The exploitation of resources and the arrival of settlers were crucial in transforming Native American life. Federal policy, particularly the Dawes Act, accelerated cultural change through Americanisation.

Natural Resources and Settler Expansion

Gold and Mining

The discovery of gold and other valuable minerals acted as a magnet for migration westwards. The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) attracted hundreds of thousands, sparking rapid settlement. Later finds in Colorado (1859), Nevada (Comstock Lode, 1859), and the Dakotas (1870s) intensified the rush for resources.

• Mining camps often developed quickly into towns, with accompanying infrastructure.

• Native American lands, especially the Black Hills, were invaded in direct violation of treaties, fuelling conflict such as the Great Sioux War (1876–1877).

• Mining created economic booms but also environmental damage, which disrupted Native American hunting grounds and water sources.

Land for Farming and Cattle Ranching

Fertile land was increasingly viewed as a resource to be exploited. The Homestead Act (1862) gave settlers plots of land, encouraging agricultural settlement.

• Native Americans were displaced as millions of acres were appropriated for farming.

• Cattle ranching expanded after the Civil War, with open-range grazing overlapping Native hunting lands.

Buffalo, a vital resource for Native societies, were hunted on an industrial scale by settlers and commercial hunters. By the 1880s, herds that had numbered in the millions were almost exterminated.

American bison skulls at Michigan Carbon Works, c.1892. The image evidences the commercial exploitation that devastated a keystone resource for Plains nations, accelerating social and economic dislocation. It is a historical photograph; minor restoration has been applied to improve clarity. Source

This ecological destruction struck at the heart of Native American culture and survival.

The Dawes Act (1887)

The Dawes Severalty Act represented a turning point in federal policy towards Native Americans. It aimed to assimilate Indigenous peoples into Euro-American culture by undermining communal landholding.

• Each Native American family was allocated an individual plot (usually 160 acres).

• Remaining “surplus” land was sold to white settlers, drastically reducing Native landholdings.

• Tribal structures and sovereignty were weakened as communal ownership, central to Native identity, was dismantled.

By 1900, Native Americans had lost around two-thirds of their land compared to holdings before the Act.

The Dawes Act reflected a broader belief that Americanisation—turning Native peoples into farmers, Christians, and English-speakers—was both a civilising mission and a national necessity.

Americanisation Policies

Education

Federal and missionary schools became central tools of Americanisation. Native children were sent to boarding schools, such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, often forcibly.

• Native languages and religious practices were banned.

• Western dress, Christianity, and English were imposed.

• Children were separated from families for long periods, eroding cultural transmission.

Religion and Culture

Missionaries sought to replace Native spiritual traditions with Christianity. Ceremonies such as the Sun Dance were suppressed, and traditional leaders were undermined.

Economic Transformation

The promotion of farming was intended to reshape Native society into small-scale agricultural communities. However, poor land, lack of tools, and cultural differences made this often unsuccessful.

• Many Native Americans were forced into dependence on government rations.

• Economic self-sufficiency, once rooted in buffalo hunting and communal land use, was shattered.

Legal and Political Impacts

The Dawes Act made Native Americans individual landowners, but this was alien to their traditions. Over time, allotment also provided legal grounds for dispossessing Native peoples, as many sold their plots under economic pressure.

The broader intention was to dissolve Native nations as distinct cultural and political entities, integrating them into the fabric of the United States.

Actions of Settlers

Encroachment on Native Lands

Settlers’ demand for land often led to direct encroachment:

• Oregon Trail and other migration routes cut through Native territory.

• The discovery of gold or fertile farmland led to treaty violations.

• Settlers often ignored agreements, relying on military enforcement to displace Native peoples.

Violence and Conflict

Violence frequently accompanied settler expansion. Native resistance to incursions was framed as aggression, justifying retaliatory campaigns by the US Army.

• Massacres, such as Sand Creek (1864) and Wounded Knee (1890), reflected tensions between settlers, federal forces, and Native communities.

• Settlers also organised vigilante groups against Native resistance.

Cultural Arrogance

Settlers often viewed Native Americans as obstacles to progress. The prevailing belief in Manifest Destiny—the idea that the United States was destined to expand across the continent—framed Native dispossession as inevitable.

Long-Term Impacts of Resource Exploitation and Americanisation

By the end of the 19th century:

• Native Americans had lost the majority of their ancestral lands.

• Buffalo extinction destroyed a core resource base.

• The Dawes Act and Americanisation policies fragmented communities and eroded cultural traditions.

• Dependence on federal aid increased as economic independence collapsed.

These changes were not isolated but interconnected: resource exploitation by settlers, federal policy, and cultural suppression combined to dismantle Native American societies across the West.