Manifest Destiny:

The Co-evolution of Native American Rights and the Westward Push through North America
Group Website Senior Division

Anthony DeFilippis William Kelly Tristan Schrader Regional Competition Tempe, Arizona March 8, 2014

Word Count: 500

Anthony DeFilippis, Tristan Schrader and I (William Kelly) share an interest in politics, favoring mid-class debate about domestic policy, international affairs, and monetary policy, among other topics. It is natural for us to go beyond the standard curriculum, seeing the connections and consequences in our society. Growing up in Arizona has brought us an intimacy with Native American culture and studies, and the state of Arizona has the third highest Native American population of the continental Untied States. Naturally, we wished to explore more about how our communitys Native American populations evolved into their current state, as well as exploring Indian history across the U.S. This interest led us through the research process, over time leading us to develop upon the complex relation between westward expansion and Native American rights. Our research was primarily conducted through online access to government libraries and databases, as well as use of tribal accounts. Post-Colombus Native American history is an expansive topic, but we decided to delve into the relations between Navajo, Apache, and Cherokee peoples with the troops and settlers along the expanding homestead. Research on the Indian Wars in the American Southwest came largely via tribal websites recalling the history and government databases, particularly the Library of Congress. The expulsion of the Cherokee from Georgia to Oklahoma along the trail of tears is well documented among secondary sources that can much more easily convey the impact on the Cherokee and emotional toll of the campaign than government documentation. Additionally we have planned interviews with members of our local Native American communities to better understand the perspectives held regarding the

current state of Native American rights in Arizona. Through a fusion of tribal and government recollections, and with cultural insight into the lasting affects of Manifest Destiny, we have developed our stance on the topic. Our decision to compete as a group website came easily with our interest in the website creation process; Anthony and I have previously competed in the website category, and saw this years competition as an opportunity to refine our technical abilities and concisely express a vast, intricate history that is so prevalent in our homeland, and Tristan has decided to compete in group website after previously participating in the Group Performance category. Our topic is indicative of the theme, Rights and Responsibilities in History, for we explore both the transformation of Native American rights and the lasting effects of westward expansion in the United States. We aim to tie together the events that shaped our local Native community into the context of a broad continental reshaping, and follow up on the lasting impacts and evolution of Native American rights to this day. We developed our title to express our main topic of exploration- the continually changing, intricate relation between Native American rights and the colonization of an entire continent. Through our research we have gained a higher appreciation and understanding of Native American history, and are better able to analyze the fight for expanded rights that continues today.