The US has always suffered from a superiority complex; in settling the west it was no different. In the eyes of the white man they had the right to take any land they wanted because God made them better. “It had taken Euro-Americans 250 years to wrestle control of the eastern half of the United States from the Indians. It took them less than 40 years to take the western half” (page 462). The Indians suffered great losses in the west. Their way of life was taken over and the government and the settlers colonized them, however, the Indians did not give up without a fight. Settling the west was a very bloody time for both the Indians and the settlers. Like Turner said, “The west demanded strength and nerve, fostered invention and adaption, and produced self-confident, individualistic Americans.” (pg. 449). The Indians were run out of their homes and made to assimilate into the white mans world, this changed our nation forever. The American government was selfish but they also tried to come up with a good plan on what to do with the Indians. It did not start out this way, the militaries first idea was, “’an obstacle to civilization…[and} should be exterminated’” (pg. 454). Many Americans held this ideology. There were a few with a conscious who decided they couldn’t just kill them so they put them on reservations. But the reservations didn’t work in the Indians favor when the government decided there were better uses for that land such as gold mining or settlers. The government then decided to take the Indians children and send them to white schools. The officials figured the best way to fix the situations with the Indians was to
