Chief Seattle's Letter To American People

696 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Positive and negative trade with native americans

In the article of Chief Seattle’s letter to the American People, the content of this letter is Chief Seattle which is the leader of the Suquamish Indians wrote this letter in response to American government attempted to purchase their land during the 1800s. In Chief Seattle’s perspectives in the letter, he advocates the land cannot be sold because the Mother Nature is treated as God in Squamish Indians' culture. Also, Chief Seattle believes every humankind are part of nature and vice versa. For instance, the rivers represent people's brothers and the sounds of the water are the voice of people's ancestors. So the rivers aren’t just water, but the blood of the ancestors. Therefore, Chief Seattle feels very strange about how American government …show more content…

If we don’t cherish what the Mother Nature gave us, the whole world would be like the setting of the movie “Soylent Green” which we will all be suffering in the future that consists of overpopulation, exhausted natural resources, pollution and global warming due to the greenhouse effect. But there is an exception if we could use the nature resources properly with an appreciative attitude and appropriate means to make the practices as harmless as possible for the earth, then we might be able to create a harmonious environment which can protect the nature and also satisfied our …show more content…

Nowadays, people still exploit the nature for lucrative economic interests and commercial purposes or daily life needs. For example, the Dakoda access pipeline order that signed by President Trump which reanimated the Keystone XL pipeline and dispatched the other pipeline in Dakota that had grown into a main critical point for Native Americans. Due to this saturation, the Standing Rock Sioux tribes decided to initiate a protest near Cannon Ball, North Dakoda for the construction of pipelines which close to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The reasons to start this objection are: firstly, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes think the construction of pipelines could result in a great environmental issue and cultural imperilment because its path will pass through their ancestral soils, which not belongs to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where their ancestries lived and were buried. They also advocated the reviews of historical and cultural about the land where the pipeline will be installed were insufficient. Secondly, they also concern about disastrous environmental destructions if the pipelines were broke that might cause oil leaking in order to pollute the Missouri Rivers which close to the pipelines were buried. On the other hand, the oil leaking would directly impact people’s living and health in the U.S., even though it will generate 8,000 to 12,000

Show More
Related

  • Indian From The Inside Native American Culture Summary

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through Laws, treaties and proclamations it becomes clear of the transfer of power between Native Americas and colonizing powers within the US and Canada. One significant treaty was Treaty NO. 9 in which Native Americans gave up their aboriginal title and land for money, hunting right, entrance into the christian school system and a Canadian flag presented to the Chief. The treaties described define the cascading effect of how western powers came into control of land at which Native Americans resided in. Specifically converging on the using Native Americans “elites” to influence other Native Americans into adopting western cultural beliefs, overshadowing the diverse Native American cultural practices. The overshadowing and belittling of Native American culture is not only expressed through the several treaties presented to Native Americans across history but also through real life accounts of Native American children adopted into the western school system. This sections places into the prospective the monopolization of Native American land and

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Chief Powhatan

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    He states that Native Americans have love for colonists when he mentions “not be less than ours to you” implying that his experience with the colonists has been nothing more than a positive one and that he would like this relationship to continue peacefully. The Chief makes himself credible by exercising his authority when he explains “ In such circumstances my men must watch, and if a twig should break, all would cry out “Here comes Captain Smith””. This is evidence of how he is the authority and shows in first hand in the terror the natives

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place In Nature

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Look at the civilized, beautiful capital cities in every developed country all around the world which is the central of high fashioned and convenience facility. To live in the city, it seems like the nature surrounding is not important to us anymore. In “The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature” David Suzuki presents the connection between human and the nature and how we depend on the surrounding environment. However, within the past century, most of our modern technologies have been developed in order to provide people needs of goods and products (63). Many of the products we made are causing much more harm to the environment than the value that products provide. Technological development has damaged our environment to the point

    Read More

  • Charles Eastman: Bridging the Gap Between Cultures

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform,” American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1

    Read More

  • Letter From Birmingham Jail Transcendentalism Analysis

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    and Henry David Thoreau’s ideas of how government should not be followed if laws are morally unjust according to religion are reflected in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, South Dakota. They are a form of independent action and nonconformity that are quite distinct in their nature because they truly mirror ideas of great transcendentalist thinkers, unlike other protests in this era that seem to be unorganized and without clear purpose. The protests at Standing Rock are over the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline that would have to run through Sioux territory. The nonconformity seen at the Standing Rock protests is due to a feeling of a greater purpose due to religion. As a part of the Sioux religion, the people “[attach] religious and cultural significance to properties with the area” (Bailey). Therefore, any changes to the land around them goes against their morals and their religion, so action must be taken. This applies the principles of Thoreau because people are protesting the naturally unjust government, and the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr. can be seen because people are making their own decisions over whether or not the rule of government is just. Furthermore, it is not just the Sioux who are protesting, but also “religious communities such as the United Methodist Church and the Nation of Islam” (Bailey) This is because people of other religions also recognize the plight of unjust laws and act independently. They also

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Joseph Porter's A River Of Promise

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joseph Porter’s, “A River of Promise” provides a detailed report of the first explorers of the North American West. The piece engages in a well written secondary source to argue that the expedition of Lewis and Clark, the two famously known for exploring the American Western frontier, were credited for significant findings that were not completely their own. Joseph C. Porter utilizes text from diaries and journals to highlight the help and guidance from the natives and prior European explorers which ultimately allowed the Lewis and Clark expedition to occur. The document by Porter also reveals that Lewis and Clark at the time were establishing crucial government documents which were the structure for scientific, technological and social understanding

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Keystone Pipeline

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Keystone XL pipeline continues dividing the opinion of the people and being a controversial issue. The precious “black gold”, represents one of the main factors that moves the economy, nationally and globally. This extra-long pipeline will transport oil all the way from Canada to Texas. Some experts and the private oil corporation, who is the one in charge of this project, point to the benefits of this project, for example, will make the USA more independent from foreign oil, will create thousands of jobs and improve the economy. Nevertheless, are experts revealing how the pipeline is an unnecessary risk and will be negative for the environment, dangerous for the population living close to the big pipes, and long-term negative for the

    Read More

  • Land, Growth and Justice Essay

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wheeler, Becker, and Glover, eds., “Address of the Committee and Council of the Cherokee Nation…to the People of the United States, July 24,1830.”,Cherokee Source, Discovering the American Past, (Cengage Learning, 2007), p.199-201.

    Read More

  • Our Hearts Are Sickened Analysis

    458 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although the United States was fighting to become a serious power in the world, trying the make a name for itself, there were demanding issues with the natives over land. Even though in the early 1800s the Native Americans had begun to adapt to the American culture, with tribes dressing like the Europeans and even learning English, there were still disputes over race and which was higher. With Tecumseh’s Letter to William Henry Harrison and John Ross’s Our Hearts Are Sickened, the relationships between these people can be evaluated deeper.

    Read More

  • Environmental Injustice Endured by the Native Americans

    2091 Words  | 5 Pages

    LaDuke, Winona. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 1999. Print.

    Read More

  • Culture Conflicts: Native Americans versus the White Man

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    However the Native Americans strongly regarded their way of live. In their culture the order of nature, was vastly important. It was understood that there was an order to which nature worked and because of this they were tied to the land. They could not comprehend how the whites could “wander far from the graves of [their] ancestors and seemingly without regret” (Chief Joseph 2). The white settlers came to America and immediately started to conquer the land, without feeling any shame. To the Native Americans that was shocking, for they believed that “even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead...[had] memories of stirring events connected with the lives of [their] people” (Chief Joseph 3). They did not understand how someone could forget their ancestors, and fight nature in such a way that there is room for nobody but themselves. All the same though the white settlers could not see that what they were doing as wrong. They had come to the West to begin a new chapter in life, and if the Native Americans could not accept this, then they had to be dealt with.

    Read More

  • Colonialism In Native Women

    1844 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a result, identity plays a role in articulating. According to Smith, “racism can be seen as a form of sexual violence against indigenous peoples” (Smith 2005, 3). The faith of the Native American’s empire lies in the hands of the U.S. Congress. For that reason, “indigenous people do not have full authority to decide because, under U.S. law […], it is the U.S. Congress that has full ‘plenary power’ to decide the fate of indigenous peoples and lands” (Smith 2005, 60). This explains the reason for their suffrage, and also the reason why they as portrayed as a target for sexual violence. Native American organizations have continued to demand the U. S. to disburse their land as compensation, due to its history of racial oppression. For this purpose, “one of the reason for tensions between Native and main stream environmentalists’ use of rhetoric – usually concern for the well-being of the earth – that obfuscates colonialism and racism” (Smith 2005, 62). Which explains why, “many women and men of color do not want to have any dealings with white people” (Anzaldúa 1987, 107). As Smith explains, reparations will only be effective if we “continue the legacy of these pioneers, remembering that white supremacy is a global problem that

    Read More

  • The Subjugation Of The American West

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movement westward during the late 1800’s created new tensions among already strained relations with current Native American inhabitants. Their lands, which were guaranteed to them via treaty with the United States, were now beginning to be intruded upon by the massive influx of people migrating from the east. This intrusion was not taken too kindly, as Native American lands had already been significantly reduced due to previous westward conquest. Growing resentment for the federal government’s Reservation movement could be felt among the native population. One Kiowa chief’s thoughts on this matter summarize the general feeling of the native populace. “All the land south of the Arkansas belongs to the Kiowas and Comanches, and I don’t want to give away any of it” (Edwards, 203). His words, “I don’t want to give away any of it”, seemed to a mantra among the Native Americans, and this thought would resound among them as the mounting tensions reached breaking point.

    Read More

  • Self Determination In American

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    To examine the changing identity of America, one must look first at America’s first citizens, the Native Americans. While no one can simply place all Native Americans under the same group, many of the tribes held the same ideals. One ideal

    Read More

  • What Are The Rhetorical Devices Used In Chief Seattle's Speech

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chief Seattle’s speech is a message to Governor Isaac Stevens who is trying to take the Native American’s land. In this speech Chief Seattle is trying to convince Stevens to be fair with the Native Americans. Chief Seattle makes a powerful speech with the use of several rhetorical devices such as, metaphors, similes, and vivid language, throughout this piece. With these devices he is able to convey his message of sorrow and loss which allows his audience to paint a picture of this grief in their heads.

    Read More

More about Chief Seattle's Letter To American People

Open Document