Rhetorical Analysis Of Chief Seattle

Most Americans have at least some vague image of the Trail of Tears, but not very many know of the events that led to that tragic removal of several thousand Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government, and Indians had to agree to removal to preserve their identity as tribes. Trail of Tears is an excellent snapshot of a particular situation and will be eye opening to those who are not familiar with the story of the southern tribes and their interactions with the burgeoning American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that signifies the callousness of American policy makers toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

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.

A leader has many responsibilities as a role model and caretaker for their people. Facing hard challenges and knowing how to deal with them is a part of being a great leader all of which are Chief Powhatan showed. Chief Powhatan whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh, was the superior chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607. In his address to Captain John Smith Chief Powhatan expresses how he desires peace between the settlers and the Tsenacommacah. He utilizes distinct rhetorical elements such as rhetorical questions, diction and argumentation to further support his view on what he desired to occur between his people and the English settlers.

Both Chief Tecumseh and Chief Seattle use rhetorical devices in order to evoke change in their audience’s actions. Chief Tecumseh calls for his audience to unite against the injustice of the settler’s expansionist ideals. Through the use of comparison, Tecumseh introduces their illogical and flawed ideals. Tecumseh states, “Sell a Country? Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well the Earth?” (Address to General William Henry Harrison). The selling of the Native’s land is compared to the selling of the sea and Earth. This demonstrates how illogical it is for the settler’s to take their land, due to the fact that owning land is a god given right that is for everyone just like air and the sea. Furthermore, it shows the audience, who in 1795

Oklahoma was once referred to as the “Unassigned Lands” (Fugate,138). This land was land inside Indian Territory that had not been claimed by one of the tribes (Hoig). Whites believed they were entitled to this land and wanted to get the statement across that America is a “white man’s country” (Dorman, 38). Immediately after Benjamin Harrison, the United States of America’s president at the time, announced the land would be opened for settlement, people began gathering their belongings, loading their wagons, or preparing their horses for travel. Thousands of people crowded the borders of the Unassigned Lands in hopes of establishing a settlement in the area (Fugate,140). At noon on April 22, 1889, people dashed across the land with their belongings seeking a plot of land. The Oklahoma Land Run was an exciting, puzzling, and in some cases, a violent day in Oklahoma’s history.

With the discovery of the New World came a whole lot of new problems. Native American Indians lived in peace and harmony until European explorers interrupted that bliss with the quest for money and power. The European explorers brought with them more people. These people and their descendants starting pushing the natives out of their homes, out of their land, far before the 1800s. However, in the 1800s, the driving force behind the removal of the natives intensified. Thousands of indians during this time were moved along the trail known as Nunna dual Tsung, meaning “The Trail Where They Cried” (“Cherokee Trail of Tears”). The Trail of Tears was not only unjust and unconstitutional, but it also left many indians sick, heartbroken, and dead.

Having little knowledge of the Cherokee removal and the history that took place in this moment in America’s past, the book Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle, offers an insight to the politics, social dynamics and class struggles the Cherokee Nation faced in the late 1830s. The book was very comprehensive and the scope of the book covers nearly 100 years of Native American History. Ehle captures the history of the Native American people by showing the readers what led to the events infamously known as the Trail of Tears. The author uses real military orders, journals, and letters which aid in creating a book that keeps

How can the red man understands the white man’s “dreams” and “visions” when according to Chief Seattle in " Letter to President Pierce," the white man thinks of them as “savages”; therefore, the white man's dreams are hidden from them? The red man do not understand why the white man is expanding into his territory. They do not understand why they are killing the buffaloes that the red man uses for survival. In the essay, Seattle describe how the value of the land is seen differently among both the Indians and the white. Whereas, the red man sees the land to be sacred place that is to be lived on and cherished, the white man just sees it as being the same land wherever he goes; where he can used it and leave it like is nothing of

Most Americans have at least some vague understanding of the Trail of Tears, but not many know about the events that led to that tragic removal of thousands of Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government. The Indians had to agree to removal to maintain their tribe identities. Trail of Tears is an excellent example of a particular situation and will be eye opening to those who are not familiar with the story of the southern tribes and their interactions with the rapidly growing American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that indicates the callousness, insensitivity, and cruelty of American government toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

The relationship between the colonizer and the colonized is very much similar to that of a “superior” species claiming territory. In Andrew Jackson’s Speech to Congress on Indian Removal, President Jackson decides to push the Natives to a different place under the pretense of assisting both sides. Though it seemed like a great idea, approximately 3,000 Natives passed away on the journey and was named the Trail of Tears. Thus, as the superior reign, the weak fall under.

The stories Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress and A Patriot’s History of the United States have a greater difference than they do similarities. Each story has a different tale of how Native Americans were treated by the Europeans. One story told of gallons of bloodshed, torture, enslavement, and overworked Indians, while the other one told of glorified Europeans here to help their fellow man. Even though, both stories had their differences; they did tell of a similar time in which explorers reach the New World to establish colonies, and to use and turn the native tribes against one another for the benefit of the European nation.

“My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.,” Chief Seattle Speech of 1854. The culture of the Native American people has been deteriorating ever since the Europeans arrived in the Americas. The impactful and immense loss of lifestyle that they faced is one that can never be recovered, what the United States has given them are generations of trauma and blatant suffering. However, the U.S. did not stop there, a multitude of cultures have been broken to help keep America pure. For instance, one of the most significant cultures that have been dismantled by the U.S. other than the Natives and their music were the languages and music of the African slaves. The apparent likeness of these two cultures in the ways in which their deconstruction impacted them is in more of an abundance, such as the dominating influence of the Christian religion and the gravely vital role of maintaining what little heritage they could through language. In contrast to this, the two groups had an opposing difference pertaining to how the Natives and slaves tried to compensate the immense loss of their culture through the generations.

Chief Seattle, a Native American Chief of the Duwamish tribe, faced the inevitability of his tribe’s removal from their homeland. While he could not deter the United States government from its intentions, he did not waste his opportunity to both protect his tribe and voice his opinions. In his oration to Governor Isaac I. Stevens, Chief Seattle secures respect for his tribe as they are driven off of the land they have protected for centuries. Seattle creates a dynamic shift in tone, primarily through the use of concession, figurative language, and contrast as he advocates for the civilized treatment of his people and the land.

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

	Leslie Marmon Silko uses these three short passages taken from an ancient Indian story included in the novel Ceremony to express and convey the idea that the white man’s fear was the primary factor contributing to their negative actions toward the Indian people. The ancient Indian story that the passages are pulled from also explains how Indian witchery led to the invention of the white people