Norman Rockwell's See America First

In this text, Chief Seattle ponders whether or not to sell his land to the president of the United States, George Washington. Chief Seattle is trying to appeal both to his tribal members and to the white settlers offering to buy the tribal land. Seattle’s speech is a mix of placatory language and of bitter remarks about the differences between whites and natives. Chief Seattle uses logos to convince both sides of the validity of his claims, he uses pathos to garner support from his own people Chief Seattle employs logical arguments quite strikingly throughout his speech.

For the longest time, Americans have celebrated Columbus day, commemorating the admiral’s supposed discovery of America. But, in “The Inconvenient Indian”, Thomas King shatters this idea and develops a new thought in the mind of the reader about natives. By using excellent rhetoric and syntax, King is able to use logos, ethos and pathos in his chapter “Forget Columbus”, where he develops the argument that the stories told in history aren’t always a true representation of how it actually happened.

In 1872, John Gast created a masterpiece that not only exemplified what American society was like, but global advancement as well. This artwork, rightfully titled “American Progress” is a clear display of the journey Americans were taking in attempt to civilize the world to their standards, what would become known as the White Man’s burden. While we continue to call it a burden, it seemed anything but to those on the “civilized” side of it. “American Progress” shows the joy of bringing enlightenment to those believed to be in need of help. Despite being labeled as a strenuous responsibility, fulfilling the White Man’s burden was something powerful countries enjoyed and by accomplishing this onus they themselves created, they are seen as the more powerful and therefor developed members of society.

In the speech On Colonizing Education, the Native Americans explain how their values differ from the white men. Despite this difference in lifestyle, values, and education the Indians were willing to send young men to American colleges and they hope that the white men send some of their young men to learn from the natives. The main appeal used is ethos with some utilization of logos.. For example, Chief Canasatego proposes that “Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons” (1). This exchange appeals to the reasoning of the intended audience, Virginia, that sending their sons would be beneficial to learn the native culture similar to how native sons went to American colleges.

When the first colonists landed in the territories of the new world, they encountered a people and a culture that no European before them had ever seen. As the first of the settlers attempted to survive in a truly foreign part of the world, their written accounts would soon become popular with those curious of this “new” world, and those who already lived and survived in this seemingly inhospitable environment, Native American Indian. Through these personal accounts, the Native Indian soon became cemented in the American narrative, playing an important role in much of the literature of the era. As one would expect though, the representation of the Native Americans and their relationship with European Americans varies in the written works of the people of the time, with the defining difference in these works being the motives behind the writing. These differences and similarities can be seen in two similar works from two rather different authors, John Smith, and Mary Rowlandson.

As it is said, “the victor writes history.” As a student, we believe that we know the history. But this is not true. We do not know African American history beyond the slave trade. Similarly, we know little about the American Indians, now referred to as Native Americans. The history we learnt that glossed over details and left students with the feeling that the immigrants from the United Kingdom and other European countries benefitted the native population. The search for the history of cowboys versus Indians will be challenging. Ethan Hawke and Greg Roth have resolved this challenge through their graphic novel, INDEH: A Story of the Apache Wars. In their collaborative work, Hawke and Roth successfully show readers that they may assume that they know Native American history, they do not. students were taught American history from the viewpoint of immigrants. The cowboy and Indians wars which erupted between Native Americans and the immigrant settlers was a war over territory and over culture and different lifestyles. It was not a war between savages and people from an advanced culture. Hawke and Roth show us that a war over resources and the determination of the settlers and immigrants to rule over what they referred to as the “New World.”

When the thirteen colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and became the United States of America, an international spotlight was drawn widely onto the new country. Because of this, many people from various regions of the world attempted to migrate to the United States. However, it is evident that in the early years of the new nation, it tended to exhibit xenophobic tendencies towards many nations surrounding it; this is made manifest in the 1894 political cartoon “Miss Columbia’s Schoolhouse” (Document 1). By the near turn of the century, thousands of inhabitants of various nations had migrated to the United States in a hope to escape the poor conditions of their home countries and to find opportunity in the United States. Unfortunately for the migrants, the Americans did not appreciate their presence despite the visions of the founding fathers’ hopes of the United States being a ‘melting pot’ as some would call it. In the political cartoon, Miss Columbia’s Schoolhouse is precisely this, a veritable melting pot of various cultures, but it has turned out to be far from what it was expected to be. Every individual except for Miss Columbia is seen as being indigent, barbaric, and uncivilized. Miss Columbia herself, seen as a strong embodiment of American values of freedom and democracy, is considerably larger when compared to the “others” surrounding her. It is evident through this visual appeal that American perceptions of others were that outsiders were in

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,

The American desire to culturally assimilate Native American people into establishing American customs went down in history during the 1700s. Famous author Zitkala-Sa, tells her brave experience of Americanization as a child through a series of stories in “Impressions of an Indian Childhood.” Zitkala-Sa, described her journey into an American missionary where they cleansed her of her identity. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” Zitkala-Sa uses imagery in order to convey the cruel nature of early American cultural transformation among Indian individuals.

     In the poem "Let America Be America Again," Langston Hughes paints a vivid word picture of a depressed America in the 1930's. To many living in America, the idealism presented as the American Dream had escaped their grasp. In this poetic expression, a speaker is allowed to voice the unsung Americans' concern of how America was intended to be, had become to them, and could aspire to be again.

     In Conclusion the author, Leslie Silko, displays the poverty and hopelessness that the Native Americans faced because of the white man. The Author elaborates this feeling of hopelessness in the Indians myth explaining the origin of the white man. As a result

It is also this depressing lost of Native Americans’ culture that has motivated them to never stop trying to return home. However, in the memory of the speaker’s dad, these Native Americans were just “swollen bellies of salmon coming back to a river that wasn’t there” (CR 123). Salmon have the nature of returning back to the place, where they were born in, to reproduce. Comparing the Native Americans to salmon, the author identifies the importance of their land to their nature. That is, losing the land is the same as losing their reproduction. Therefore, taking the land away for the modern developments, the western culture has ultimately become the nightmare for the Native Americans.

In his painting, he portrays the American frontier and the contrast between American and Native American society. The Eastern territory that has been touched by American peoples is portrayed as light and fertile, demonstrating America’s conception of its expansion as enlightening the native peoples, whose little remaining territory is dark and strewn with ominous clouds. The Americans leading the frontier are laying the foundation for such modern means of transportation as railroads, carriages and telegraph wires that provide stark contrast to the Native Americans, portrayed as running on the backs of seemingly untamed animals and carrying swords and spears. This imagery of technological advancements extending into the West suggests that Americans felt morally obligated not only to extend their territory from coast to coast but also to help civilize the savage and outdated ways of the native peoples. In the top right corner of the painting, from which the sunlight

Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.

Native American’s did not approve of strangers visiting without proper warning, everyone was provided food, a place to sleep and a pipe. White men would leave you in the cold and you would starve of hunger. His remarks are intended to be more of a sarcasm, because the white men were the savages. White men would try to cheat and manipulate the North American’s. They treated them like animals when they could not negotiate a lower price for their goods, the white men would call them Indian dogs