Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "How the USA Colonized the USA" video.

  1. Did it occur to you that regardless of what the government did, people were going to go try homesteading, and defend them. The natives could scourge a settlement, and the next time they were back in the neighborhood, there was a bigger, stronger settlement. They could wipe every one of them out, with small losses, but there was no end to it. We focus on the actions of government, because there's somebody to point at, but when they discovered gold in the Black Hills, it was all over. Government put a stamp on it, but there was no stoping prospectors. The gold rush was underway, regardless of what the federal government did. There was tremendous pressure from interested parties on the federal government. It was very far away from where most people lived, and most of what they heard was part of a "bloodthirsty native" narrative. There were renegades on all sides violating treaties. It was very chaotic, and the reach of the state exceeded its grasp in those days. "We can't stop 'em, so we may as well tear up the treaty we can't enforce."
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