Question

How did the discovery of gold impact American Indian territory in the 1870s?

A. War broke out among American Indian groups when warring chiefs signed new treaties with the government.

B. War broke out when white settlers pressured the government to take the land from American Indians.

C. War broke out when white settlers pressured the government to let American Indians keep their land.

D. War broke out when white settlers tried to buy land from warring American Indian groups.

Answer 1

The correct answer is "War broke out when white settlers pressured the government to take the land from American Indians. "

An example of this would be the Wounded Knee Massacre. This was a result of the discovery of gold on the Lakota Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. US citizens wanted to take this land from American Indians, as gold was a valuable commodity that could be sold to make a huge profit. Along with this, the American economy still relied on the gold standard.

This resulted in an armed conflict between members of the US military and the Lakota tribe.

Answer 2

B. War broke out when white settlers pressured the government to take the land from American Indians is your answer.

The discovery of gold in the Native American Territory led to a huge gold rush, in which large amounts of US citizens moved westwards to try to strike rich. However, most of the gold were found in territory that was set aside for the Native's usage, and when the gold-seekers started streaming in, it was seen as a further take-over of their ancestoral lands by the US government. Constant pleading fell into deaf ears, and so the Native's acted on their own behalf and (in a sense) declared war against the settlers. This led to the constant on-and-off war between the US and most Native American tribes and resulted in the tribes being moved to reservations.

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