Question

I love to roam over the prairies. [B]ut when I go down to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. These soldiers cut down my timber; they kill my buffalo. have to protect ourselves. We have ... We to save our country. We have to fight for what is ours."
-Chief Satanta

Justifying Resistance > A Kiowa chief, Satanta, expressed the Indians' point of view about white settlement of the West in this quotation.

Do you think Satanta's point of view in this passage justifies Indians' armed resistance to white settlement in the West in the 1800s? Write a short paragraph explaining why or why not.

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Answer 1

Answer:

Yes, I would say the passage justifies the resistance.

Explanation:

Armed, violent resistance will never be the ideal mode of solving a conflict. There are far more effective peaceful ways to solve conflicts. However, at the time of Satana (the American West in the 1800s) white settlers represented an existential threat to Native Americans.

They had superior technology, they were settling in large numbers, and they did not have any intention of sharing the land or developing peaceful ways of cooperation.

Only if white settlers and Native Americans had had both a positive attitude towards dialogue and compromise, a peaceful agreement could have been reachd, and armed resistance, avoided.