Impact Of Thomas Jefferson On Native Americans

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Jefferson on Native Americans In my opinion, making decisions can be categorized into three levels. The first level is making decisions about daily life from choosing what to wear to making a plan for the weekend; making wrong decisions in such level does not have big effects. Making decisions about personal affairs is the second level, such as choosing a partner or a job; people cannot see clearly at this level, and making wrong decisions at the second level can have long-term consequences on their lives. The third level, which is the most difficult, is making critical decisions that determine the destiny of whole nations; at this level, leaders are put between two detrimental decisions and have to choose the least harmful one. Thomas Jefferson …show more content…

For instance, the theory of environmentalism, stating that individuals and societies were shaped by their environments, was used to present Native Americans as inferior humans to the Europeans; however, Jefferson opposed this idea in his book, Notes on the State of Virginia, demonstrating that Native Americans have the same human nature and capacities as the Europeans. Jefferson states, “that his sensibility is keen, even the warriors weeping most bitterly on the loss of their children, though in general they endeavor to appear superior to human events; that his vivacity and activity [110] of mind is equal to ours in the same situation”(Jefferson 64). Nevertheless, Jefferson saw Native Americans from two different perspectives: as a threat to the United States since they were supported by Britain and Spain, and as a …show more content…

Even though the major catastrophe for Native Americans was a long time before the foundation of the United States, the last calamity was brought about somehow by Jefferson’s concepts that land and agriculture are the bases of a civilization. Today, Native Americans live in reservations with hard conditions, similar to those of the Third World countries, in terms of employment, accommodation, and health. Many young people do not have jobs, and those who work earn less than the minimum wage. Thousands of people are homeless, the rest of them live in houses some of which lack the essential services such as electricity, telephone, sewers. Native Americans also suffer from several chronic diseases such as diabetes, and cancer without having adequate supply of health care (Living

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