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