In this excerpt from Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty!, he discusses the significance of religion in the lives of Native Americans, as well as the social relations of Native Americans and the freedom and liberty they attempted to acquire. As mentioned in the previous discussion, certain tribes in North America were diverse. Although, they shared a common ideal and that was religion. Despite what most of us may think, their religion was not quite different to those of Europeans. Moreover, owning property was also something Native Americans believe as being a “common resource, not an economic commodity,” whereas in the United States, the only people that owned land and property were white males. Like every society, social status played a major role in determining one’s reputation. For instance, kindness and trade were valued tremendously. In addition, the Native Americans valued attributes like generosity …show more content…
Women’s lives were different compared to other countries because women were open to do such tasks, premarital sex, marriage, and divorce. Men, on the other hand, contributed in communities by hunting and played a sort of role model of what a successful leader is like. Society wasn’t really a patriarch yet because women contributed in religious ceremonies as tribal leaders. Because of these different ideals and beliefs, the Europeans perceived the Native Americans as “noble savages,” as opposed to their first encounter describing them as “beautiful of stature and build.” However, as time went on, so did the Europeans desire for conquest, which resulted in the conquering of their lands. The Native Americans were then forced to do labor and like many endured throughout history, they were mistreated. The arrival of the Europeans started the promotion of a patriarchal society, having women do housework and men taking authority ultimately taking some freedom away from the Native
The Native Americans sustained and took care of their home, while the Europeans pushed and pulled for more money to fall from it. This caused the land to lose a lot of its density and eventually the Europeans’ wealth as well. Things that were lost were proper farming grounds, culture of the Native Americans, and wild life. Different views of the Europeans and Native Americans caused a lot of conflict. The Europeans’ views on the Indians’ way of life became critical once they saw and felt as if their society was not controlled
The Indigenous people of America are called Native Americans or often referred to as “Indians”. They make up about two percent of the population in the United States and some of them still live in reservations. They once lived freely in the wilderness without any sort of influence or exposure from the Europeans who later came in the year of 1492, and therefore their culture is very different from ours. The Iroquois are northeastern Native Americans who are historically important and powerful. In the following essay we will discover some differences between the religious beliefs of the Native American Iroquois and Christianity to see if culture and ways of living have an effect on the view of religion, but we will also get to know some similarities. I am going to be focusing on the Iroquois, which are the northeastern Native Americans in North America.
The Europeans and the Indians had very contrasting ideas of personal wealth and ownership. The Europeans believed that only the rich should own land, and
Native Americans and Europeans, specifically from England, had totally different social systems. These social systems were greatly affected by gender and the political economy. The Native Americans heavily emphasized reciprocity and the value of friendships, thus binding people together and creating lasting relationships. Europeans on the other hand were more focused on acts of trade and the free market economy. Since Europeans relied on a free market economy, owning land was a great way to contribute and show this. Land was very scarce and it showed others the amount of wealth and prestige one had. Since land in Europe was nowhere in sight, many people immigrated to North America in hopes to acquire land thus making them rich and move up in status. The class system was very much alive and defined in Europe. Men had all the power in the world because patriarchy prevailed during this time. However, the Native Americans had a completely different philosophy. Owning property or land never existed within this social system. The Natives did not value wealth or riches but rather friendships and respect. The biggest difference between the two groups was the focal points of the family. European families, towns, and governments revolved around men. Men dominated the household by controlling every aspect of the home and his wife. They represented their family and confined their wives at home. Native Americans had no social system but they greatly respected their female elders. It was
Religion and Native Americans When the Europeans first came to America in the 1700’s religion was already here. Many native Americans believed in supernatural phenomenon’s in controlling the natural world, and social world. Each tribe had its own stories and religious views. With private prayers or sacrifices of valuable items they tried to please their gods.
Skylar Windholz History 1362-US History Since 1876 Professor Mills 25 Sept 2017 Primary Source Exercise 1 The photograph of a Catholic assembly on the National Slavic Day in 1914 shows children wearing Old World dress’, while a majority of the adults are in American clothing or nurse’ uniforms. During this period of history, 31 million people emigrated to the US between the 1890s and 1920s. By 1910, about a one-seventh of the population in the United States was foreign born.
Native Americans have had a long history of resistance to the social and cultural assimilation into white culture. By employing various creative strategies, Native Americans have attempted to cope with the changes stemming from the European colonial movement into the Americas. There are fundamental differences in world views and cultural and social orders between Indians and Europeans, which contributed to conservatism in Native American cultures. In this paper, two aspects of such cultural and institutional differences of Native American societies will be examined: holistic Native American beliefs versus dualistic world views and harmony versus domination. These two aspects are important in terms of explaining changes (or lack thereof) in
The Native American religion was very different from the Christian religion of the Europeans. The Native American’s didn’t pray to a god, they prayed to something in nature such as the sky or the sun. “O our Mother the Earth, O our Father the Sky” (Tewa Indian). The colonists thought that it was barbaric that the Native American’s didn’t believe in a God. The colonists thought that there was only one correct way to be religious and that the way that the Native American’s practiced religion was ‘the wrong way’.
The Europeans and the Indians had very contrasting ideas of personal wealth and ownership. The Europeans
Religion played a very important role in both Native American and Puritan society, though their idea’s differed greatly. The puritans were very religious people, and it mattered more of what God thought of them more than anything and what everyone else thought didn’t matter as much. While the Puritans were the very religious ones, the Native Americans cared more about viewing people for who they were as people than their religious beliefs. Although the Native Americans had their own religious beliefs, the Puritans also thought that the Native Americans needed to “prove themselves worthy”, of their religious beliefs. The Puritans did not believe that the Native Americans had any kind of regulation on their own lives. It was very
Women in European societies enjoyed very little social importance. In Native American societies, women also held inferior positions, but not to the degree instituted among European women. Native Americans determined family membership through the female line, contrary to the European patriarchal system. A woman could divorce her husband if she wished. Europeans regarded this reversal of sexual hierarchy as dangerous and peculiar. Senior women of a village instructed the men during decision-making, determined the chief of a clan, and retained impeaching powers. Europeans regarded this sexual equality as another example of the uncivilized nature of Native Americans.
Even at the very beginning of America, Artists would paint the Native American’s women in such a way to attracted more people to come over and explore this new world, and maybe to find these exotic women in the forest. As more and more people came over, along with more success in starting colonies women were given more power in the new world then back at home. European women, in the beginning, were outnumbered by the males and this was the beginning of uprising of power for women. European women were not the first group of women to gain more power in society. Native American women already had more freedom than European women had originally.
The arrival of Europeans in America greatly disrupted the life of the Natives. The natives had their own culture in America with their own special beliefs. When Europeans arrived they tried to alter the way Native Americans lived their lives to resemble their way of living. The Natives did not respect this because they had previously built a lifestyle in America that they wish not to be transformed. The two cultures had different opinions about government, religion, land, and society. Due to the many differences between the Native and European people, it was unfeasible that there would be no conflicts between them.
Native Americans hold a type of esoteric concept that comes from their philosophy of preserving their environment as well as their kinship that ties them together (Access Genealogy, 2009). They not only have social ties, they are politically and religiously organized through their rituals, government, and other institutions (Access Genealogy, 2009). They work together to reside in a territorial area, and speak a common language (Access Genealogy, 2009). They are not characterized by any one certain structure (Access Genealogy, 2009). However, the society agrees on fundamental principles that bond together a certain social fabric (Access Genealogy, 2009). Different Native American tribes throughout the years have had different ideas, opinions, philosophies, which are not always predetermined by their past ancestors.
Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.