Essay On Native American Genocide

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Native American Genocide We all know the old rhyme "in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue," and discovered America. However, most neglect the fact that Columbus is predominantly responsible for the genocide of Native Americans. From 1492, to present day, Native Americans have been attacked causing millions to loose their lives at the hands of the British that followed Columbus to colonize the "new land." From diseases intentionally forced upon the Natives, to countless legal issues, to the Natives being taken from their land, and finally most of the Natives brutally murdered, Native Americans have faced a terrible genocide for centuries. According to "Atrocities Against Native Americans," diseases killed an estimated 90% of the …show more content…

In the end, the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the colonies held the title because of the Natives were to leave the land, they would leave a virtually untouched wilderness. While, if the Europeans left the land, would be leaving a developing country with cities and a working government system. Overall, the ruling appealed to the party with a greater impact on the land. Moreover, the Dawes Act caused more land issues to arise. The Dawes Act, brought up by U.S. Senator Henry Dawes, created a law that allowed the President to divide reservation land into individual lots and grant individual tribal members "allotments." Once Natives started to find it impossible to make a living in their changing world, they started to sell their allotments of land to farmers and ranchers. Franklin Delanor Roosevelt tried to help the Natives by creating Roosevelt's New Deal. The New Deal created an effort to "reform Indian affairs, slow down the land grab and swing the pendulum back toward tribal sovereignty" (pbs.org). FDR's New Deal gave Natives the chance to organize their governments under a constitution. Unfortunately, this did not work because it went against the tribe’s traditional

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