Essay on The Impact of Colonialism on Southeartern Nations

Throughout the 19th century Native Americans were treated far less then respectful by the United States’ government. This was the time when the United States wanted to expand and grow rapidly as a land, and to achieve this goal, the Native Americans were “pushed” westward. It was a memorable and tricky time in the Natives’ history. The US government made many treatments with the Native Americans, making big changes on the Indian nation. Native Americans wanted to live peacefully with the white men, but the result of treatments and agreements was not quite peaceful. In this essay I will explain why and how the Native Americans were treated by the United States’ government, in

Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.

Before the Eastern World knew that the America’s were there, natives to the American lands were already here and thriving. As the land was discovered, more and more people from the European side of the Hemisphere traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to stake a claim for land in this newfound world. Throughout these Europeans settling in, and making new homes and lives for themselves these natives stayed to their own ways, and were slowly pushed westward. The problems between the Indians and now Americans were brought to the forefront as the population of the states grew, and there was a need for expansion. When the Louisiana Purchase was struck between the United States and France, the land previously inhabited by the natives were now under the control of the United States government. As the population continued to climb in numbers, individuals along with the United States government decided to take actions for the removal of these natives. Throughout the book, The Long, Bitter Trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians by: Anthony F.C. Wallace, the events leading up to, during, and the effects of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Individuals such as Andrew Jackson along with the government used different methods to remove these Indians from the southeastern lands of the United States. Starting in the beginning of the 1800’s,

Looking throughout the overwhelming events the American Revolution had on everyone involved, allows us to examine how the governments’ policies toward the Indians changed over time. It shows how the policy changes effected the Indians as well as the Americans’, their attitudes toward each other as the American’s pushed westward and the Indians resisted. Then the actions on both sides which lead up to the final removal of all Indians to west of the Mississippi in 1830’s.

The purchase of Louisiana doubled the United States in size and was the key to the beginning of westward expansion. This expansion of the U.S. served as one of the defining topics of American history but contrarily, it nearly demolished the entire democracy. Because of Louisiana’s high birth rate and rapid immigration, the United States’ population increased from about five million to more than twenty-three million people. Such expeditious growth as well as economic depressions drove millions of Americans to the west in search of fresh territory and opportunities also known as manifest destiny. At the start of the 1830’s almost one hundred twenty-five thousand Native Americans lived on southeast acres that their ancestors had inhabited for generations. But then President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian removal act which gave the government the authority to trade native held land for land to the west that the United States had obtained with the purchase of Louisiana. By the closing of the decade, only a few Natives were left because the Federal government mandated that they abandon their homeland and go to designated Indian territory. This expedition was better known as the Trail of Tears. The purpose of these reservations was to bring the Native Americans under United States government control, eliminate conflict between the Indians and settlers, and finally to further encourage Native Americans to take on the habits of settlers. In exchange tribes usually received money but it was never a lot and the majority were spent on purchasing food and supplies from traders. But the daily living conditions of the reservations primarily had the most catastrophic results with devastating and long lasting effects. Overall, the rapid territorial expansionism resulted in relocation and brutal mistreatment of Native American occupants of territories now occupied by the United

During the early years of the new nation, there were a multitude of social problems the United States had to struggle with. The founding fathers and many early settlers felt that if this young new nation was indeed to reach its full potential as a strong world power, the Western lands needed to be established. President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was an enormous step forward in achieving this vision for the United States, as it gained a massive amount of territories West of the original thirteen colonies (Schlesinger, 1993, p. 148). The issue was, Indians already occupied these lands and had for many generations. The major social policy of the 19th century, known as the manifest destiny, explains that it is “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions” (Schlesinger, 1993, p. 249). This ultimately led white European settlers on an

In the years of 1800-1840, U.S. Foreign Policy united and divided Americans. By 1803, the purchase of Louisiana from France was the beginning of a continental nation of the U.S with the settlement of lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains. In the early 19th century, lead in social and international relation changes while keeping a continuity. The continuities and changes included the social growth of sectionalism and nationalism as well as foreign relations between Native Americans and Americans. Socially, the Second Great Awakening distinguished American from other nations where freedom and religion after led, however, sectionalism carried continually throughout the whole period. In terms of international relations, the Indian Removal Act gave new land to white settlement and would also increase economic progress, however, isolationism involved in European alliances and wars.

Decades of discrimination against the Native American people including the Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee has led to a so called “compromise” and the much needed formation of the American Indian Movement to try and keep Native American culture and customs alive. This unfair treatment and discrimination has been fueled by many different people and reasons, but ultimately boils down to the greed and intolerance of the white man. Numerous indian tribes were already living in the United States when the european people settled here. The act of living and existing in nearly complete peace for a great deal of years started its swift decline in the years leading up to 1830, again fueled by greed for land and materials along with intolerance of the indians obliterated any chance of fair treatment, or the two groups living in complete peace again.

In the 19th century, United States was under the European empire supremacy. European held a powerful authority that commands the United States to fight against the Native Indian tribes from the West to extend their territories. However, the EU and US didn’t expect the Native to have abundant resources and population that could outweigh them in this raging battle. The war between the Native tribes and the United States went on for years. The US won the battle in the end. The US forcefully removed the Native Indian out of their own territories, extended their region to Mississippi River and established a treaty that only allowed indigenous people to stay if they obey the US regulations.

The ensuing internal strife from choosing separate sides, created rifts in the tribal confederations, and pitted brother against brother. The lack of Colonial Americans respect of tribal lands and diplomacy coupled with the Native American reliance on Europeans trade goods and technology put the Native peoples at a disadvantage (Calloway, 2012). With continued internal strife on how to interact and coexist with the white American government also came the added stressors’ of their reform programs meant to civilize Native communities to white American standards (Calloway, 2012). The reform programs and continued obliteration of the Native Americans and their culture would lead to an extreme loss of their history and many cultural identities. Alcohol, disease, learned individualistic traits, capitalism and forced religious reform are the reason for the downfall of America’s first

Subsequent to the political, social, and economical changes that occurred because of the "Manifest Destiny", the lives of the Native Americans had been changed forever. " Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast." (Manifest Destiny). This attitude encouraged the United States to begin to build settlements westward, which resulted in the removal of Native Americans. It deprived them of their land, and in some ways, their independence; they were faced with inequality and were forced to fight with the Americans. "

Due to the greed of the Americans, Indians were forced off of their lands by the Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830 signed by President at the time, Andrew Jackson.1 The government developed a sly process for the exclusion of the Indians to move them out of the way of the “progress” of the U.S. It began with Coexistence (1789-1828) then moved into Removal and Reservations (1829-1886), then took a shift into Assimilation (1887-1932), then Reorganization (1932-1942), then

The United States acquired vast territories between the time of the Revolution and the Civil War, paying a price economically, socially, and politically. This unit examines the forces that drove such rapid expansion, the settlers moving into these regions, and the impact on the Native Americans already there.

This torturous trend did not stop with the settlers. Even the American government that had previously promised, through the words of American founders like Thomas Jefferson, to protect the Indians, treated the Indians cruelly. For example, President Andrew Jackson’s vision for America was not accommodative of the Native American. His policies were notorious for punishing the Cherokee community especially the most assimilated and civilized members. The American government made and broke all the vows it made to the Cherokee community concerning the protection of the native people and their lands. By 1838, the American government was not even attempting to make vows of friendship. Instead, it gave the Cherokee the choice of voluntarily leaving their productive lands or facing a forced eviction. This ultimatum set pace for what was to become a Trail of

The “Indian Problem” was the “burden” that the United States Government faced throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Government considered the Indians to be a “problem” due to the fact that native tribes were halting the expansionist policy popular in the 1800’s. The main aspects targeted and defined as the “Indian Problem” by the Government were the Indian’s religious practices, household structure and land ownership, and educational differences. The variety of responses