Cultural Differences Between European And Native Americans

Europeans and Native Americans, there are many differences between these two cultures we will be focusing on the differences within their notions of freedom. To compare one must first understand what each cultures idea of freedom really is. European or English freedom focused on the ideal of owning one’s own land and being able to sustain oneself. This ideal might have been a result of England’s poor economy at the time, many citizens were without work and unable to provide for their families. Another staple in English freedom was the freedom to practice one’s desired religion, the church of England restricted any other religion at the time making those who believed otherwise to be suppressed. The magna carta was a document written by King John I in 1215, this charter of liberties granted the English some freedom. Many however, were only granted to the wealthy and those of high status. Although the charter contained clauses such as forty which states “To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay the right or justice.” (Breay 2002). Many were still suppressed by their lack of wealth and low status. These injustices were an inspiration and founded many of the ideals of English freedom.

In England owning large amounts of land represented that one had wealth, however, when they arrived in the new world no one seemed to own land as they did in England. The Virginia company released a policy in 1618 stating that they would award fifty acers to the colonists who paid for another’s passage to the new world along with their own. Hence taking land from the native Americans without making a trade of sorts defying the respect the Native’s had for the land. Since the Native Americans practiced paganism the land was very sacred to them, thus when the English came and started tearing up their land it caused some disagreements among the