Question

Whites destroyed the buffalo herds for all of the following reasons EXCEPT?

1) For their hides
2) For sport
3) To protect the Native Americans
4) To deprive the Native Americans of their main food source

Answer 1

Whites destroyed the buffalo herds for their hides, for sport, and to deprive Native Americans of their main food source, not to protect them. Killing buffalo was a tactic to undermine the lifeways of the Plains Indians and enable settlement and development by non-Native Americans.

Step-by-step explanation:

The reason why whites destroyed the buffalo herds that does not belong amongst the given options is 'To protect the Native Americans'. In reality, buffalo were killed for several reasons, but protecting the Native Americans was not one of them.

Whites destroyed the buffalo herds for their valuable hides, for sport, and to deprive the Native Americans of their main food source, which would force dependency on federal aid and ultimately make it easier to confine them to reservations.

The bison was central to the livelihood of the Plains Indians, providing essential resources such as food, clothing, and shelter. By decimating the buffalo populations, settlers and government policies aimed to weaken the nomadic tribes and facilitate the settlement and agricultural development of the Great Plains, which included railroads, cattle ranches, and commodity-based agriculture.

This had catastrophic effects on the Plains Indians, transforming them from agriculturalists to nomadic hunter/gatherers, and was part of a broader strategy that led to the Plains Wars and the confinement of these tribes to reservations.