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The contemporary significance of the Declaration of Independence
The contemporary significance of the Declaration of Independence
The contemporary significance of the Declaration of Independence
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In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is a policy that was created by the United States Congress because the country was expanding westward and the constitution didn’t provide guidance on claiming and settling on new Northwest Territories. The United Constitution advocated for the newly found promise land to white settlers but nonconizance of the Northwest Territory (north and west of the Ohio River) expansion, which also had little consideration towards the Indians homelands. It was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that references “a clear policy with activities in dealing with Indians and Indian matters that is to reflect high moral standards in accordance in this Indian policy”. (Pg. 31) In the United Constitution there were two clauses that …show more content…
outlines seven controlling assumptions. Discuss three of the assumptions and give an example of each. In "A Better Day for Indians," Vine Deloria, Jr. outlines seven controlling assumptions that Congress has implied its power towards Indians. Congress uses and choses it’s power when it pleases them. This is the first foremost formative role that congress frequents and it goes unnoticed because congress acts in good faith that allows the federal government to render any immoral acts towards Indians. I will describe 3 of the seven with example of each. The first assumption that Deloria Jr describes as “is the privilege of the federal establishment to avoid difficult decisions”, which rely in executive and judicial branches to enforce breached treaties. Consequently, the two branches lay the authority that the constitution entrusts over Indian Affairs. For example, the federal courts will hear many treaty violations by the federal executive and deter the responsibility to the court, which do not have authority to take on Indian …show more content…
This theory of implied powers of congress has been the attitude with no regards to homelands of the Indians based on the doctrine of discovery. Congress can exploit all natural resources and develop settlements on Indian lands at their discretion. Such as, utilizing natural resources (lead, gold, oil, water, etc.) for profit, construction of dams in order to accumulate more land and irrigation for white settlers. This has exploited land and destroyed the livelihood of the Indians; the resources of lands of which Indians relied upon to live. Every controlling assumption of congress has revolved around attaining land from the Indians with bureaucratic inclinations of misinterpretations of law. This bureaucratic course of action abnegates the executive, judicial, and congress branches; avoids the trust relationship of Indian
Fishing and hunting have been at the core of many American Indian cultures like the Nisqually since precontact. Indian hunting, fishing and gathering were conducted then—as they are now—not for sport, but for food and for a livelihood. This was well understood by the early colonists and later by the U.S. government. Thus, many of the treaties (e.g., Medicine Creek, 1854) negotiated between the federal government and Indian tribes in the nineteenth century contained provisions guaranteeing rights to hunt and fish. In the trea¬ty negotiated by Isaac Stevens, the tribe ceded to the U.S. some of the Nisqually vil¬lages and prairies, but Article Three reserved the tribe’s right to fish “at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations…in common with all citizens of the Territory.” (FL 12) But the growth of the European American population, and with it the proliferation of fenced lands, the destruction of natural habitat, and often the destruction of wildlife itself, drastically curtailed the Indians' ability to carry on these activities. Charles Wilkinson’s thesis declares that the “messages from Frank’s Landing” are “messages about ourselves, about the natural world, about societies past, about this society, and about societies to come.” (FL 6)
The validity of this generalization can be evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional and practical concerns that shaped national Indian policy between 1789 and the mid-1830’s.
The generalization that, “The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s was more a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790s than a change in that policy,” is valid. Ever since the American people arrived at the New World they have continually driven the Native Americans out of their native lands. Many people wanted to contribute to this removal of the Cherokees and their society. Knox proposed a “civilization” of the Indians. President Monroe continued Knox’s plan by developing ways to rid of the Indians, claiming it would be beneficial to all. Andrew Jackson ultimately fulfilled the plan. First of all, the map [Document A] indicates the relationship between time, land, and policies, which affected the Indians. The Indian Tribes have been forced to give up their land as early as the 1720s. Between the years of 1721 and 1785, the Colonial and Confederation treaties forced the Indians to give up huge portions of their land. During Washington's, Monroe's, and Jefferson's administration, more and more Indian land was being commandeered by the colonists. The Washington administration signed the Treaty of Holston and other supplements between the time periods of 1791 until 1798 that made the Native Americans give up more of their homeland land. The administrations during the 1790's to the 1830's had gradually acquired more and more land from the Cherokee Indians. Jackson followed that precedent by the acquisition of more Cherokee lands. In later years, those speaking on behalf of the United States government believed that teaching the Indians how to live a more civilized life would only benefit them. Rather than only thinking of benefiting the Indians, we were also trying to benefit ourselves. We were looking to acquire the Indians’ land. In a letter to George Washington, Knox says we should first is to destroy the Indians with an army, and the second is to make peace with them. The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1793 began to put Knox’s plan into effect. The federal government’s promise of supplying the Indians with animals, agricultural tool...
Cronon raises the question of the belief or disbelief of the Indian’s rights to the land. The Europeans believed the way Indians used the land was unacceptable seeing as how the Indians wasted the natural resources the land had. However, Indians didn’t waste the natural resources and wealth of the land but instead used it differently, which the Europeans failed to see. The political and economical life of the Indians needed to be known to grasp the use of the land, “Personal good could be replaced, and their accumulation made little sense for ecological reasons of mobility,” (Cronon, 62).
Unfortunately, this great relationship that was built between the natives and the colonists of mutual respect and gain was coming to a screeching halt. In the start of the 1830s, the United States government began to realize it’s newfound strength and stability. It was decided that the nation had new and growing needs and aspirations, one of these being the idea of “Manifest Destiny”. Its continuous growth in population began to require much more resources and ultimately, land. The government started off as simply bargaining and persuading the Indian tribes to push west from their homeland. The Indians began to disagree and peacefully object and fight back. The United States government then felt they had no other option but to use force. In Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson on May 18, 1830. This ultimately resulted in the relocation of the Eastern tribes out west, even as far as to the edge of the Great Plains. A copy of this act is laid out for you in the book, Th...
The “Utmost Good Faith” clause from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 however, stated, “The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their land and property shall not be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed.” (Document 9). However, a letter from three Seneca Indian leaders to George Washington, President of the United States, argued, “When your army entered the country of Six (Iroquois) Nations, we called you the town destroyer; to this day, when your name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling to the necks of their mothers…” (Document 10). This, in fact, proves the American Revolution was not revolutionary because the Indians were promised the “Utmost Good Faith” and that their land and property would never be invaded or disturbed, but their towns were left completely devastated and halted society from changing into a better
American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,” non-Indian American people. Because these Euro-Americans considered traditional Indian lifestyle savage, they sought to assimilate the Indians into their civilized culture. With the increase in industrialization, transportation systems, and the desire for valuable resources (such as coal, gold, etc.) on Indian-occupied land, modern Americans had an excuse for “the advancement of the human race” (9). Euro-Americans moved Indians onto reservations, controlled their education and practice of religion, depleted their land, and erased many of their freedoms. The national result of this “conquest of Indian communities” was a steady decrease of Indian populations and drastic increase in non-Indian populations during the nineteenth century (9). It is natural that many American Indians felt fearful that their culture and people were slowly vanishing. Modern America to American Indians meant the destruction of their cultural pride and demise of their way of life.
In regard to law, Deloria defines the relationship between the US Government and the Indians as paternalistic. The US Government treated and governed the Indians as a father would by providing basic needs but without given them rights. There has been some improvement with the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934. This act allowed the return to local self-government on a tribal level and restored the self management of their assets. By allowing the Indians to self govern it encouraged an economic foundation for the inhabitants of Indian reservations. Unfortunately only a few tribes have fully taken advantage of this act, while others continue to struggle for survival.
Author and Indian Activist, Vine Deloria makes compelling statements in chapters 1 and 5 of his Indiana Manifesto, “Custer Died For Your Sins.” Although published in 1969 this work lays important historical ground work for understanding the plight of the Indian. Written during the turbulent civil rights movement, Deloria makes many comparisons to the Black plight in the United States. He condemns the contemporary views toward Indians widely help by Whites. He argues that Indians are wrongly seen through the historical lens of a pipe smoking, bow and arrow wielding savage. Deloria views the oppressors and conquerors of the Indian mainly in the form of the United States federal government and Christian missionaries. The author’s overall thesis is that whites view Indians the way they want to see them which is not based in reality. The behavior of whites towards Indians reflects this false perception in law, culture and public awareness.
Our Indian legislation generally rests on the principle, that the aborigines are to be kept in a condition of tutelage and treated as wards or children of the State. …the true interests of the aborigines and of the State alike require...
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...
The US government’s official role in Indian affairs began as far back as the Continental Congress (1786) when the Indian tribes were still considered independent nations with whom the settlers had to make treaties (Jackson 1). The purposes for these interactions were to buy land and to keep peace between encroaching settlers and natives.
The Northwest Ordinance is relevant to Chapters 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, and 15. The Ordinance is relevant to Chapter 5 because it reflects ideas that were common in the Enlightenment, such as equality and civil rights for all people. It is relevant to Chapter 7 because the Northwest Ordinance puts forth new governing policies in western, specifically northwestern, territories. It is relevant to Chapter 9 because it set the precedent for the Louisiana Territory, in which citizens sought statehood and established their own government similarly to the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Ordinance is relevant to Chapter 12 because it encouraged and strengthened the popular belief in the Manifest Destiny, which led to the war between the United States and Mexico and the annexation of western lands. The Northwest Ordinance is also relevant to the chapters that address equality in certain territories because this document
Stark, H. K., & Wilkins, D. E. (2011). American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
The only people who the US Federal Government has obligations ethically to educate and provide satisfactory resources to is the American Indians. This was a responsibility that has been implied as well as put through law process due to the land and resources that were taken away from the Native Americans many years ago. In this paper, I will summarize the laws that were made to aid American Indian students as well as give my reaction to them.