This week in class we learned about Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans. We watched a couple
ABC CLIO videos about this and the westward expansion. America sent the Buffalo Soldiers to move the native Americans onto reservations. The cause of this was in 1830, the policy of Indian removal. They removed the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole tribes, and forced them west of the Mississippi River. This later led to war with the native Americans. In this unit we have to answer the essential question, "Did the government have good intentions when enacting policies for westward expansion? In what ways did these policies impact the natives and buffalo soldiers?"
A lot of these policies started because prospectors were trespassing on Native land to search for gold and they demanded protection from the hostile Natives. This started the American Indian wars and later on congress approved the creation of the Buffalo Soldiers, who were six regiments of black soldiers totaling about 1,000. The government created these soldiers primarily to fight in the Indian Wars and do the dirty work that white soldiers didn't want to do. They provided them with old, hand-me-down horses and reused rifles. The government thought that this was a step forward however because they first black soldiers in the U.S. Army. After some time fighting, the government promised the natives the possession of the Dakota territory if they promised to stop fighting. After some leaders refused to go, the government ordered them onto the reservations or they would be considered hostile, and most natives ignored this. It didn’t matter too much because two years after settlers found gold there, the government forced all Indians back onto reservations. Due to all of the changing of policies and moving back and forth, it probably had a very negative impact on the Native American’s for having to keep changing homes, and for the Buffalo Soldiers who kept having to force them back and forth. Some can argue that the government’s intentions were good to reduce conflict between natives and new white settlers in certain areas, but they still weren’t very good policies. Another example of this is the Carlisle Schools idea. Many people thought, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, that it would be a good idea to try and “Americanize” the native american youth. A quote from above the school said, “Kill the Indian in him and save the man.” Believably, this policy was hated by the Native American tribes because it destroyed their culture and beliefs by “Americanizing” them. At the time the government thought they were doing their best to help the Indians and didn’t realize how bad it was. So the government did have good intentions, they thought they were doing the right thing, but it turned out they did the opposite.
In my opinion, I would say that yes the government had good intentions based on their knowledge or what they believed, but it negatively impacted the Native Americans. The Native Americans were forced out of their home, moved place to place, and all by force too. All of that was because of the government’s so-called ‘good intentions’ and policies. Not only did these policies affect the Natives, but also the Buffalo Soldiers because they had to supervise and force all of the Natives out of their homes onto reservations. The Buffalo soldiers didn’t necessarily agree with what they were doing, they might have known how wrong it was, but they had no choice. The American government went from enslaving one race, to basically enslaving another one by forcing them off of their home land, and by trying to destroy their culture.
Andrew Carnegie was known for the steel production and he learned better ways of steel production by studying in the Bessemer steel production process. Using this knowledge and more, the U.S.'s steel production surpassed Britain's, with a lot of thanks to Carnegie. Carnegie used Vertical Integration which gave him complete control of raw materials, transportation, production and all sales. Andrew Carnegie also adopted the belief of "Gospel of Wealth". The Gospel of Wealth is the moral obligation to use the wealth that god gave you to help the public, and one way Carnegie did this was by building many schools and libraries. He built the Carnegie-Mellon University along with the Tuskegee Institution. Using the definition of robber baron and captain of industry I believe that Andrew Carnegie was a captain of industry because he had good intentions, even though most of the newspapers and public thought differently. The fact that he believed strongly in the Gospel of Wealth, and the hundreds of libraries he opened makes me say that Carnegie should be classified as a captain of industry.
John D Rockefeller had a very similar life to Andrew Carnegie as he was one of the founders of the Standard Oil company. After the Civil War ended, he began to buy partners and put all of his money into the company. Shortly after there was a drop in oil prices and Rockefeller took this opportunity to start buying up companies who weren't doing very well. Although when faced with bigger competitors, he would lower his oil prices so much that the competitors couldn't compete with them. He would then buy up those companies after they started doing poorly. He was crazy about oil and always did things to try and be the best company, by keeping production costs really low, and also bribing politicians. Even though he bribed politicians it didn't make him a bad man, it was simply business. He used a different practice than Andrew Carnegie used, he used horizontal integration. This meant that he controlled his oil company, and when he couldn't take over his competitors he worked with them and sort of controlled the prices of that company. Overall, like Carnegie, Rockefeller didn't have bad or evil intentions and I would classify him as a captain of industry. He was a great business man and managed to make a big, successful company, but he wasn't cruel and didn't mistreat his workers.