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.