Was the U.S. Justified in Their Actions Leading up to and During the Nez Perce War?

The U.S. wanted gold that was in Washington State, so they made agreements with some Native American tribes to get their land. The Nez Perce tribe didn’t want to sign the treaties to give up their land. This started conflict between the United States and the Nez Perce, and war was declared. The United States weren’t justified in their actions leading up to and during the Nez Perce War because they killed the Nez Perce people just because they refused to sign the treaty, didn’t fulfill their duties of signing the treaty, and because the U.S. should have let the Nez Perce tribe live because they were free people. To begin with, the United States citizens …show more content…
Jack McNeel stated, “They call themselves the Nimiipuu, meaning ‘The People’ “. To put it another way, the Nez Perce labeled themselves as “The People”, and they were equal to the whites, but the whites didn’t treat them like that. Although, the settlers believed the Native Americans were not as smart as them. Quoted from an article, “They thought that because the Indians couldn’t build proper houses they were less intelligent”(“What Was the Attitude of the White European Settlers”). To explain, the white people thought the Native Americans weren’t equal to them because they weren’t as smart. According to one article, “They believed that by teaching the Indians to speak English they were doing the natives a great favour”(What Was the Attitude of the White European Settlers”). To emphasize, white settlers supposed that helping the Nez Perce to understand English they were benefitting the tribe. Then again, the Nez Perce did benefit from learning English, but should have been treated as equals among the whites. All things considered, the whites did not respect the natives, then forced them to do things they didn’t want to.

In conclusion, the United States shouldn’t have disrespected the treaty or the Nez Perce tribe. They didn’t have a good reason to kill all the innocent and free people. The U.S. should have done what they said they would do when they signed the