Missionaries, the Oregon Trail and First Treaties (1830s - 50s)
Unit 3

Introduction and overview of Unit Three Professor Harry Fritz Click on image of Harry for streaming video/audio presentation. For audio only, click here

Introduction and Suggested Reading (Unit 3)

Key Questions
Keep these ‘key questions’ in mind as you go through the content in the three weeks which make up Unit Three.

1. What level of miscommunication was there between Indians and non-Indian missionaries and government agents? Did the two groups understand each other at all, or was there a fundamental miscommunication? Could that miscommunication have been overcome?
2. Did the events of this time (Whitman massacre, forced treaties, etc.) make later events (the Indian Wars, reservations, etc.) "inevitable" because of the miscommunication and fear surrounding them? How else might have Indian-white relations developed at this time?
3. How does imagination affect historical events? What were white images of Indians, and what were Indian images of whites; what influence did those images have over subsequent events? How misguided were those images, or were any of them fairly close to the truth?

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