The Native Americans in this country were the big losers in Manifest Destiny. American settlers poured west looking for farmland, minerals, and new starts. They viewed the natives as obstacles. This had been going on since the first English settlers landed in Virginia in 1607. In the West, many of the indigenous people of California and Oregon were pushed to the brink of extinction due to vigilante miners and diseases. The hunter/gatherer way of life was no match for the sophisticated weapons and sheer numbers of the American settlers. While many of the stronger tribes fought back with limited success—most notably the Lakota—the Native Americans saw their land shrink by treaty and enclosure each year. Buffalo hunters mowed down huge herds and railroads interrupted the open range. This did more to end the way of life for the Plains Indians than all the Western battles put together. Some Native American chiefs, like Red Cloud, tried to unite the Western tribes under one banner against the whites, but he could not overcome years of hostility between the tribes. While the phrase Manifest Destiny implies that it was the will of a higher power that would allow the Americans to spread democracy over an entire continent, in reality it was sheer numbers and a willingness to destroy the environment that allowed the settlers to take the land from the Indians.
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