MN History 1568 – Summer Semester
‘Becoming a State’

How Minnesota Became the 32nd State: I learned a lot from this essay. Many things that I can’t believe that I didn’t already know but am happy to know now that I won’t forget. I did not know MN was the 32nd state or the year that it came to be a state and I found this essay to be pretty interesting/intriguing and easier to read. The first sentence in the first paragraph pulled me in right away when it stated the area all by and around Lake Superior had been occupied for more than 10,000 years. I had never really just thought about that before and it was interesting. It was also cool to read and learn about the different cities and how they came to be. Especially St. Paul and then how Minneapolis began to grown and many people moved there for the business opportunities; which are really a lot like today. It’s like there has been a lot of change with the times but most things are all still for the same reason. On page 52 it reads about the Indian Territory Like-a-Fishhook to be the largest territory at that time with a population surpassing St. Paul – that was very interesting to me. It’s hard to imagine in this day and age a place being larger than the Twin Cities. There were also a lot of things from this essay on page 57 that were interesting. I never knew that Minnesota had the nickname “New England of the West” or that women were even employed back in that day, yet alone as human services workers. I think that part was the most interesting for me because that is what I am hoping to obtain a degree in. One thing that I did get lost in or confused about with this essay was the politics.

The Sioux Sign a Treaty in Washington in 1858

This essay for me was a little bit challenging to understand and to keep up with the time frame and general flow that the author used. There were many incidents in a few paragraphs where, to me, it seemed there was too much information being given to me all at once. (For example the whole second half of page 64 – it was challenging for me to keep up.) It was very interesting although to hear about the means and ways of transportation back in the days and the route in which they took to Washington, D.C. I enjoyed many of the little details, such as, on page 65 where the author states “This new rail connection saved the 24 hours travel time and also saved the government subsistence money for the entire delegation, which amounted to $2.50 a day, per person.” Throughout this essay it was very disheartening for me to read about all the hard times that the Native Americans were put through. I mean I know I’ve heard many things throughout my life but have never read it in an essay such as this one. So many things that were promised and never happened. It makes me feel anger towards the United States – even with how long ago this all was. One question that I am left with after reading this is after summarizing page 75 – are these the reasons that reservations still have tribal police officers?

The Power of Whiteness:

This essay was another one that was honestly really hard to get into. It was intriguing and sucked me in at first but quickly began to lose interest. A lot of these essays seem to sort of ramble on in the middle and get way off track or lose me with too