American Revolution Dbq

By 1940, Native Americans had experienced many changes and counter-changes in their legal status in the United States. Over the course of the nineteenth century, most tribes lost part or all of their ancestral lands and were forced to live on reservations. Following the American Civil War, the federal government abrogated most of the tribes’ remaining sovereignty and required communal lands to be allotted to individuals. The twentieth century also saw great changes for Native Americans, such as the Citizenship Act and the Indian New Deal. Alison R. Bernstein examines how the Second World War affected the status and lives of Native Americans in American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs. Bernstein argues

Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.

To better understand the conflict between the Europeans and the Native Americans, one must closely examine the state of Europe’s economy at the time. Europe struggled with difficult conditions. This included poverty, violence and diseases like typhus, smallpox, influenza and measles. There were widespread famines which caused the prices of products to vary and made life very difficult in Europe. Street crimes and violence were prevalent in cities: “Other eruption of bizarre torture, murder, and ritual cannibalism were not uncommon”.2 Europeans

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

“The Indian presence precipitated the formation of an American identity” (Axtell 992). Ostracized by numerous citizens of the United States today, this quote epitomizes Axtell’s beliefs of the Indians contributing to our society. Unfortunately, Native Americans’ roles in history are often categorized as insignificant or trivial, when in actuality the Indians contributed greatly to Colonial America, in ways the ordinary person would have never deliberated. James Axtell discusses these ways, as well as what Colonial America may have looked like without the Indians’ presence. Throughout his article, his thesis stands clear by his persistence of alteration the Native Americans had on our nation. James Axtell’s bias delightfully enhances his thesis, he provides a copious amount of evidence establishing how Native Americans contributed critically to the Colonial culture, and he considers America as exceptional – largely due to the Native Americans.

PBS, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. This article starts off by stating the problem for the early American settlers, which are the Native Americans, and then states how Andrew Jackson, the American President at the time, handled the Native Americans. The next couple of paragraphs talk about Jackson’s agreement treaties with the Native Americans and their movement westward. To try to avoid these movement plans, the Natives thought of non-violent rebellion strategies such as farming and creating a constitution. The next couple paragraphs explains President Jackson’s Indian Removal Act and explains the reactions of the American colonists. Many Indian tribes try to refuse to sign any treaties as long as possible, but eventually forced to by the American military; The Trail Of Tears among this forceful

Native Americans have felt distress from societal and governmental interactions for hundreds of years. American Indian protests against these pressures date back to the colonial period. Broken treaties, removal policies, acculturation, and assimilation have scarred the indigenous societies of the United States. These policies and the continued oppression of the native communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension. Governmental pressure for assimilation and their apparent aim to destroy cultures, communities, and identities through policies gave the native people a reason to fight. The unanticipated consequence was the subsequent creation of a pan-American Indian identity

As American settlers had continued to populate the expansive land the United States of America which had lay before them, the Native Americans, who had resided there for hundreds of years prior to the Revolutionary War, had become increasingly troubled with every passing moment. Soon, they realized, they would be overtaken entirely by the settlers of the newfound nation. As such, in 1830, the Congress of the United States had passed the Indian Removal Act, which had forced all Native American tribes into specially-designated reservations, where their underlying spiritual bonds had effectively been permanently separated. Indeed, the Indian Removal Act had been extremely powerful, but not in ways that had been beneficial to either party. Hence, its passing and subsequent institution, manifested as the infamous Trail of Tears, had been an error on the part of the United States Congress, in all basic aspects of morality, politics, the Constitution, and practicality of survival and thriving. Specifically, moral aspects included concerns relating to driving Native Americans from their long-time homeland without their consent, alongside the breaking of their spiritual statuses. Political perspectives against the Indian Removal Act had revolved around the notions of value, progress, and improvement, paired with the ramifications and intentions of treaties passed by Congress. Constitutional viewpoints had protested against the Act in that they had insisted the lack of reasoned

The first attempt at dealing with Native American tribes can be seen through the acts of George Washington as he attempted to eradicate all indigenous people bypassing any attempt at a peaceful interaction. Washington insisted on developing a professional army which developed into a group of “vicious killers” (Dunbar-Oritz, 82). He was so set on Native removal that the Second Amendment was developed for the purpose of arming colonizers to murder Native people. From this moment on the United States government set out on a path to attempt to destroy Native people, their culture, and their history. This was done in various ways by various leaders throughout the nation’s developing years and into the present.

Long ago on the great plains, the buffalo roamed and the Native Americans lived amongst each other. They were able to move freely across the lands until the white men came and concentrated them into certain areas. Today there are more than five-hundred different tribes with different beliefs and history. Native Americans still face problems about the horrific history they went through and today 's discrimination. The removal of American Indian tribes is one of the most tragic events in American history. There are many treaties that have been signed by American representatives and people of Indian tribes that guaranteed peace and the values of the Indian territories. The treaties were to assure that fur trade would continue without interruption. The American people wanting Indian land has led to violent conflict between the two. Succeeding treaties usually forced the tribes to give up their land to the United States government. There were laws made for Native American Displacement that didn’t benefit the Native Americans, these laws still have long lasting effects on them today, and there was a huge number of Native Americans killed for many reasons.

The Native Indian history of violence and corruption changed their views and self image as well. This change later affects how they adapt to American culture and education after being pushed away from embracing their own for so long. The violence and indifference shown towards the Native Americans during the “Trail of Tears” may have contributed to this change. In this dreadful journey, Natives of all kinds were forced off their land and into a thousand mile trek during which about 4000 Cherokee Indians died (The Trail of Tears). Similarly the Natives were done yet another great disservice with the Dawes Act or General Allotment Act in 1887 which encouraged the separation of tribes and advocated assimilation. Whites controlled the land allotted to Indians, and the Indians received very little compensation for it (The Dawes Act: 1887). In fact it is

native American’s have been swept other than their lands, pushed lower back throughout the notable divide and into the lands of different tribes with the aid of the colonialization of yank expansionism. After a few of the tribes who as soon as lived harmoniously with these early colonist joined super Britain throughout the yank Revolution, the attitudes of many American’s changed closer to their native American brethren. immediately after and until the 1830s, the various tribes were pushed off their lands and sent west across the Mississippi into the Plains and Oklahoma territories.

From the time during North American colonialism to the modern era, American Indians have responded to and countered U.S. policies, philosophies, and agreements in hopes of sustaining and preserving their sovereignty and relationships to the land. As a result, the U.S. government employed many different approaches in dealing with American Indians in hopes of assimilation and diminishment of Native American culture from the mid-19th century to early-20th century. Consequently, as the U.S. government policies of assimilation directed towards American Indians evolved from 1850 to 1930, so did the Indian response. Native American responses to early aggressive U.S. polices, as in the violations of the Treaty of Fort Laramie and the Confederate Home Guard, resulted in violent resistive responses from American Indians for the ossification of their relationship to land. As U.S. detribalization policies later shifted to a more diplomatic approach for improved westernized assimilation, like the Dawes Allotment Act and use of boarding schools, American Indian’s response metamorphosed from resistance to adaptation for the preservation and survival of their native identities and culture.

Consequently, the indigenous nations were able to retain political autonomy during the period of competition between various European colonial powers. However, the new American government implemented a series of laws and regulations that established hegemony over Native Americans. Without alliances with foreign powers, the major Indian nations had no choice but to “recognize American political supremacy in the region” after the War of 1812 (Champagne 1992:88). Despite reluctance by Native Americans towards political differentiation and social change, the U.S. government planned to regulate trade between the Indian tribes and European countries and institute a program that was designed to assimilate and civilize the Native peoples. However, these attempts did not prevail until 1828, as evidenced by the absence of large-scale migration of southeastern Indians.

The Native American chronicle is one of treachery and death. These Indians lived lives of concord and prosperity for centuries. However, their reign terminated with the arrival of European settlers in the 15th century. The arising onslaught of foreign colonists is considered by some to be the initiation of the “American Holocaust” (Native American Genocide). The immigrants did not share customs or spiritual views with the Native people, so they attempted to annihilate the Native American populace. The transcontinental population robbed the Native Americans of their land, resources, culture, and pride. Numerous events had to occur in order for the United States of America to obtain its current culture and diversity. Native Americans, and