Final answer:
Chinese immigrants and Hispanic citizens faced discrimination during western expansion but could form communities and fight legally for their rights. Native Americans endured the harshest treatments aimed at forcefully assimilating them into Euro-American culture, although they later gained some sovereignty.
Step-by-step explanation:
The treatment of Chinese immigrants and Hispanic citizens during the period of western settlement contrasts with that of Native Americans in several ways. Although Hispanics were granted citizenship after the Mexican-American War, they faced second-class status and discrimination. The Chinese, many of whom arrived during the Gold Rush and took on menial labor, formed enclaves where they could maintain their cultures amid severe discrimination, including the Chinese Exclusion Act. Native Americans faced the most direct assault on their way of life, as the U.S. government and settlers sought to assimilate them into Euro-American culture, which included traumatic experiences such as boarding schools and the loss of their lands.
Discrimination and attempts to interfere with all three groups' cultural traditions and customs were common, resulting in various forms of resistance and assimilation efforts. While Chinese and Hispanic populations formed communities and fought for their rights through lawsuits and direct action, Native Americans experienced especially aggressive attacks on their cultural practices but have more recently gained some degree of sovereignty over their tribal lands and affairs.