Camp of the peace commissioners at Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas.
Educational Notes:
Long before Europeans set sail across the ocean to uncharted lands that would later become the United States of America, the North American continent had already been home to Native Americans. Despite this, the lands continued to be colonized as more Europeans journeyed toward the New World. Those arriving first settled on the East Coast, where the citizens of 13 colonies would later unite and win their freedom after the American Revolution. After the founding of the U.S., land continued to be settled. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. Once this new property was acquired, people wanted to explore all of the new and unknown land west of the Mississippi River. They had high hopes of adventure, wealth, and securing farmland. Almost 10 million Americans began to migrate westward by the mid-1800s. Unfortunately, this desire to move west caused tension between settlers and the Native Americans. Native Americans resisted giving up the land on which they had lived and worked for many years. As native populations were pushed further and further back, disputes and fights would break out between the two groups. Eventually, the power and weaponry of the settlers won out, and Native Americans were forced from their homelands and moved onto reservations.
