| Initially, the Native Americans welcomed the | | | | Cherokee Indians. They worked within the |
| Europeans to America. Christopher Columbus | | | | confines of the legal system of the United States |
| reported to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand | | | | to resist their forced removal from their |
| that the Indians on San Salvador Island responded | | | | homelands in Georgia. They filed a lawsuit with the |
| warmly to the gifts the Europeans gave them, | | | | United States federal government against the |
| and "became so entirely [their] friends that it was | | | | state of Georgia to be able to remain in their |
| a wonder to see" (Hurtado 45).Montezuma and | | | | traditional homelands. Although they ultimately lost |
| the Aztecs welcomed the Spaniards as a God | | | | the lawsuit and were forced to leave their |
| that came in fulfillment of their destiny. This Aztec | | | | homelands, the Cherokee tribe did not turn to |
| belief induced them to submit themselves entirely | | | | warfare as a response to their tragic |
| under the Spaniards' rule. Many Native American | | | | displacement. The majority of the Cherokees |
| tribes, such as those encountered by Jacques | | | | quietly submitted to the march known as the Trail |
| Cartier, Cabeza de Vaca, and Hernando de Soto, | | | | of Tears, in which so many of them died along |
| regarded the Europeans as powerful shamans or | | | | the way due to exposure and starvation from |
| Gods. The Native Americans would bring their ill | | | | lack of adequate provisions.The Plains Indians, such |
| tribal members to them to heal their sickness | | | | as the Lakota, were the most likely Native |
| (Hurtado 56).The influx of European goods greatly | | | | Americans tribes to respond to their oppression |
| altered the relationship between the Native | | | | with open warfare. The taking of the Black Hills is |
| Americans and the invading Europeans. As the | | | | a very good example of this. When the settlers |
| Native Americans began to use European goods, | | | | first began to swarm into the Black Hills looking |
| such as hatchets, iron arrowheads, sword blades, | | | | for gold, the U.S. government initially tried to keep |
| knives, and other goods, their dependency upon | | | | them out in accordance of the treaty with the |
| Europeans became more established. Divisions | | | | Lakota and their allies. But as more and more |
| between tribes began to emerge as some Native | | | | gold-seekers trekked in, the federal government |
| American tribes allied themselves with the English, | | | | reversed their position. The government offered |
| and others allied themselves with the French | | | | to buy the Black Hills, which was rejected.Then |
| settlers.Initially, the Christian missionaries were | | | | the U.S. government issued a law requiring all the |
| accepted also, as the polytheistic Native | | | | Indians to vacate the Black Hills. This action led to |
| Americans did not resist the worship of the | | | | such violent confrontations as the battles of Little |
| Christian god. But when the conquering Europeans | | | | Big Horn and Wounded Knee. Not all the Plains |
| began to rigorously suppress the Native | | | | Indians fought in this war, as many of them |
| Americans' religion, they began to resist. As in the | | | | followed Red Cloud and remained out of the |
| case of the Tewa Indians, they resisted passively | | | | fighting. This taking of the Black Hills is still an |
| at first by keeping their religious observances | | | | important issue today, since the Lakota tribe |
| hidden from the Spanish. But as the Spanish | | | | continues to assert their claim over the Black Hills, |
| invaders became even more ruthless in | | | | and refuses to touch the money the United |
| suppressing their religion, the Tewa Indians openly | | | | States government holds in trust for the |
| rebelled, killing many of the Spanish, including | | | | purchase of the Black Hills.BibliographyHurtado, |
| non-combatants such as women, children, and | | | | Albert, Peter Iverson, and Thomas Paterson, |
| priests. The Tewa Indians also ransacked Christian | | | | editors. Major Problems in American Indian History: |
| churches and desecrated their holy places.Another | | | | Documents and Essays. Houghton Mifflin Company |
| type of resistance used by the Native Americans | | | | Collegiate Division, 2000. |
| is exemplified in the case of the peaceful | | | | |