Declaration Of Independence Argumentative Analysis

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience?” (George Bernard Shaw). George Shaw was an individual who had finally understood that humans must learn from their mistakes so huge fiascos such as genocide may never happen again. A message taught to all individuals is regardless of race or sex, treating others equally is the right way to act. Mistreatment of the Native Americans should have revealed to all, that the travesty of genocide will repeat itself until, the social order changes their way. In the 1800’s the government had abused all Natives, acting if they were not real humans. Chief Joseph, chief of the Nez Pierce, had explained how he was tired of trying to compromise with the Americans then receiving nothing coming in return. He then goes on saying his heart broke when he remembered all the broken promises. The settlers had pushed many other different tribes to their breaking point also, such as the Cherokee, Dakota, and Lakota. Society easily misperceives and only sees what they want, then actually misses’ reality. And in that, humanity must learn not to abuse others, understand everyone deserves self-respect, and not overuse power.

Force; [noun] the act of coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence. Individuals believe they have the power to force others in lower class with the power they have. The advantage of having more power is to do more noble tasks, nonetheless the settlers over used their authority for the wrong reason, not the good. It is known through all of history that the Native Americans were treated poorly by the colonists. One tribe that was treated the poorest had been the Cherokee. They had thrived a massive amount of land but had lost it all when the British and American government intruded. The individuals of the clan, tried to modernize and act if they were the settlers. None of them wanted conflict with the colonists however, none of the white men cared. In their eyes, the natives were not human. The Americans began to strip down every piece of human rights the natives had. One begin forcing them to leave their reservation and not allowing them to come back where their motherland. All the Indians were allowed 2 years to evacuate Kentucky and go 800 miles South to Oklahoma before the Americans began ransacking their villages. Through the colonists’ eyes, the Natives were savages even though they lived as they were the white men. They mistreated them and did not see them as human. After the two years went by, the Cherokee still had not left the village which made the Americans begin the Trail of Tears. The trail was one of the most horrific experiences that the Indians had to go through because roughly 4000 kids and elderly people had died. An important factor that one should learn from the Natives hardships is that all must be equal. There should have been no reason the colonists were so forceful towards the Cherokee leaving their land because at the end of the day all are just human. If society today never learns how poorly the Americans harmed the Native, such like they did with the Cherokee, the future is doomed to keep treating other individuals poorly because all will only care for themselves and hurt others.
The Declaration of Independence explains how society deserves basic rights.

Humans are allowed self-respect and dignity, however in the past it wasn’t that simple. If an individual was not exactly how everyone else was, they would be tormented. As a member of the Dakota tribe, all were treated like trash. Tragically though, the tribe did not see it coming. The settlers when first arriving in the villages had promised the Dakota they could keep half the land they own. Nevertheless, you can never completely trust strangers, shown when the Indians began to be treated terribly. The Americans were ruthless and made sure the Natives had no rights and took away their dignity completely. They made sure that the tribes were starved to death just because they could not pay their annuities. Andrew Myrick had stated, “Let them eat grass.” All the Natives pride was being taken away from them, which made all Americans look inhumane. They treated others poorly and gave them no respect. To this day, incidents such as this happens, having self-respect stripped away from people. The U.S. government had acted terribly towards others and it caused many to die off. People today must understand that no matter race or sex, all deserve basic rights and respect. The mistreatment of the Dakota should teach all that if you treat others differently and as if they are worthless, it will just cause more problems and there will be a cycle of the same

complications.
Power is delicate, dangerous, and it attracts the worst of people while corrupting the best of others. No matter who, any human given too much power will be ruined and hurt others. Only the intelligent ones know when one should stop using power because there is a fine line of using to for good and overusing power. During the 1800’s, the Americans did not know how to use their authority with the Native Americans. The Nez Perce had been yet another tribe who had be taken advantage of by colonists. The Colonists had used their power for the wrong reason which caused the Nez Perce to be extremely afraid. The Americans had asked the Indians to sign the Thief Treaty, but they refused to. After multiple feuds, the Natives were forced to evacuate their villages, which caused the white men to start hunting them down. The Americans during this time did not understand they can’t use power to force others to listen. They believed that they had more power than the Nez Perce which caused all the fiascos. Nonetheless, after days went by the tribes had surrendered. Later they were forced to leave their motherland and told never to return. The power the Americans held made them believe all should listen to them no matter how ridiculous the request. Society today must learn how to handle their power correctly by seeing how incorrectly humanity used to. Power cannot be taken advantage of because it will cause riots and people to get hurt.
Society today debates on if history is actually important for children to learn or if it is just impractical. What some adults don’t realize is if the past isn’t taught to kids today, it will just be relived because no one would know would learn from past mistakes. The government has never been perfect, however it only can get better and the only way it can is if it doesn’t relive its mistakes from the past. People today must understand that everyone should be treated equally. Everyone deserves basic rights, and the way this was learned was by seeing how poorly the Dakota was treated. Individuals can’t over use their power the disaster that happened with the Nez Perce will just happen over and over again. “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit them, and strong enough to correct them.”(John C. Maxwell)