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Why the US Army tried to exterminate the bison

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In the mid-1800s, a cultural belief known as “manifest destiny” dictated that white settlers were the rightful owners of the entire North American continent. In order to clear the land for white settlers, the US Army engaged in violent scorched-earth tactics against the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains. One big part of that campaign: bison. Vox digs into the animal’s near-extinction.

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