Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans in the Wild Wild West

  In class we studied the tumultuous history of the Native Americans and Buffalo soldiers as well as policies instituted in regard to them. The buffalo soldiers were military regiments of black men tasked to guard the expanding western territories instead of having to become sharecroppers which was essentially slavery again. These men were named buffalo soldiers for their indomitable spirit and bravery, reminding the natives of buffalo. Buffalo soldiers were not treated fairly however, they were given the run down or older horses, as well as materials and they were tasked with patrolling the most dangerous areas of the west. The Native Americans who inhabited the plains were mostly peaceful, living in tribes following buffalo across the plains and generally minding their own business. The Natives were unfortunately seen as a problem for the U.S. government as they inhibited expansion out west. So, the government methodically stripped away their rights and forced them to comply with the use of force and legislation.

      The essential question we came up with is "Was the discrimination that the Buffalo soldiers and Native Americans faced intentional or did the White settlers and federal government actually believe that what they were doing was just?" Helen Hunt wrote about the discrimination the Natives faced in her book "A Century of  Dishonor". She points out the flawed setup the government has made to try and keep the Natives in their place "There is not among these three hundred bands of Indians one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the Government or of white settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the more helpless the band, the more certain the cruelty and outrage to which they have been subjected". The Natives were forced to live in poverty and shunned by other Americans while the government profited off their demise. This continued even after she wrote this book.  The Dawes act of 1887 was considered one of the most significant pieces of legislation to affect the Native Americans. The Dawes act was enacted to set aside some land for Natives to live on as reservation land while the rest of it went to the ever greedy U.S. government. This was awful for the Natives, they were forced to be confined on a small amount of land and comply with all the governments demands, they were essentially prisoners. For Buffalo soldiers, the government gave little sympathy. These men were tasked with the most dangerous areas of the west and given the worst supplies to do it with.

By observing all the evidence presented by the documents, I think the government had mixed priorities. On one hand, it seems as though they are at least trying to give the natives a place to live in instead of killing them on the spot and they did offer military positions to black soldiers instead of dissolving their branches after the way. However, the government heavily discriminated against both parties. The Natives, after they were forced out of their lands and many slaughtered, were herded onto reservations and were paid little mind otherwise. Many of these reservations did not get proper funding and became problematic. Buffalo soldiers were discriminated against with their smaller wages and inadequate equipment compared to their white counterparts. Buffalo soldiers were also given dangerous areas to patrol. The U.S. government was mostly discriminatory towards the Native Americans and Buffalo Soldiers

   

Carnegie and Rockefeller

                 The Last lesson we learned about in class was on Carnegie and Rockefeller, two businessmen who lived in the 1800's and helped to advance the United States' industry. As a class, we watched a couple videos about the two, looking at different viewpoints on each of them. Some people believe they were bad men who only worked for their own benefit while others believed they actually cared about their workers and other people. after we took notes on the video, we split up and looked at each of their biographies. From this we had to decide on an essential question and answer it. We came up with the question "are John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie Robber Barons or Captains of Industry." A robber baron is someone who profits off of sneaky business tactics such as bribery and buying others out of business, and a captain of industry is a business owner who pours their effort into advancing the industry and being as productive as possible.
                  Lets start off by looking at Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie is the classic example of a "rags to riches" story, he grew up poor in Scotland and 13 years later would move to the U.S. with his family. Carnegie worked his way up, starting as a telegraph operator and using that skill to impress a railroad owner landing him a job at the Pittsburgh railroad. Later, during the Civil War, he helped manage the Union's telegraph and rail lines. After that, he invested heavily in the steel production industry. With some greatly needed help from a steel guru in Britain named Sir Henry Bessemer, Carnegie was able to establish his company as one of the best steel producers in the world and was able to take control of the industry. After being successful for many years and at one point being the second richest man in the world, Carnegie sold his company and dedicated his life to philanthropy, giving back to America and helping to advance education. Next is John D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller grew up a pretty normal life and was able to go to school and pursue business after that. He saw the growing interest of oil in Cleveland especially. As time went on, he bought up most of his competitors and he and  his associates formed the Standard Oil Company. However, to maintain his status as top dog of the oil industry, Rockefeller employed cutthroat business tactics and circumvented the law often. despite this, later in life, he gave away a lot of his money to help fund education and medical advancements.                    Both of these men were great business leaders who helped shape America to become the prosperous nation we know today. Also, they donated large amounts of money so that they could influence a better future for America. However both acquired their wealth at the loss of other's wealth and sometimes used bad business tactics to get what they wanted. I think that these men should not be classified as one or the other, but rather I think they were both Robber Barons and Captains of Industry.