American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The expansion of the United States at the expense of Native Americans during the nineteenth century is usually seen strictly in military terms. This belief has been reinforced by countless Hollywood movies of the cavalry chasing Indians through the West; thus, many people incorrectly believe that Indians were simply conquered by White armed force. This view, however, ignores the realities of the situation. Especially in the early nineteenth century the U.s. government was young and relatively weak. Dominance over Native peoples was a gradual process and its accomplishments were achieved more through diplomatic and legal manipulation than by military conquest. Native Americans were much more successful resisting militarily than they were in controlling the legal processes by which self-government was stolen from them. Expansion was believed to be an integral part of America's destiny from the beginning. In addition to the problems of overcoming geographical obstacles, American expansion faced rival claims to the land from two types of potential opponents; other Western imperialist powers, who made counterclaims of sovereignty to a particular territory, and the Native occupants of that land.