The Land Where All Men Are Created Equal Essay

These native peoples, first mislabeled as Indians by an explorer named Christopher Columbus, divided themselves into many different tribes, each with its own government, language, traditions and religions. Europeans, who slowly poured into the Indian's land, did not respect the Indians beliefs, interrupted their peaceful life and would do almost anything to get the land to them selves. The settlers also believed the land that both the Indians and the settlers lived on was theirs to themselves. They began to push the Native Americans off of their own land. Many of them fought back to keep their homes, some succeeded, some didn't.

There are many reasons that the Europeans and the Native Americans didn’t get along. In the works that I have examined and read throughout this module, the relationship amongst these two groups had not been a good one from the beginning. The main reason for conflict between the Europeans and the Native Americans, it seems, was the Europeans greed and desire for land and power.

The Native Americans are a prime example of the repression, poverty, and discrimination many minority groups have had to endure throughout the years. The Native Americans had their own land, culture and language. They were people able to adapt well to their particular region by hunting, fishing and farming crops. Their cultures primarily rested on wise use of all natural resources available. Many historians believe there were between 6 and 10 million Native Americans living in what later became the United States before the arrival of the Europeans (Parrillo, 2011). This paper will analyze the views the Europeans had about the Natives, what came about from these views and where the Native American

Before Europeans came over to the Americas, the Natives lived together as an union and had peaceful lives. Native Americans hunted animals seasonally but eventually turned to commercial hunting when they began trading more with the Europeans. They had so much different goods that the Natives have not seen before including scissors, guns, alcohol, European red paint, and other metal based items. That forced competition to arise between tribes so they could purchases the goods. There was less agriculture planting since they spent a majority of their time hunting animals and purchased their food from the Europeans. It looked like the Natives found a new trading country to work with but becoming friends was not what the English to do. They wanted to colonize their land and push the Natives away in any possibly way they could. Past experiences  has marginalized Natives today because of the mental struggles and trauma they deal with, the fight for their rights, and the loss of culture today.

The arrival of Europeans in America greatly disrupted the life of the Natives. The natives had their own culture in America with their own special beliefs. When Europeans arrived they tried to alter the way Native Americans lived their lives to resemble their way of living. The Natives did not respect this because they had previously built a lifestyle in America that they wish not to be transformed. The two cultures had different opinions about government, religion, land, and society. Due to the many differences between the Native and European people, it was unfeasible that there would be no conflicts between them.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. This is a precedent that was established centuries ago to tell the people of its time that there is no man lesser than another. It was set and meant to last for a very long time. Thomas Jefferson was the one who made the phrase famous, but it was his great friend Philip Mazzei who first used the saying through a letter written to Jefferson called “Joint Resolution 175 of the 103rd Congress“, which was later proposed for the United States Constitution. This same phrase Jefferson later used as the groundwork for our nation in The Declaration of Independence of 1776. It was written intending to show

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.

When the Europeans arrived in the Americas they were looking for riches, spices, and new trade routes to India. When they found this new world and the Native Americans that lived there, they deliberately mistreated them. Looked at as obstructions, the Natives were driven from their land and homes and pushed west. Europeans that encountered the Native Americans had different ideas about them depending on their political and religious beliefs but none were positive. Those ideas ranged from pity for them as non-Christians to be converted (Doc. A2) and treated as children to a lower status of human to be taken advantage of for profits. The Natives were forced to mine precious metals, and farm sugar cane and tobacco. They were not viewed or treated as equal persons. They were considered part of the wild land to be conquered, enslaved, killed, and beaten into cooperation.

The first interaction that took place in the New World, occurred between a group of European settlers and Native Indians, who inhabited the borders of the United States. Indian tribes, who resided in the North, lacked the skills and literacy Europeans had obtained, such as craftsman’s ship of tools, weapons, and wheeled vehicles. However, their simplistic lives allowed them to master skills, which would become important and useful to new settlements, such as farming, hunting, developing structures, and engage in far-reaching networks of trade. Europeans viewed the Natives one of two ways, “they were regarded either as noble savages, gentle, friendly, and superior in some ways to Europeans, or as uncivilized and brutal savages.” (Give Me Liberty

Before the Europeans ventured into what is now America, it was inhabited by many different tribes of Native Americans. These indigenous peoples' needs were minuscule compared to that of the Europeans as they only needed nature to provide them with sufficient food and materials for weapons, shelter, etc. Once the Europeans arrived, they introduced “firearms, iron, and brandy” and in turn for these items, the Native Americans would offer rich furs from their hunts (Tocqueville). However, as the needs of the Native Americans grew, their assets would substantially decrease. Because of the establishment of the European settlers within the Native American territory, the animals that inhabited the lands would “take fright” as they were put off by the loud noises of labor within the European settlements (Tocqueville). This caused entire Native American tribes to suffer as they could not hunt for sufficient food, pelts, furs, or materials, making them virtually unable to engage in trade with others. As a result, the Native Americans followed the tracks of the various animals in hopes to escape their fate of famine. The Native Americans were then presented with two choices, assimilate themselves with the European Society or preserve their way of life by engaging in war with the Europeans. However, the American Indians refused to conform to European customs, and did not possess the power to win a war against their enemy. The Native Americans were simply incompatible with the ever-changing civilization and were treated harshly by the Union and the States. The only people that seem to share in their misery are those from Africa.

The appearance of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere created a major change in the Native Americans’ lives. We know this because, “As historian James Merrel has described, the invaders created a “new world” for Native Americans…” (2). We can tell that their lives had changed because before they came, they didn’t have to worry about giving their land away or other people taking it. The invasion caused the Native Americans to suffer a lot because they couldn’t live like how they did before the Europeans came. They had to try their best to

The Native Americans lived in North America for thousands of years, but when the settlers from Europe came, so did conflict and turmoil. The land the Native Americans were on was rich with resources, and the settlers wanted the resources. So the settlers forced them off of their land and gave them new land designated for them. The Natives were left confused and uncertain why they had to leave. Some did not follow the orders of the settlers and fought back, the army won most battles between them. Many battles were fought so that the United States could expand and progress. Some of the Natives only wanted peace between them and the settlers, but the settlers used force a lot, bring the army to relocate them. The settlers wanted to make the Native Americans look evil even though they didn’t do anything, and they didn’t know why. Even after relocating, the were still treated badly by the army and settlers, always leaving them scared and confused. Even after, the settlers tried to eliminate them, but no using violence. While some may say that the settlers were trying to help them by passing the Dawes Act, which pushed american ideals onto the Natives, and giving them land, it really only hurt them. The Dawes Act pushed american ideals onto the Natives, and as a result, the Natives lost their sense of identity, confusing them on whether they are Americans or Native Americans. In addition, the government gave the Native Americans land, but the land wasn’t good land. They couldn’t grow crops as well and they now had to live much closer together. This lead to many problems added onto the

Native American’s have always been the aspect that shapes our culture and history today. The rise of the new world started with the discovery of the land of which the Native Americans resided. They are referred to as the indigenous people because they were the people who lived and survived off this land first. The Native Americans have a unique culture that consisted of a bond with nature. They had similar gender roles just like the white population. The men were hunters, warriors, and protectors, while the women tended to the children, their homes, and farmed. While the late 1800 's into the 1900 's and beyond began to bring the struggle to the Native American Indians, they fought a tough battle in pursuit of protecting their land. Throughout history the Native American’s have been oppressed and exploited of their identity.

Early in the Earth’s history North America was inhabited by many Indian tribes such as the Cherokee, Ute, Navajo, Apache, Comanche, and Hopi just to name a few. Most of them were hunters and gathers. They flourished off the land, worshiped the land, and made sure to take care of the land. Indians controlled the whole North American continent with very little issues. Then in 1492 a white man named Columbus discovered North America. Over a long period of time more and more white people came and in the 1700’s governments were formed (pushing natives out of their land). This is when political issues between the natives and the whites began because of land and there were constant misunderstandings. The United States has always been more organized which has given the natives a lower hand. Over hundreds of years of history through great violence and debate the United States today is finally becoming more understanding and aware of the native people.

Matthew 5:48 was used to illustrate that God had set an impossible goal for us