Native American Barbarians

They soon found other humans who have always lived there which they called “savages.” These “savages” are what we now know as Native Americans or Indians. The Native Americans would soon suffer the consequences of the Puritans journey to expand western across North America.

The colonists, by saying that the Native Americans were primitive and savage because of their differing and seemingly illogical attitudes, were able to do things that they could never have done to people they believed to be equals. Whether this was a conscious or subconscious method on the part of the

The biggest impact the United States had on the Native American society was that they kept pushing them off of their land. There is a quote from Chief Joseph from document 4, Perspectives from the Chiefs, talking about how the United States keep taking things that aren't rightfully theirs. He compared the US government to grizzly bears and Native Americans as deer. The grizzlies who repeatedly went at the deer needing more. Even after the US was given more land they asked for more. Year after year they were pushed further west and then all around when manifest destiny began. Document 1 shows a map of Native American land loss from year to year. The NAtive Americans have been pushed around since the first English settlers came over. They had lost most of their land between 1850 and 1870. (Doc 1) The US invaded peaceful lands of the Native Americans out of pure greed. In document 3, 2nd Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868, shows a map of a piece of land owned by Indians with a treaty and a few years after. In 1868 there was a treaty that was signed so that Americans couldn’t even enter the land. After gold was found in that area the treaty did not matter. ( Doc 2) The forced them into a reservation nearly ten times smaller than their original land area. Court actions made it worse, their land was even smaller. America forced the Native Americans to go and move to places they did not want to go despite treaties and people’s actions.

In the “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” Benjamin Franklin writes about the Native American people and their way of life. In Benjamin Franklin’s essay he shows that the Native American people are far from savages. He explains how they are indeed civilized people. He says “perhaps, if we examine the manners of different nations with the impartiality, we should find no people so rude, as not to have some remains of rudeness.” The reason the Native Americans were called “savages” was because their rules of common civility, religion, laws and culture were different from the American culture and being that we were just socializing we did not understand their way of life.

Native Americans were soon portrayed as savage animals because of the lack of understanding of the Settlers. The culture of the Native Americans was so different from the culture of the English that the English would soon look at the natives as inferior. The Native Americans were deemed hostile, bestial, cursed by God, primitive beings with inferior knowledge and language. Also the English commonly thought of them as crafty, brutal, loathsome, cannibalistic and promiscuous. These negative images of the Native Americans grew from stories passed from settler to settler which were commonly misinterpretations with very little truth. The English have developed a long history of moving in to land foreign to there’s and exploiting the local people for their prosperity. The dealings between English and the Native Americans would prove to be no different from England’s previous dealings foreign lands.

In this paper I will discuss the history of the Cherokee Indians in the United States. First by describing the tribes pre-Columbian history to include the settlement dates and known cultural details. Then a brief description of the cultural and religious beliefs of the tribe will be given, as well as the tribe’s history after contact with settlers. Finally discussing John Ross, who he was and how he affected the Cherokee Indians.

The frequent depiction of the “Noble Savage” trope has many functions, with its main function being to portray Native Americans as sinless uneducated humans and to make their abusers and torturers seem evil and superior, which in most cases the torturers are indeed evil. Bartolomé de Las Casas and Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca use the “Native Savage” trope for different reasons, which makes their portrayal different, and not because they are writing about different tribes and groups of Native Americans. The “Noble Savage” is a very common adaptation of Native Americans, but the definition isn’t as pretty as the name of the trope may seem to be.

In the beginning Bradford referred to the Native Americans as savages but later on people chosen by God. In the text it states “ five or six persons with a dog coming towards them , who were savages “ (Bradford 9). Bradford is saying that the Native Americans are unruly , unkept non-human beings. He doesn’t really see them as humans or up to his standards of living. In the text it states “ was a special instrument sent from God” (Bradford 18). Later on in the text you can see that Bradford has change his mind and now sees them as special people. Bradford now sees the Native Americans as people being sent from God to help them on their journey. In

Europeans tore through America in the 1700s and destroyed the lives of Native Americans, and yet their culture remained principled with a high level of respect and honor. This is shown in a meeting that was held by the six nations of the Iroquois, where Chief Red Jacket gave a speech on the Native Americans view on missionary stations that the Europeans wanted to set up. Red Jacket explained their past with the first settlers, “We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return” (1). These first Europeans set the tone for how these new colonist treated the natives. They took what they wanted and left a trail of death and destruction in their path. However, the natives acted in return with upstanding respect and treated these missionaries

It is without doubt that there has been a prominent distinction between the Native Americans and the English settlers upon landing in Virginia in the early 1600s. With the prior ‘knowledge’ from previous pioneers in America, the colonist had viewed the Natives in a vilified manner as savages without proper means of civilization. These so called ‘heathens’ were said

Along with that, the Puritans and Pilgrims believed the Native Americans were savages and also of Satan. However, Squanto, a Patuxet Indian helped the pilgrims get through the pilgrims first winter in the New World. All in all, the English treated the Native Americans with no respect.

When the Europeans first came to the America, they assumed that they would be welcomed and be looked up to because of the gifts and trade they brought over. However, they couldn’t be farther from the truth, as the Natives feared their foreign weaponry, technology, and animals. Both groups, although in different circumstances, had misconceptions of each other that altered the views the Europeans and the Natives had of each other.

Native Americans were seen as savage societies when it was newly "discovery" by the Europeans. European societies labeled people who were not only different in language, but also those who lived by the laws of nature, or without any laws, learning, religion or morals as “savage.” Not only did Europe’s discovery of the America’s opened a new source of prosperity to the commercial part of Europe, but the fall of the native when introduced to the violence and sickness brought over from the Old World.

John Smith, from book 3, chapter 2 of his book, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, wrote about his adventures in the new land of the Indians where he experienced new people, a new governance system and a new culture (Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles 43). Smith, who was an English soldier, explorer and author, ventured into a new and unfamiliar territory where he experienced many unknown and unusual conditions and his writings depict his initial experience with the natives of this new and hostile land. He referred to the indigenous people as “savages” based on their hostile nature and brutal behavior towards him and his men. Initially the native chief, Powhatan, wanted to torture and Kill Captain Smith but he

The barbarians, Vikings, and the Mongolians are portrayed throughout history as bloodthirsty savages that only care about killing people and pillaging villages and towns. The barbarians, Vikings, and the Mongols often don’t receive credit for the ways that they positively impacted ancient civilizations. Even though the barbarians, Vikings, and the Mongolians impacted ancient civilizations in positive ways they also did some things that impacted ancient civilizations in negative ways.