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Jason Simpkins
11/16/15
Historiography
Americans View on Native Americans
Native Americans inhabited North America long before the
Europeans settled on the East Coast. The extermination of the Native
Americans is a history that is silenced by the United States. This is
because this history makes the United States look bad in that they
killed thousands of Native Americans in order to expand west of the
Mississippi. United States officials forced the Native Americas to try to
adapt become Americanized, but the officials thought that they were
not doing a good job at this. The U.S forced Native Americans to
migrate to other lands further west but the U.S met some resistance.
Battle broke out and many were killed. The United States tries to
silence this history over many years making the Native Americans
seem like friends of the U.S. during the expansion of the states when in
reality, Native Americans experienced genocide.
Americans try to silence this history of the extermination of
Native Americans because the reflection it has upon the history of the
U.S. The United States is viewed as a moral country that has
standards. These morals and standards were abandoned when the
United States was trying to expand west. History books do not contain
much history of the killing of Native Americans but a secondary and

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tertiary education expands on the issues. Limiting the knowledge on
the history of the interactions between the U.S. and Native Americans,
keeps the history contained. When thinking of the relationship between
the Native Americans and the whites, one might think of the pilgrims
eating with the Native Americans on their arrival on the Mayflower. It is
all a part of a strategy to keep the information limited, and in favor of
portraying the U.S. as a moral country.
When Americans view history of Americas rise to power, one
might think it is justified because he or she is American. When an
individual from another country views the history of the United States
rise to power, he or she might think it is immoral. Americans think it is
moral because it helped elevate the United States to what it is today.
With the extermination of the Native Americans being one of the
immoral acts committed by the U.S. in the beginning years of
expansionism, Americans with a primary and secondary education
think that the issue is justified. It is justified because Americans feel it
was necessary to expand. The matter is almost of ignorance on
Americans part to not know the full history behind the issue. History
textbooks try to remain limited on the information and only present the
basic facts of the interactions between the Native Americans and the
growing United States.
The United States tries to silence this history over many years
making the Native Americans seem like friends of the U.S. during the

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expansion of the states when in reality, Native Americans experienced
genocide. I think it is a plan designed by the officials of the United
States to keep the history limited in schools and only providing the
basic knowledge. It was not until the end of high school and beginning
of college I realized how extreme the U.S. was towards Native
Americans. I think it is coming to the light in todays generation on the
brutality the Native Americans endured.