Describe what freedom meant to the Native Americans and how that conflicted with the interests and values of most white Americans.
The federal government took two approaches in its attempt to dispossess Native Americans in the West of their land, and their culture. One was outright war with Native Americans that accelerated after the Civil War and culminated in Wounded Knee massacre. The other was legislation like the Dawes Act and institutions like the boarding schools for Native American children that sought to assimilate Native Americans in an attempt to persuade them to live and work like white settlers. Even so, Native Americans for the most part wished to maintain their tribal identity and resisted these efforts despite the lure of U.S. citizenship that came with the Dawes Act and the threat of violence from the U.S. Calvary. Foner suggests that the conflict was over two opposing ideas of freedom. Describe what freedom meant to the Native Americans and how that conflicted with the interests and values of most white Americans.
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