Native Americans And American History

So many people today have failed to understand the Native Americans in context of history, which includes conquest of land, forced relocation, and organized efforts to eradicate native cultures. There shouldn’t be any stereotypes toward Native Americans, they shouldn’t be labeled as “blood thirsty savages” for simply defending their own land from intruders. Whether they are portrayed as noble savages, environmentalists, drunken, living of the government, Indian princess/squaw, casino-rich, they find an effort to be treated with a measure of respect and integrity, and that is something that I’ve learned. They may have shown people how to throw knives and axes, ride horses, pass down stories to younger generations, but in today’s society the history of the Native Americans have taught us so much more than that, and to me, that is what’s important about

Army and the forceful action used to confine the natives, the construction on Indian land, and the massive slaughter of the buffalo which the Indians relied on in every aspect of life. The mistreatment of the Native Americans has been going on for hundreds of years, way before the Gold Rush began. The American government has taken land that they are unable to return to this day. They have deprived the plains Indians of their culture and freedom. Immigration from other countries was at its peak, but America still wasn’t able to call people, that had resided in the United States for many years, citizens. Even the Native American’s, that had lived on the continent before it was even discovered, were denied citizenship unless they were Anglo-Saxon Protestant. To this day, many look at the Indians as a joke; The Seminoles as “The Tribe that Purchased A Billion Dollar Business.” Children are being taught about friendship between the American Settlers and the Natives, they are being lied to. The upcoming generations won’t understand the horrors of unnecessary warfare against innocent people, and they will only know to take what they want, even if it isn’t rightfully theirs. America as a nation has to be stopped from draping curtains over the defeat of the plains Indians: their wiping out of an entire people, just as they did to the

Since the very first contact, the Native Americans have been treated as subordinates, being mistreated, shamed, embarrassed, and oppressed by white settlers. After the Revolutionary War in the late 1700’s, matters only got worse for the Native Americans. Population was skyrocketing due to a great deal of immigration of white settlers in the early to mid 1800’s, and there wasn’t enough space for everyone. With this came expansion, and to reach the goals they had set out for it, the Native Americans had to go. A prime example of this is shown in Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” where in chapter seven he talks about the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands, carelessness and failure by the American government to protect, and multiple slaughters carried out by the American military on the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Sac and Fox, and the Seminole tribes. Closely related is “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” written by Dee Brown, his writings from chapter thirteen focus on the Nez Perces tribe that resided in Oregon, and their attempt at a journey in Canada, and other western Indian tribes’ affairs. To go along with Zinn and Brown, is Alan Brinkley’s “American History,” which posed an unbiased view of what modern day textbooks are informing students across the nation about what happened to the Native Americans. An article titled “The North American Indian Holocaust,” written by

Imagine a person bought something that the person valued. The person was the owner of the product and took good care of it.Then, all of a sudden, a stranger comes and takes that product and declares it “discovered”. Now since the stranger “discovered” it, the product now has to be shared among them. This is similar to what happened to Native Americans in North America. Native Americans owned and lived in North America for several thousand years. Then, all of a sudden, European explorers came to North America and claimed the land “discovered”. Europeans started moving into the land and later, started sharing the land. Encounters between Europeans and Native Americans in the colonial era led to the exchange of diseases with Native Americans,

During the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had formed policies which reduced land allotted to Native Americans. By enforcing these laws as well as Anglo-American ideals, the United States compromised indigenous people’s culture and ability to thrive in its society.

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,

As all authors are undeniably guilty of, James Axtell has a bias, and not one shamefully swept underneath the rug. The enlightening article Axtell has published remains not only as informational; it stands convicting in a sense. Unfortunately, the reader may find themselves lumped into the assemblage of Americans that regard the Native Americans as “pathetic footnotes to the main course of American History” (Axtell 981). Establishing his thesis, Axtell offers plentiful examples of how Native Americans contributed to Colonial America,

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.

1. They all wanted to have something done about the Native Americans. England wanted to make them civilized and add them to their colonies. They wanted them to be "civilized" to be clothed, cristianized, fed, and instructed on the English ways, for their native ways were considered "barbaric". But not everyone wanted them included in their new life, many tribes were chased or wiped out. The Native Americans were racially predjeduced by many, which was one of the main reasons they were forced to abandon their traditions and original ways just for survival, and many didn't last long in the Europeans customs and environments.

If that was all in the past, it’s all good now and we’ve made more progress, right? As Angela Cavender Wilson ("Educating America: The Historian's Responsibility to Native Americans and the Public") recounts her story, she remembers feeling dread as her class talked about her ancestors as they have depicted them as “hostile, savage, and primitive”. This statement alone shows the continuity of how Americans have depicted these people with bitter images and yet time may have healed some wounds but then how can we judge fully how bad the colonists feel.           In contrast to those feelings, people still view that some relations were really good. As an example, Ned C. Landsman remarked that in their relations with natives, they had

America’s greatest flaw throughout history is how it treats its minorities, especially the Native Americans. From the beginning of European involvement in America, Native Americans have been cheated and mistreated. Even before the United States became a country, European traders would do whatever they could to make a profit, even use the diseases that they carried to begin an epidemic. As shown in the early Franciscan missions, Native Americans were considered heathens that were, at best, simply objects of conversion and at worst subhuman converts that could be used to till fields until they died of disease or maltreatment. Treaties with Native Americans were rarely honored, and they were used as mere pawns in struggles such as the French and Indian War. In “the land of the free”, Native Americans were systematically denied their “inalienable rights,” and the period that most clearly shows this are the 19th and early 20th century. Government policy regarding Native Americans changed from the 1830s to the 1930s, often reflecting the way Native Americans were viewed in that time period.

The position of several Native Indians’ people in the United States today is due to colonization of the Americas almost five centuries ago. Since the conquest and appropriation of their land, Native Indians have experienced several mishaps and complications. They are continuously discriminated against to where they are even excluded from political and social issues in our society. Indians are often labeled with stereotypes that are detrimental and destructive. In fact, if an average United Statesians was to describe their idea and thoughts of what Native Indians are like, one would get a list of stereotypical behaviors that is seemingly unfavorable and negative.

One cannot examine U.S. history without looking at the interactions between Native Americans and Americans. From colonization to industrialization, conflicts between these groups have always been prevalent. Indians have been stripped of their land, heritage and status. Our guns, germ and culture have killed them. One can see this power struggle in many pieces of literature. Two being, “Crazy Horse: A Life”, a secondary source focusing on a Sioux warrior Crazy Horse and the Plains peoples, and “Indian Trader John Lawson’s Journal of Carolina 1709,” a primary source that describes an English merchant’s encounter with Indians in Carolina. This paper will focus on the effects of Americans on Indian life.

Native Americans were the people that lived in the United States before the Europeans came around the 15th century and still live some places in America today. The Native Americans and immigrants have had lots of disagreements since the 15th century up until today.

The Native Americans who occupied America before any white settlers ever reached the shores “covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell paved floor” (1). These Native people were one with nature and the Great Spirit was all around them. They were accustom to their way of life and lived peacefully. All they wish was to live on their land and continue the traditions of their people. When the white settler came upon their land the values of the Native people were challenged, for the white settlers had nothing in common and believe that it was their duty to assimilate the Native Americans to the white way of life.