that the government could provide me. If I was a different gender, my decision to fight wouldn’t change. I would still be inspired to stand up for my culture and values.
1. I would choose the path of fighting to preserve my way of life. If I were a Native American this would be my choice since the Americans have no right to just completely wipe the Native Americans clean of everything that makes them who they are. The Americans were only trying to pursue their own dreams and goals with no regard for the Indians’ position on their decisions. In comparison, if the Mexicans tried to make all Americans convert to Mexican lifestyle, I would choose not to because it would be giving up everything that makes me who I am.
2. If I were older I think that the decision might change somewhat because I wouldn’t want to do anything to the Americans that could possibly put my family at risk. If a battle occurred against the Americans, I could die and leave my family with no father figure to support it. Also, if we resisted their reservations, they could raid through our town and possibly kill my children or my wife. Having a family would give me a lot of other points to consider. If I was a woman I would most likely confide to the reservation orders from the Americans because I would be afraid to challenge the powerful army men of the U.S. I would most likely confide to anything that they said.
If I were a Native American living on the brink of war with the prospects of the annihilation of my people and the utter destruction of my culture, religion, and language at the forefront of my mind, I would choose to fight and, if necessary, die to protect my ancestral beliefs and traditions. I would choose death over submitting to the treaty because a life lived without knowledge of and the ability to practice and honor one’s traditions is no life at all, and I would rather die than give up this basic human right. If my situation was different, and if I were older or of a different gender, I would probably not go to war because then I might have a family to consider, and while I would feel perfectly comfortable sacrificing my own life for the cause of the preservation of tradition and culture, I would despise myself for sacrificing my family for the cause that I myself chose to champion. I think that vying for the preservation of tradition is an important thing to do, whether it’s by defending your ways from the guns of invaders, through the power of words, or simply by practicing them, because so much culture and tradition has been lost over the course of human history due to the ignorance and violence of an invading, exploiting, and more powerful human force, and due no less to the willingness of some to let go of their traditions, to lie down and let them die. Culture is not only part of what makes us who we are as individuals, but part of what makes us all human, and we as people must constantly preserve, rekindle, and add to the lush tapestry that is our ancestry.
If I were put into the situation to either fight or stay on the reservation, I believe I would fight to save my culture, my family, and my land. I would stay and fight because I as an Indian have every right to be on this land in which my family and I have been living on for years. Allowing others to force into a certain part of the country because of my beliefs, culture, and looks without a fight would be a shameful act. Yes, it would risk my life but it would save my dignity knowing that I gave my all to stay on my ancestors land. I would fight because I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing that I just let people walk all over me. I would stay and fight because either way there is still a huge risk of me dying. There is a great risk because when you depend on a government who clearly doesn’t respect you, you are risking your life in the hopes that for some reason they would take care of you. I would also fight because there is no reason for me to leave other than for the Country’s greed and self proclamation that they can control everything they feel like.
No, I still would think what’s right is right but I would have more of say-so if I were a boy and older. I would be able to make more decisions within my tribe and for my family. Being a girl only hinders my ability to tell others how I truly feel because being a young woman does not have much of an effect on the tribe. The tribe really wouldn’t be concerned what I would have to say because I would not be fighting.
If I had a choice, I would choose to fight. I do not think that I would be given that choice, simply because as a female and child, my opinions would be the LAST to be heard, and I’m sure nobody would care anyway. However, I would want to fight because, for one, I wouldn’t trust the white government. They’ve gone back on their word so many times, why should I believe them now? After hearing all the stories of massacred Indians, Indians who were willing to go peacefully to a reservation, I feel like I would be attacked whether or not I chose to go peacefully or not. Second, I would hate to live with people who despised me and my culture before even getting to know me, and tried to get me to change to be exactly like them. The United States just got finished with the Civil War, but obviously we are bad at learning from our mistakes.
I think if I were older, I would rather go peacefully however. If I had a family, and kids especially, my first concern wouldn’t be for me, but for my children. I would want to do all I could to make sure that they would be safe, even if that meant giving up on my culture. If I were male, I would feel even more responsible for ensuring the safety of my family or of my tribe so I would probably fight if I were younger, but go peacefully if I were older and couldn’t fight as well.
If I was part of Sitting Bull’s tribe I would most likely go and try to escape. Even though this wasn’t a safe and possibly the smarter decision, the white man hasn’t been very helpful to them in the past when they gave into America’s will. In the past of the Native Americans they lived across the entire country. When the white man came they were forced to move west but were promised the land was theirs to keep. Less than 50 years later they are forced to move again onto reservations by the white man. If I was Sitting Bull I would think what’s going to stop them from doing it all over again. Also on the reservations Indians were not exactly encouraged to practice their religion or rituals. Also in the past Native Americans hadn’t showed much self control with things like whiskey. On the reservation the culture of Native Americans was much more likely to die then on the run from the white man. Basically it was as much a decision of pride and faith in their own ways and religion as it was faith the the white man would somehow find a way to kick them of the land they were promised yet again.
If I was the chief of a tribe, I would definitely decide to fight the white settlers. The lifestyle of the Indian tribes living in the Great Plains before the white people arrived was very nomadic, following the great herds of buffalo that roamed freely. They were used to rapidly uprooting their teepees and moving around. Fighting was a key element for men in the tribe and they were not afraid to go head first into brutal battles with anyone who provoked them. I would feel confident in the fighting ability of the other men in my tribe, and with the influential Sitting Bull spurring on the troops during battle I would not be afraid of any white army attempting to put us on a reservation.
Age would definitely affect my decision as young minds sometimes make rash decisions. I know if I was from age 18 up to my mid 40’s I would choose to fight to preserve my culture and to show my manliness. If I were a woman I would be thinking about more that respect among the tribe and think about the people that could be affected if we went to war with the whites. If I was young i would choose to go on a reservation so no adults would have to die.
Even though women,back then were in charge of cooking, sewing, and dealing with family affairs, and men were the ones who fought, if I could, I would’ve chosen the path to fight the American armies because I wouldn’t want to give up what I believed in: my culture, language, and religion. Going on the reservation would mean being babysat by the U.S. government, and I like to fend for myself. I wouldn’t like the government telling me what I can and can’t do, or what I can and can’t believe in. Fighting at least gives us a chance to preserve our culture, where as if we go to the reservation, we will lose it to the whites’ culture forever. I have always stood up for what I believe in and my freedom, and I am proud of it. For someone to tell me that I couldn’t practice my religion anymore would be an insult to my ancestors. I would feel as though I have let them down. Even if I joined the reservation and received peace and supplies, I wouldn’t be living my life as a true Indian, because I would’ve had to conform to the whites’ ways. If I was older, I would still choose to fight unless I had a family of my own to think about. If I died fighting, who would take care of my family? If I was a male, I would also choose to fight unless I had a family to think about. If I had a family, I would go to the reservation to take care of them.
If I had to choose between going to the reservation or fighting for what I believe in, I would choose to go to the reservation. I would know that I had some safety in my life, even if it means that I would be changing the way that I live. Being a vegetarian I wouldn’t have eaten the meat, so I wouldn’t have enjoyed the hunting and farming would have been a better alternative for me. Since their weren’t as many buffalo, which is why we couldn’t have hunted, we could rely on the government for some food. Also being against wars, I wouldn’t want to partake in any fighting. This would result in more conflict between the whites and the Indians and we would lose more men. If I choose to go and fight, I might lose my life fighting for my tribe, while if I went to a reservation, I might lose some of my culture, but at least I’ll be alive to share our past and present culture with the younger generations. I don’t think my choice would be different if I were older because I would want to be safe and I would like to choose my life over possible dying. If I were male I think that I would choose the reservation regardless because I would want to keep my family safe and survive.
Blog#7
Braxton Allred
12/8/10
Wickersham 4th hr
If I were an Indian war chief, and had the fate of a whole nation resting upon my shoulders, I believe I would choose to go the peaceful way out. I would most likely fight in the beginning, hoping to ward off the occasional white troop. But when I notice the never-ending waves of white soldiers, this is when I would make that decision. With the help of my people, I would attempt to come up with certain conditions to allow us to preserve some of our pride and culture. I would choose to flee not because I’m scared, but to be safe and conserve everything I can. I mean, I don’t want my whole people to become extinct, even if our nation’s culture and power is barely kept. I know that it may seem cowardly and pathetic to give up like that, but I don’t want all the lost lives and chaos to be my fault. I would rather suffer the consequences of being treated like dirt, so I can preserve all tradition and culture I can. I would have people write of the glory and awesomeness of our once powerful nation. This would allow me to keep some of the basic cornerstones that make up our society. I could eventually prove to the white people that maybe we can be good without being transformed, and they may allow us gradually, to obtain more freedom. I acknowledge the impossibility of this, but it’s better to know what your limit is, and “bloom where you are planted” and hope for the better, than to sacrifice yourself to a cause that we know, is practically impossible to complete.
I would choose the path of fleeing and fighting because I am most afraid of uncertainty. If I fight, I am definitely assured support of fellow natives, preservation of my history, and honor. If I submit, I put myself to the wavering mercy of the white man. From past events including the Sand Creek Massacre, I would not allow my enemies the pleasure of controlling my fate. At least, if I fought, I would ensure my life for the duration of my survival. Giving in to the reservation would be too much for me to adapt to, and I would be abandoning my ancestor’s grounds that my ancestors had fought and hunted on. Also I know that life on a reservation would never become any better, because the intense racism and hatred towards my people would never end. Like Alfred Lord Tennyson’s saying: “It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all” except in the context that my posterity would never enjoy life in full. If I were of different age my point of view would change. If I were younger and not fully mature I would most likely not want to fight, but also would want to hold on to my skin. I would likely be the most torn in the tribe because of choosing to follow my father or whether I join the ones who would submit. If I were older I would be too aged to fight or travel far, so I would most likely go into the reservation where I could live the rest of my days easy. If I were female I would follow my husband if he were to choose to fight, but were I unwed I would go to the reservation to prevent myself from being abused by U.S. military or being killed.
I would fight to preserve my way of life, even if there is a risk of being caught by the army and killed. Going on the reservation might mean having to give up my way of life, and I wouldn’t want that. It would mean that I would live, but I would rather risk getting killed by the army than give up who I am. I would fight so I could stay true to my traditions and beliefs. Staying alive doesn’t mean anything if it means you have to give up being who you are and be someone else.
I think that even if I was older or a different gender, I would still make this decision. I think that older people and males would even more want to hold on to their way of life since it is all that they have known and they appreciate it. Even younger people may still want to hold on to their way of life because it’s what makes them who they are.
If I were in this situation,I would have to choose to go onto the reservation. Despite knowing that the U.S. government has not been trustworthy with their promises in the past, it is the best hope of being able to maintain any sort of a stable way of life. The U.S. government and thier army is far too powerful with their advanced military strength. In addition to being far to powerful to fight directly, the U.S. government has shown that once they decide that they really want something, they do not stop until they get it. This makes it nearly impossible to maintain control of the land that now has a railroad running through it that makes it an ideal spot for expansion. The best hope is to try and stay out of the way of the westward expanding Americans and hope to appeal to thier better nature through cooperation. In cooperating and living on a reservation, you can win back some trust from the U.S. citizens. In continuing to fight back against the United States, very few people with sympathize with you. If they can see that you are willing to cooperate, they will feel more guilty in pushing you off your land. Even though life on the reservation would be less than ideal, it is better than trying to fight a war that we know cannot be won.
If I were older or younger I do think that my opinion would probably change. If I were younger I would probably want to stay and fight because I would not be old enough to quite grasp the consequences of fighting in a hopeless war. I would think that any hope we had to preserve our culture we should hold onto but I wouldn’t quite understand the futility of our efforts, or the immense loss of life that would result from attempting to fight back wether we succeeded or not. If I were older I do not think that my opinion would change, because I would still recognize how risky trying to fight the U.S. government would be. I would be more upset about losing my cultural identity but I would be more worried that I could lose my life altogether. If I were of a different gender (female) I think my opinion might change. If I were a woman I wouldn’t be the one that would have to risk their life for the continued existence on the plains. For Women there is less risk in staying because although several did die, many more men died than women in the battles. The fear of death, therefore, would be substantially less.
Though this is a very hard decision and there are benefits to both choices, I would choose to move to a reservation with my tribe. I think the Native Americans could see that settlers were pouring into their land and with no end in sight, I would have thought, as a Native American, that the offer from the US government to allow us to live on land undisturbed was a very good offer. However, I do think my choice would be different if I was older. As a teenager, I’m still trying to figure out my place in the world and who I want to be, so I would be more open to a new way of life. If I was an elder in the tribe, I think I would have been more possessive of my culture and way of life and would have resisted more. However, I do think there is significance to how the various tribes moved to reservations. Red Cloud’s tribe won their battles and forced the government to give into some of their demands, so his tribe would have seen the reservation movement as a victory to them. Because Sitting Bull never was in a position to force the government to give into his demands, the reservation movement felt like an imprisonment by the white people.
1) If I had to choose, I would choose to fight off the invading U.S. Army. Native Americans had been there long before the whites even thought about the great plains, and in some cases there because they were forced out of the East. I would be mad that we had lost land before, and were being forced into reservations. I would feel that I had a right to at least try and put up a fight to protect what’s mine, and if I went into the reservation I’d always wonder what if I could have fought and protected the freedoms I had to roam the planes, instead of being forced into a confined area.
2) My decision would be changed if I was of a different age. If I was a young child, I wouldn’t have an opinion. The age I am now to around 30, I would choose to fight, but if I was older than 30, I would have to think, what about my family? What about the well being of my tribe? I think if I was older, I would just sign the treaty, seeing as my fighting days were over.
Personally, I consider myself to be more of a lover than a fighter, but in the case of protecting what I believe in and my people, the people I care about, I would definitely take the role of a fighter because it is not only the right thing to do for me, but for the others as well because I am sure we share the same views. Another reason I would choose to fight, is mainly because once I have found a language, culture, people, religion and a routine every day life schedule, I tend to adapt to it, embrace it and really get to love it. Often times I find the changing of a routine difficult for me. I’m not saying that every now and then a little change isn’t good despite the hardship, but losing a big part of my life, whatever it is, or becoming something lesser than what I have frankly, despite some of the benefits of assimilation, doesn’t make any sense at all. I mean before any of this, us Indians have been doing just fine, and I would continue to believe it until the moment we have been defeated in battle. I will always stand up for what I believe in.
I think that my age and gender do play into my decision. I think my decision, and the decisions of others is based solely on their individual maturity and the priorities of their life at that time. I think if I were older than 55 and/or too weak to fight, or younger than 13 I would be too timid to fight, I would probably end up giving up my way of life because over the age of 55, your life is nearing the end stages and you just want to finish your years relaxed and well, and under 13 you are unsure of yourself and immature; therefore, have no real say in what you really want or know what is really right. I also think if I was a woman raising a family I would also want to assimilate with the whites and give up anything just to protect my family because I know that’s what a mom (or a good one at least) would do. But since I am not a man older than 55 or a boy younger than 13 or a woman or a woman raising a family, I would fight.
If I were faced with this situation, I would want to go to the reservation. Yes, it is important to preserve the culture, but the first priority should be to preserve the people. Most of the land had been invaded, most of the food had been killed, and most of the traditions had been forgotten. Going to the reservation would show the desire for peace. Although the tribe doesn’t like giving in to the white army, the tribe doesn’t like watching its people die. Staying to fight would encourage the whites to further decimate our traditions and people, while being on the reservation might limit the contact with whites and provide safety in numbers. Once on the reservation, we could continue our long standing traditions.
My answer would be different if I were an older male. I would probably feel more obligated to fight for the tribe rather than just give in to the white people and the reservation system. Fighting for our way of life would be more important, and I would be willing to fight to the death. If I were a male but still 15, I would want to stay and fight for the tribe, especially if it meant being a “true warrior.” I would hope that I could prove my bravery and skills as a warrior, even if it meant dying in battle.
This is almost a no-win situation, because even if the tribe won a battle against the whites, there would just be more battles until the Indians either were killed or went to the reservation.
If given the choice between the reservation and fighting, I would choose to fight. I hate the idea of having to bend to the will of someone who, like the American government has come to the land my people and I have lived on for so long and told me to pack up and leave, there is no way I could comply with that. They have no understanding of our people or our way of life, so who are they to tell me what to do. While they may promise us safety on the reservation, in the past they have shown to be untrustworthy so their promise of safety is meaningless. To be on a reservation would put us at the their mercy, we would have to rely on their charity to provide us with the means of survival, to be in such a position would not only be dangerous but also be degrading to our people. The Native people die regardless, maybe not physically, but their way of life and their identities will be lost forever, so either you die defending everything that is important or you let the white man slowly bleed your Native American identity out of you. My choice of fighting may be related to the fact that I am a teenage boy, but it shouldn’t. Whoever you are, what gender or age you are shouldn’t have anything to do with this. This about preserving the life our ancestors lived, it is the preservation of the life I live, and it is about making sure that decades from now there is a life for my children to live. If you choose to go to the reservation then those children will not be Native American, they will be white people with Native American heritage. In 1948 in the first days of Israel being a country it came under attack from it Arab neighbor states, surrounded on all sides by enemies, the Israelis could have given up. They could have, but they didn’t, their way of doing things was far too important for them to simply comply to the wishes of others so they did everything they had to, so that they could preserve their new founded state. If I was a Native American I would choose to fight because my way of life is simply to important to me, for me simply to rollover and become the puppet of the American government.
If I was a Native American and I had the choice of either fighting for my culture or surrendering to a reservation, I would like to think I would fight to save my people. Being a Native American teenage girl, I probably wouldn’t have had much of a choice. I would have just gone along with what the rest of my family was doing. I would want my family to fight though. I think I would have been one of those intense Native Americans. I would have been so adamant about saving my culture; I would pull a Mulan and fight with the guys. If you love something bad enough, you should be willing to do anything to keep it alive.
If I was just a little bit older, my choice might have been different. I would probably have children. I would have to take into consideration their safety. I wouldn’t have wanted to endanger them. I probably would have gone to a reservation because I would have known that that would have been the best decision for my children.
If I were a boy, damn well I would be fighting. If the rest of my family went to a reservation, I would have left their sorry butts and fought the army. Even if I died in the process I would never go to a reservation! There was no way I would have let someone who thought they were better than me just because they had lighter skin push me around. I had the right to live wherever I wanted. It was my land too! Actually, I was there first!
If i were a Native American living in 1874 i would most defiantly stay and fight for the land that i am ancestrally bound to. I feel as though the risk of being killed is better than the risk of losing what it means to be ones self. Another factor that would make me fight for my land instead of peacefully going to a reservation is that with the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 the Native Americans’ were promised certain neccessities from Washington, if they surrendered their land. Some Native Americans choose to surrender their land but the federal Indian agents gave them things that were not worth the use of a dog. I would be more willing to consider going to a reservation if the government was something that I could trust and respected me and my ancestors.
If I was older around the age of 30, and had a family of my own i may rethink my view on the whole situation. I most likely would do the safest thing for my family and I. My top priority would be to protect my family so that my kids were able to live their lives to its fulls potential. Their may even be an oportunity for my kids to get off of the reservation and maybe have a succesful life. If I was a boy then I would probably feel the same way. I think that a males ego is also a big factor in their decision as well. I feel that If I were a male I would not only be fighting for my culture and ancestrial grounds but i would also be fighting to stay a proud Native American.
I would lead my tribe to the reservation, choosing peace over war. In war, there is the possibility of tribes dying out and making the situation worse than it already is. WIth peace, you conserve your tribe, but yes, you would have to change the lifestyle of the average Native American. However, I don’t think that it would be that hard to adapt to running under a government and learning how to farm.
If I was older, I’d still decide to go to the reservation because I’d want to fight even less since I’m older and weaker. If I was a woman, it wouldn’t really affect me since I wouldn’t fight.
I think that I would choose to fight even though being a girl I would not be allowed to fight personally. I would stay because even though the Bozeman Trail was closed, and the treaty seemed fair everyone would be bored at the reservation because there would be no need for warriors, or hunters because everything is provided for us and everyone would be safe. Also, it would scare me to know that they could make me learn the ways of the white people, and that my culture could be forgotten.
I think that if I were older then I wouldn’t know what to do. At first, I would want to stay and fight because I would be even more connected to my culture, and land. However, I would be older and wiser so I would know that even though it is important to fight for your beliefs, I would be more willing to go to the reservations where things were guaranteed to be provided for my tribe. Even though the preservation of our culture would be important to me I wouldn’t want to risk all of my people getting killed fighting for it.
I don’t think that being a boy would change the fact that I want to fight for my tribe’s beliefs.
I think that i would definitely stay and fight. I believe that Native Americans really pride themselves on nature and the land around them. so they would not be so keen to leave onto a place that they had chosen not to settle in before. In order to move to a reservation, you have to trust the people moving you. It would be hard to trust someone that has been killing all of your race and would gladly kill yours w=if you decided to fight. But I would choose to fight only because there is a chance of winning. I don’t think that gender plays a role in it because anybody would be willing to fight if they believed in something enough. I do think age would play a big role. The very young and the very old would want to move. They young would not be able to fight so they would rather leave to survive. The old would want to try and save more lives, and they could not fight. but I think that the teenagers and adults understand the culture and want to preserve it. Also, teenagers are more likely to jump the gun and want to fight, I guess that is one reason why I would choose to stay and fight.
1. In 1874, I would have chosen to accept life on the reservation. Fighting for your people’s way of life would have been very noble, but agreeing to settle on the reservation would definitely be the safer route. Out in the wilderness, you’d have to live life on the run, constantly watching your back and looking out for your family, not to mention the entire village. It would be wearisome and it would be easier on everyone to just surrender. It’s not like you’re being sentenced to death; yes, life on a reservation might get boring, but when it’s compared to losing your life against a decidedly superior army, I would rather endure a dull daily routine. And, would it really be the end of the world to learn how to farm? I realize that farming isn’t part of the Native American culture, but what happens when the buffalo become endangered, or even extinct? At least you’ve got a promise from the government saying they’ll feed you and your family. If you resist, you’ll die fighting for your people, but possibly at that exact price: all of your people. I’d rather make a new life with my people beside me than win the war and keep my traditions without anyone to celebrate them with.
2. I would hope that I could see this as a sound decision no matter what my age. Though I would probably know more what I’m talking about when I’m older – because I’d have more experiences under my belt and wisdom to match – I think I’d still choose the same thing. Opposing the government is a risk that I don’t know I’d take, and following the safe path just seems like the more responsible choice, especially if many peoples’ lives depended on it. If I were male, though, my answer might be different. I feel like it was almost men’s duty, back then, to protect their village and stand up for what they believe in. Given the fact that all the leading roles we’ve read about have been men, the women seem to have no voice and just try to stay out of the conflicts. This, of course, would put me in the cliché position of having the same view as every other ‘peaceful’ woman during that time period, but even the clichés have a small bit of truth to them. The men were more inclined to act as protectors of their families, their village, and their way of life, and the women supported this stance.
If I were put in this situation, I would choose to fight to preserve my way of life. Personally, I think that would be more entertaining than sitting back while someone else tells me how to live, especially if I knew they didn’t even have my best interest at heart. I wouldn’t want to give up my life for something that wasn’t nearly as good. There would still be risks to joining the reservation system, such as the U.S. not coming through with handouts. To me, the whole reservation system is awful. Having the U.S. government bring us supplies we are perfectly capable of getting on our own and bring us peace we had before they came just doesn’t make sense. Fighting for what I really want would be more rewarding to me. Risking my life to get happiness sounds better than living a life I didn’t want.
I doubt my opinion would change if I was older or if I was a guy. If I were younger, I really wouldn’t want to spend my life on a farm and if I were a lot older, I wouldn’t be able to do much work on one. I can’t imagine an age where living a life I don’t like would sound appealing enough to stop me from fighting for it. Even if I were too old to really fight, I wouldn’t want to sit around knowing my people were doomed to that lifestyle. If I was a guy, I would definitely feel the same. I think with a decision like this, the risk is either worth it to you or not and doesn’t change with age or gender.
If I were one of the native americans faced with this situation, my stance would be that there is nothing to lose by fighting. If you surrender and go to a reservation, you are plagued by disease and poverty. In addition, your resources are limited to the reservation and your way of life depends solely on handouts from Uncle Sam. If you fought for your land, you would either A-keep your land, B-Die trying, or C- get captured, put on the rez, and eventually be forced to abandon your culture, leaving you emotionally dead. A would be best, and B would have the same eventuality of C, which is the alternative to fighting. Also, I would fight in that position even if i was guaranteed to die, as i would rather die on my own terms than be captured and virtually imprisoned on a “well maintained” Indian reservation which will either be treated poorly or all but forsaken by white settlers who have nothing else in mind but pushing the frontier further westward. If I were one of the Indians, it would be a no-brainer to fight for freedom or die trying. Conforming with what the whites wanted would lead to a dead-end life.
🙂 Allison Roche 🙂
5th Hour
APUSH
1. I would choose to go on to the reservation mostly because I’m not a very good at aiming things (gun or bow and arrow) and I am a girl. Back then if I were to stay I would be killed quite quickly due to the fact that I’m a girl. I doubt the women and children were given weapons during battles and even if they were as I said before, I’m a lousy shot. It would be tragic and humiliating to go to the reservation, not to mention cowardly, but if I were actually there I would have self preservation on my mind and the hope of retaining traditions and life style in the back.
2. I don’t think my choice would change if I was older but my choice would change if I were a boy. If I were a boy I would have been taught how to fight, aim, and kill from a young age and would therefore have a better chance at lasting longer on the battle field. Boys are very stubborn and I believe leaving the tribal lands for the reservations would be an act or cowardice, so I would stay (me being a stubborn boy in all).
Given the choice, I would choose to go to the reservation. As much as I hate to give in, the whites outnumber us so much that we could never truly win. We might have some victories at first but we would eventually be overwhelmed by superior firepower, better equipment (horses), and the loss of the buffalo. But while we would go on the reservation, I think it would be important to retain our combat skills so that we could hold on to our precious land. I think this would work well because we would have a smaller, clearly defended area of land to defend; therefore allowing us to have more of a chance to hold out because we would be less spread out. I would not be that concerned about carrying on our way of life, but instead be more concerned about continuing to survive. The buffalo are already mostly gone and the nomadic lifestyle is simply no longer possible with all the settlement everywhere. I think I would have the same stance if I was older because I would likely have a family and would be too old for fighting anymore. I would want what is best for my family and I believe that would be a peaceful existence. I do not believe being a girl would change my standpoint either because I would still want the best for my family.
Molly Sovran
Blog number 7
1. I would have chosen the path of fighting against the Americans because I wouldn’t want to be bombarded off of my land. It really bothers me that a while ago they said they could have the whole western side, but then they just keep taking them off of their land. They were in America before any of those men to begin with. My mind set would be the same as Sitting Bulls because if we were there first, and grew up there, raising my family there, I would want to keep my land forever.
2. If I were older I honestly don’t think my opinion would be any different because it means that I would be wiser and I would know more about my decision and know that what I’m doing is right. I think that if I was a different gender my ways of fighting would be different because a woman usually didn’t lash out the way men did, but I would tell the men to lash out in that way because I wouldn’t be able to kill anyone. If I was an old man I would pursue my passion for my land.
If I lived in this time period and were in this specific situation, I would definitely fight to be able to practice my beliefs and traditions. While there might have been a good chance of death, I would hate to have to live life in a place like a reservation where there’s little to do and where it would probably be tougher to practice religion, even if it might be easier to get my hands on some things and keep the army out of my face. Even with the constant military threat, though, I would end up being separated from the main parts of my culture, so I just think that my traditions would take precedence over everything else.
I think that if I were older, then my choice might be different, as I might be too old for taking any sort of risk like having to fight all the time, though I may also end up being too old to be able to change the way I lived. I think my choice wouldn’t change if I were girl, however, as I would still be able to feel the injustice being done to us and would want to do something about it.
There is a negative percent chance i would ever join the reservation that the united states of america tired to made the indians join. The indians had a right to the land, because it is “Thier” land, and they shouldnt be pushed out of the way by The united states of america. i would 100% chose to fight for what i believed in. the idea of people thinking they are better than one another is just straight up sickning. everyone is equal, and the indians were there first so they dont have to do any of the B.S that the united states tried to make them. my decesion would be the same no matter my gender, my age, or my phyical health. i would stand for what is right now matter who i was, and if every other indian had my back then we could have overran the americans who bleieved they owned us, and the land. i frankly would be embarresed to join the reservation, i would like a coward for not standing up and making a difference, so i couldnt live with that on my mind. i would feel like a slave being on a farm, being told how to live, what to do, basically my main point is there is not a chance i would live on a rez. i would fight till the end..
I think that in my vision of a fifteen year old, I would have chosen to preserve my way of life and remain free to inhabit my land and hunt buffalo as my ancestors had. I would not have accepted the destruction of my culture, to watch my territory getting taken away and having to rely on the United States for food and protection. Through fighting, I would have shown the whites that assimilation is not a viable idea as my people would never surrender to the invaders. Therefore, I wouldn’t have signed the treaty of Laramie. I would have taken arms and fought relentlessly for the greater cause. In parallel, I would have taken the time to explain to my people all the risks of assimilation, shown them examples of the whites’ treacherous behaviors towards us, and warned them about what the reservation system would change in their lives. With that, I would have convinced as many warriors as possible to join my rebellion movement. The all-war option is also risky as the enemy is superior to us both in numbers and firing power. So we would have needed many men to believe and join in.
If I were younger, I think I would probably have chosen to fight also, even though I would have had less means to make a difference. As an older man, I am not sure I would have taken the same stance. I would have considered the dangers of total loss for my family and extinction of our culture in case of defeat. And I would probably have made the safer, though lame, choice of going to the reservation. For these reasons I would have signed the treaty of Laramie. By living in a reservation I would have secured a safer environment for my family, knowingly leaving behind some of my culture in exchange.
1. I feel that I would choose to go along with the American people because I would not want war to break out. I would want to keep the peace between the two sides and what happens will happen. I would mind assimilating to American ways but I would find some way to keep my Indian culture alive in my life. I think I could deal with being on a reservation as long as there is no fighting and it would be beneficial to me in some way like learning how to do something new for example farming. I also do not like the risks you have to take in order to fight like no food and no real place to live or settle down.
2. I think my choice could change if I was older because I feel I would have more life experiences behind me that would influence my decision greatly and I do not have those right now. I think if I was a boy my decision would be different because I would want to be more aggressive in my actions and want to fight, especially if I was a Indian warrior.
If I was living back in 1874 and I had to chose, I would go the reservation. Since I’m a girl, I wouldn’t be able to fight. I would have to stay behind and watch people I loved go to war, not sure if they were to come back. I wouldn’t be able to stand that, I would worry myself to death. And I don’t think there’s much point in fighting, since so many people die because of it, and although freedom may be worth fighting for, it’s not worth the loss of so much. There wouldn’t be any point anyway. The food supply is gone, so even if the Native Americans were to win (which is doubtful, considering the lack of people and technology), we would all die from starvation. Which is pretty high up there on my list of “Ways I Don’t Want To Die” (if such a list were to exist).
If I was older, I don’t believe that my choice would change in the slightest. I would be even more inclined to go the reservation, because I would have a family, and therefore more to lose. However, if I was a male, I would probably be all testosterone-filled and be galloping around on my horse uttering war cries. Guys seem to be really into that kind of thing. So if I was a guy, yes I would fight to protect my family and culture and pride and so on.
If those were the only options I had, I would attempt to assimilate into the American population the best that I could. The first reason for this is simply that the Sioux’s way of life was only recently created (when the Spanish came overseas with horses) and that it is not worth getting annihilated for. The second reason that I’d try to trust the government is because of the food and land that would be given to us at no cost except exiting the old land without conflict. The final and possibly largest reason for going peacefully is that we were going to lose our old way of life either way, the buffalo were going extinct, and the technology that the white settlers had would completely turn our world inside-out, there was no going back to our old way of life and you’d have to be blind to say otherwise, plus, the whites seemed to infinitely pour into the western society and outnumbered us with better weapons and leadership, there was no hope in fighting them. So instead of being focused on preserving a couple of generations way of life, I’d be more focused on the survival of me and my people so we could create a new way of life.
I don’t think that my opinion would change if I was a girl or older, this is only decent option that the Sioux people had
If I were an Indian in 1847 and had the chance to lead my tribe to a reservation, I would defiantly do it. Even though I’m only a teenage girl and no one would listen to me, if I had the power to, I would. It’s actually not for the reason most might assume; I would die for my freedom, no question. I find there isn’t much use of living if you can’t choose how. The reason I would go is because I wouldn’t kill for my freedom. Even if the person I shot was a nasty prejudiced man whose only goal was to annihilate me for money, I can’t take another human’s life. In fact, I would hinder my tribe’s success in defeating white people because I might just give up or stand there. Of course I wouldn’t just chillax in the reservation. I would pull a MLK Jr. and peacefully protest. Would I get killed? Probably, but I would be rather be a martyr than a murderer (which, by the way is in a Flobots song so don’t give me credit for the phrase’s awesomeness). I could inspire those in the reservation to protest with me and even though we would probably all just die, I would be dang proud of myself when I read about it in my APUSH book in the future. My only concern would be that we would lose our culture in the reservation. We would lose our way of life, true, but I have enough positive songs to make sure that we still have our spirit. For a modern day example, I take pride in my camp for being rugged and hardcore, but when we got a new, fancy lodge, it seemed like our level of hardcore dropped down a few notches. Then I realized, we are still awesomesauce on the inside, who cares if the lodge changed? We have the camp spirit! I believe that this could be applied to a situation at a reservation on a much larger scale.
If I were a male, realistically I would probably want to fight since there is a different mindset and my macho switch would be turned up. Although, if I had the same brain, and I could fight well, I would still go to the reservation and peacefully protest because killing people is just mean even if they are a big bunch of jerks. I would do the same thing if I was older or younger for the same reasons. That is my argument on why I would go to the reservation rather than fight.
If I was around in Sitting Bulls time and I was a Native American leader I would have chosen to fight back. I would do so partly because I would never give up land that was already mine, and partly because my culture strongly believes in individualism and competition.
We were here long before the white men came searching for riches. I would have realized that our self-sufficient ways and our culture deserved to be preserved. There is no excuse for strangers to parcel out our land, taking much for themselves and leaving us little.
My culture’s belief in individualism and competition and our contempt for treaties, which white men have rendered worthless through their deceit, further supports my decision to fight. Agreements with white men had never worked out for us before, so why should we think that complying with them now would give us any peace? No, it would be much better to do what we do best: strike out on our own and depend on ourselves for survival.
Being older could mean a different position within my tribe or family, but my decision to fight for freedom would likely be unaffected. If anything it would be stronger in favor of fighting back; I would have seen even more unfortunate actions committed by white men.
Contrary to an age difference a difference in gender would completely alter my decision. In the Native American way of life women worked for the family, I would never want to fight for freedom if I wasn’t a factor in the fighting. The women would not fight and so they would only be affected by loss of family members if freedom was unobtainable. Supporting family life would be fairly doable on a reservation.
1.If I had the choice I would choose to fight for the land. That land would have been my ancestors land and it would have been a matter of preserving pride, culture, and religion over anything else. Even though the reservations would have provided supplies like food and clothing from the government, it would not have been the same as living life like the ancestors had. People may start to depend so much on the government that they would lose sight of their culture which is sad. Everything that had been unique to this culture and way of life would be gone, and future generations would not know the rich and beautiful culture their ancestors had. Fighting is the riskier choice of the two, but even if the battle was lost, at least we went down with a fight, and that would definitely keep the pride and culture of all that fought to stay off the reservations alive.
2.Since I am only a teenage girl that doesn’t give me much say in anything. First of all I am young, and people mainly look up to the wiser elders. Second of all I am girl and am expected to learn how to do smaller tasks then go off to fight for land. No matter what I’d say, most likely my voice would not be heard. If I were older and a male, I probably would have been heard better, since people would look up to me more for just those reasons. But also, my opinion might change with age. I would grow wiser as I got older and maybe risking everything would not be such a good idea anymore. I would have children at this point, and more of my concern would be towards their safety instead of my own.
I would take the noble path of fighting. There is absolutely nothing inspiring about surrendering to white men. All other Native Americans who do so are cowards.
We will fight until we die. Rather die than be swept up by the white men and put into confinement. We teach community and brotherhood; the white men obviously don’t. If they stayed true to their God, then they would leave us be.
But to live in constant fear— is that really worth it? Yea, I say. Even my newborn son one day will fight. We are part of the great Sioux Nation. There is no white army on the planet that can take that away from us.
If I were feminine or older, my decision would not be the different. I am still a Sioux; I am still a warrior. When I was a little boy, my grandfather came to me. He told me of a vision he had. In it, an eagle came down and picked up a tiny gopher. Instead of giving up and being killed, the gopher fought back. The eagle came to the conclusion that the gopher was not worth the trouble and dropped him back down. After that story, my name became see-kum-koo-lat-to, Flying Gopher. No matter my gender or age, these are my people, the great Sioux people. We are prepared to fight; we are prepared to die.
“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children,”- Ancient Native American Proverb
This is such a difficult desicion and i could give arguments on why both ways are good. But, i have to decide, so ultimitlly, as much as i dont like it, i would go live on the rez.
The first reason i would go live there and not fight is becuause i am, after all, only a women, and i dont think i would be able to fight anyway! Plus, i’m a “child” so they wouldnt allow me to do anything and i’d be easy killing for the white people. i get that the US government has been anything but truthful when designing treaties before, but me, being a girl indian child, what choice do i really have? its either die or trust, and i would trust.
if, by some weird circumstance, i ended up being older and a man, i’d like to think i would stay and fight. i’m not going to outright say i’d stay and fight because i could be the village idiot and not even know how to use a gun. but if i was stronger, and more capable, and i heard that white people were going to offer another “treaty”, i would never believe them, becuase they surly want to stamp out who i am with their teachings and schools and lies. Rather, i would die for my people, to preserve there way, which is also my way.
My decision would be based on whatever option would give my people the best opportunity to sustain our traditions. My people are not truly my people if we do not sustain our way of life. If we give up our customs, we will no longer be who we once were. However, I am not foolish. I am aware that there are few buffalo left to live off here, and they are vanishing fast. We can remain on the lands of our ancestors and perish there, or go to the reservation and be provided plentiful supplies. I hate to give into the ways of the white man, but their medicine is too strong. I am unsure if I can trust the white man, as he has deceived us before, time and time again. We were assured these very lands we are on right now only six years ago, and now we are being forced off. Will we get to keep this reservation, or will they keep degrading us, moving us to smaller and lower-quality reservations? I want to maintain my honor, but is it honorable to let my people die on barren lands, while there is a chance they could survive on the reservations? If we stay and fight, my legacy will be that I stood up bravely and defended our homelands, but there might not be anyone left to pass along the legacy. As a middle-aged chieftain, I am most interested in the general survival of our tribe. If I was older, I might desire to hold on to the nostalgic past and our ancestor’s land, and I wouldn’t want to change my way of life. I would yearn for the prior days of great buffalo hunts and believe those great creatures, in their seemingly endless supply only a few years ago, could still sustain us today. If I was younger, my blood might be stirring for this chance for a glorious fight. I have learned now; I don’t just long for battle fame. I have moved on from the idea of a courageous stand against the white man. We must submit to the white man, and hopefully we can survive.