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Oppression of native americans
History of relations with native America
History of relations with native America
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Throughout American history, a recurring theme of white people believing in the superiority of their race exists. This includes the treatment they imposed on Native Americans from the beginning of Amercia all way through the 19th century. Although Native Americans attempted to help the white people in their time of need, throughout history, the white people would continuously take advantage of Native Americans living in what would become the United States. For example, the United States would pass legislation that would disturb Native American tribes, abuse Native Americans little understanding of English, attempt multiple times to assimilate them into their society, and defend their wrongdoings by using religion or the concept of Manifest …show more content…
Destiny as an excuse. In doing all of this, the United States greatly damaged Native American civilization. The United States of America passed multiple laws that guaranteed the oppression of Native Americans.
When Andrew Jackson held the presidency, Native Americans referred to Jackson as “Sharp Knife”. Jackson earned this nickname as he acquired the responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Native Americans. Before Congress approved the Indian Removal Act, Jackson's first message to Congress included him saying, “I suggest the propriety of setting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi . . . to be guaranteed to the Indian tribes, as long as they shall occupy it” (5). Then, on May 28, 1830, Jackson’s message became law and the Indian Removal Act became set in stone. This act forced all Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi River. The Cherokees path that they took to the relocate became known as the Trail of Tears. On this trail, thousands of Cherokee Indians lost their lives, this exemplifies how Americans mistreated Native …show more content…
Americans. The Government of the United States of America passed a form of legislation that attempted to appease Native Americans. In June of 1894 Congress passed An Act to Regulate Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes and to Preserve Peace on the Frontiers. This act enforced many new laws towards white people. For example, the author states: All the part of the United States west of the Mississippi “and not within the State of Missouri and Louisiana or the Territory of Arkansas” would be Indian country. No white persons would be permitted to trade in the Indian country without a license. No white traders of bad character would be permitted to reside in Indian country. No white persons would be permitted to settle in the Indian country. The military force of the United States would be employed in the apprehension of any white person who was found in violation of provisions of the act (6). This act attempted to enforce the side of the Native American laws that affected white people.
Although these laws existed, enforcing them remained a problem only Native Americans had to cope with. For example, the court case, Worcester v. Georgia, dealt with these exact laws. Essentially, this case dealt with the laws that supposedly affected white people. Although these laws existed, Supreme Court Judge John Marshall ruled that these laws went against the 14th amendment rights of United States of America citizens. Although these laws attempted to keep the balance for Native American lands, white people still managed to encroach on their lands. Overall, legislation passed for Native Americans became enforced only for Native Americans while the white people could do anything they wanted to. This unequal treatment of Native Americans remained constant throughout American
history. Typically, when the government attempted to pass treaties that involved Native Americans, they would deceive them. The United States used the Native Americans little understanding of English to their advantage. Usually, the United States would inform them of one part of the treaty, or just interpret it different than what the paper actually says. In doing this, another way that the United States horribly treated Native Americans became known. For example, Dee Brown states, “During the ten years preceding the Civil War, more than 150,000 white settlers pushed into Santee country, thus collapsing the left flank of the once “permanent Indian frontier”” (38). This quote demonstrates how even though a treaty existed, it meant nothing to the white people. This displays deception because the white people made Native Americans believe that they finally acquired their own land, but in reality, the white people used deception to get what they wanted. Which in this case was more land. This concept of deceptive treaties wasn't a one time thing. Americans did this to the Natives many times. For example, in the summer of 1862, “Little Crow had signed both the treaties that tricked his people out of their land and the money promised for the land” (39). This further proves how white people deceived them. In conclusion, Americans used deception as a way to hurt Native Americans in taking their lands and money, all for the white people's benefit. When Christopher Columbus came over to America, cultural assimilation for the Natives became the only imaginable option for them to survive. The white people saw the Natives as uncultured and believed that doing so gave them an upper hand. For example, “All this, of course, was taken as a sign of weakness, if not heathenism, and Columbus being a righteous European was convinced the people should be “made to work, sow and do all that is necessary and to adopt our ways”” (1). This demonstrates how Europeans believed that cultural assimilation was the right thing to do. White people saw Natives as heathens and believed that assimilation was the only way to civilize them and help them survive in white people's culture. Although white people vigorously attempted to assimilate Native Americans into their culture, when they finally did assimilate, or make an effort to, it clearly became not enough for Americans. Even though they tried to assimilate, white people still did not treat them like how the Natives deserved, with respect and decency. Though they tried to take part in white culture, their efforts became unsuccessful. For example: Ely Parker worked for three years with a firm in Ellicottville, New York, but when he applied For admission to the bar he was told that only white male citizens could be admitted to law practice in New York. No Indians need apply. Adoption of an English name had not changed the bronze color of his skin (179). Further proving the point that even though Natives would assimilate, it would not do any good. Once they would assimilate into white culture, they became rejected simply because the color of their skin. Although white people did this to Natives, racism will become an even stronger part of history up to this day. In conclusion, even though the goal of white people became assimilation of Native tribes, once they did assimilate white culture did not accept them; therefore, the white people proved, yet again, that they had no respect for Native Americans because although they did assimilate, they never belonged in white culture. Throughout this time period, white people did horrible things to Native Americans. The things Natives went through had almost zero justification, besides a simple, white people didn't like Natives. Although truthful, Americans managed to defend their actions using either religion or manifest destiny as an excuse. White people believed that Christianizing the Natives gave them morals and a right to go into Heaven, while the Natives had their own afterlife and spiritual beliefs. Then, they could also justify their cruelty on the Natives using the concept of Manifest Destiny, or the idea that everything west rightfully belonged to white people. Using religion as an excuse to take over a country or a group of people isn't a new concept. The Spanish Conquistadors used the saying “God, gold and glory” to defend themselves. Now, white settlers using this excuse didn't seem to be any different. All the while, opposing horrible things to the Natives, white people truly believed they were doing the right thing. For example, Dee Brown states, “The Spaniards were so pleased that they had made it possible for the first Indian to enter heaven that they hastened to spread good news throughout the West Indies” (2). This shows how they truly believed that they impacted the Natives lives for the better. Even though, everyone now knows that's not the case, that's what the white people believed. Another way that white people attempted to defend themselves was through Manifest Destiny. Essentially, this means that the white people believed that they had the destiny from God to expand west. Even though this meant consuming Native lands, no one cared, because of this ideal. For example, Dee Brown states: To justify these breaches of the “permanent Indian frontier,” the policy makers in Washington invented Manifest Destiny, a term which lifted hunger to a lofty plane. The Europeans and their descendants were ordained by a destiny to rule all of America (8). From his diction in this paragraph, the reader can see that Dee Brown agrees with the idea that Manifest Destiny was created in order to defend the white people's wrongdoings to the Native Americans. The use of the word ‘invented’ proves this because it was like white people coined this term just to defend what they did wrong. All in all, white people defended themselves by using religion and Manifest Destiny even though their actions were in the wrong. In conclusion, white people living in the United States of America in the mid-1800s did horrible things to Native Americans. Whether legislation passed in order to oppress them, they became deceived by the white people's language, how white people tried to assimilate them into white culture, or defending everything through religion or Manifest Destiny, what the white people did was not justified. And although there was different side to each situation, the Native Americans became oppressed by Americans which ultimately led to the downfall of Native American civilization.
Throughout Jackson's two terms as President, Jackson used his power unjustly. As a man from the Frontier State of Tennessee and a leader in the Indian wars, Jackson loathed the Native Americans. Keeping with consistency, Jackson found a way to use his power incorrectly to eliminate the Native Americans. In May 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act. This act required all tribes east of the Mississippi River to leave their lands and travel to reservations in the Oklahoma Territory on the Great Plains. This was done because of the pressure of white settlers who wanted to take over the lands on which the Indians had lived. The white settlers were already emigrating to the Union, or America. The East Coast was burdened with new settlers and becoming vastly populated. President Andrew Jackson and the government had to find a way to move people to the West to make room. In 1830, a new state law said that the Cherokees would be under the jurisdiction of state rather than federal law. This meant that the Indians now had little, if any, protection against the white settlers that desired their land. However, when the Cherokees brought their case to the Supreme Court, they were told that they could not sue on the basis that they were not a foreign nation. In 1832, though, on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation," and therefore, eligible to receive federal protection against the state. However, Jackson essentially overruled the decision. By this, Jackson implied that he had more power than anyone else did and he could enforce the bill himself. This is yet another way in which Jackson abused his presidential power in order to produce a favorable result that complied with his own beliefs. The Indian Removal Act forced all Indians tribes be moved west of the Mississippi River. The Choctaw was the first tribe to leave from the southeast.
Temporary inequality exists as a means of “improving” a subordinate to the level of a dominant. After the period of inequality is over, the two view each other as equals. The other form of inequality, permanent inequality, exists solely because of an ascription of inferiority to a subordinate that is inherent and unchangeable. Unlike temporary inequality, there is no possibility of improvement for the subordinate; they are, in the eyes of the dominant, inferior and impossible to “fix.” The dominants, who view themselves naturally superior to the subordinates, begin to take advantage of the subordinates. “Out of the total range of human possibilities, the activities most highly valued in any particular culture will tend to be enclosed within the domain of the dominant group; less valued functions are relegated to the subordinates” (Rothenberg, 112). Moreover, the subordinates, who by this point are under the total control of the dominant group, may begin to internalize the value of the dominants. “[Subordinates’] incapacities are ascribed to innate defects or deficiencies of mind or body…More importantly, subordinates themselves can come to find it difficult to believe in their own ability” (112). This theory of domination and subordination are clearly mirrored in race relations in the United States. Whites, who are the dominant group, make all of the fallacious errors involved in race-based thinking; they are prone to, like Miller describes, hoarding superior roles in society and practicing systematic cruelty towards the subordinates due to their sincere belief that the subordinates are inherently incapable of rising to the level of the dominant. This internalized belief on the part of the dominants, that the subordinates
Born March 15, 1767 on the Carolina frontier, Andrew Jackson would eventually rise from poverty to politics after the War of 1812 where he earned national fame as a military hero. Jackson won the popular vote in the 1829 election and became the seventh United States President. As President, Jackson sought out to be a representative of the common man. Jackson remarks in his veto message of July 10, 1832 that, “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.” Andrew Jackson put in place the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act forced Natives off their homelands and onto the lands west of the Mississippi River. They encountered a journey, called the Trail of Tears, where they traveled by foot to what would be their new homes, which transformed the lives of thousands of Native Americans. The President’s intentions were to move all Natives west of the Mississippi River to open up the land to American settlers.
The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress in order to allow the growth of the United States to continue without the interference of the Native Americans. Jackson believed that the Native Americans were inferior to white settlers and wanted to force them west of the Mississippi. He believed that the United States would not expand past that boundary, so the Native Americans could govern themselves. Jackson evicted thousands of Native Americans from their homes in Georgia and the Carolinas and even disregarded the Supreme Court’s authority and initiated his plan of forcing the Natives’ on the trail of tears. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Indians, however Jackson ignored the ruling and continued with his plan. The result of the Indian Removal Act was that many tribes were tricked or forced off their lands, if they refused to go willingly, resulting in many deaths from skirmishes with soldiers as well as from starvation and disease. The Cherokee in particular were forced to undergo a forced march that became known as the Trail of
... the unwilling tribes west of the Mississippi. In Jackson’s letter to General John Coffee on April 7, 1832, he explained that the Cherokees were still in Georgia, and that they ought to leave for their own benefit because destruction will come upon them if they stay. By 1835, most eastern tribes had unwillingly complied and moved west. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1836 to help out the resettled tribes. Most Cherokees rejected the settlement of 1835, which provided land in the Indian territory. It was not until 1838, after Jackson had left office, that the U.S. Army forced 15,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia. The hardships on the “trail of tears” were so great that over 4,000 Cherokees died on their heartbreaking westward journey. In conclusion, the above statement is valid and true. The decision the Jackson administration made to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River was a reformulation of the national policy. Jackson, along with past Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson, tried to rid the south of Indians This process of removing the native people was continuous as the years went on.
The case Worcester v. Georgia (1832) was a basis for the discussion of the issue of states' rights versus the federal government as played out in the administration of President Andrew Jackson and its battle with the Supreme Court. In addition to the constitutional issues involved, the momentum of the westward movement and popular support for Indian resettlement pitted white man against Indian. All of these factors came together in the Worcester case, which alarmed the independence of the Cherokee Nation, but which was not enforced. This examines the legal issues and tragic consequences of Indian resettlement.
Andrew Jackson signed the indian removal act in 1830. This act allowed him to make treaties with the natives and steal their lands. The Trail of Tears was a forced relocation of more than 15,000 cherokee Indians. The white men/people gave the natives 2 options: 1. Leave or 2. Stay and Assimilate (learn our culture). The natives couldn’t have their own government. There were 5 civilized tribes including the cherokees. They learned english and went to american schools and when the cherokees went to court they won.
I wish I could forget it all, but the picture of six-hundred and forty-five wagons lumbering over the frozen ground with their cargo of suffering humanity still lingers in my memory.” He says that he wishes he had not seen what he saw on this trip and he wishes it did not happen. When the Cherokees appealed to the U.S. to protect their land, the Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled that the states were not allowed to make laws that govern the Cherokees, only the federal government can. This meant that Georgia laws don’t involve the Cherokees. Many religious groups, like the Quakers, didn’t want to force Native Americans against their will to move from their homelands.
In May 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which forced Native American tribes to move west. Some Indians left swiftly, while others were forced to to leave by the United States Army. Some were even taken away in chains. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, strongly reinforced this act. In the Second State of the Union Address, Jackson advocated his Indian Policy. There was controversy as to whether the removal of the Native Americans was justified under the administration of President Andrew Jackson. In my personal opinion, as a Native American, the removal of the tribes was not in any way justified.
Perhaps the worst aspect of Jackson 's administration was his removal and treatment of the natives. Specifically, Andrew Jackson forced the resettlement of several native american tribes against the ruling of the Supreme Court. The Indian Removal Act drove thousands of natives off their tribal lands and forced them west to new reservations. Then again, there are those who defend Jackson 's decision stating that Indian removal was necessary for the advancement of the United States. However, the cost and way of removing the natives was brutal and cruel. The opposition fails to recognize the fact that Jackson’s removal act had promised the natives payment, food, and protection for their cooperation but Jackson fails to deliver any of these promises. Furthermore, in “Indian removal,” an article from the Public-Broadcasting Service, a description of the removal of the Cherokee nation is given. The article analyses the effect of the Indian Removal Act, which was approved by Jackson, on various native tribes. “The Cherokee, on the other hand, were tricked with an illegitimate treaty. In 1833, a small faction agreed to sign a removal agreement: the Treaty of New Echota. The leaders of this group were not the recognized leaders of the Cherokee nation, and over 15,000 Cherokees -- led by Chief John Ross -- signed a petition in protest. The Supreme Court ignored their demands and ratified the treaty in 1836. The Cherokee were given two years to migrate voluntarily, at the end of which time they would be forcibly removed. By 1838 only 2,000 had migrated; 16,000 remained on their land. The U.S. government sent in 7,000 troops, who forced the Cherokees into stockades at bayonet point. They were not allowed time to gather their belongings, and as they left, whites looted their homes. Then began the march known as the Trail of Tears, in which 4,000 Cherokee
Through all stages, a conflict existed between the Indigenous peoples and the United States. Under the illusion of forging a new democracy, free of hierarchies and European monarchies, the United States used the plantation labor of enslaved Africans and dispossessed massive numbers of Native peoples from their lands and cultures to conquer this land.15 Many Americans continue to experience the social, political, cultural and economic inequalities that remain in our Nation
He was the first president to be born in a log cabin, to be an orphan by the age of fifteen, and to be hardened by decades of military campaigns (195). In his first term he exercised the use of veto power more than all previous presidents combined (196). He ran the government the same way he ran his army (196). Andrew Jackson resolved the issue of breaking up the Union and was able to postpone it for another 30 years (197). He also moved all of the United States deposits from the Second National Bank and put them into state and local banks (198). Another thing he did while in office was to begin to move the Indians to Oklahoma (199). In 1830, the General Removal Act was passed (199). The next act passed was the Removal Act against the Choctaws (200). By 1833 nearly 11,000 were removed, and in 1838 nearly all Chickasaws were removed (200). In December 1985 the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty to move west, and in 1838 they walked the Trail of Tears, where 4,000 out of 18,000 died (201). Andrew Jackson’s policies moved 45,690 Indians across the Mississippi (201). This was his most controversial legacy
The Indian removal was so important to Jackson that he went back to Tennessee to have the first negotiations in person. He gave the Indians a couple simple alternatives. Alternatives like to submit to state authority, or migrate beyond the Mississippi. Jackson Offered generous aid on one hand and while holding the threat of subjugation in the other. The Chickasaws and Choctaws submitted quickly. The only tribe that resisted until the end was the Cherokees. President Jackson’s presidency was tarnished by the way the U.S. government handled the Native Americans. Although financially, and economically Jackson truly was a good leader, some people view him in a negative way because of the “Indian Removal Act.”
The removal of Indian tribes was one of the tragic times in America’s history. Native Americans endured hard times when immigrants came to the New World. Their land was stolen, people were treated poorly, tricked, harassed, bullied, and much more. The mistreatment was caused mostly by the white settlers, who wanted the Indians land. The Indians removal was pushed to benefit the settlers, which in turn, caused the Indians to be treated as less than a person and pushed off of their lands. MOREEE
Inequality became instrumental in privileging white society early in the creation of American society. The white society disadvantaged American Indian by taking their land and established a system of rights fixed in the principle that equality in society depended on the inequality of the Indians. This means that for white society to become privileged they must deprive the American Indians of what was theirs to begin with. Different institutions such as the social institution, political, economical, and education have all been affected by race. Sociologists use Assimilation theory to examine race and institutions. The perceived deficiencies of minority immigrant groups by white society has resulted in a generalized characterization of these different racial groups that is demeaning and reinforces the negative stereotypes towards minorities in the United States. Knowles and Prewitt argue that the cause behind the racial tension is the historical roots of institutional racism, which has prevented the minority from attaining equality. Following structured social inequality in the United States, institutions have consistently denied the minority groups through discrimination in education, employment, health care and medicine, and politics. Some ways that this has been done is the use of Jim Crow Laws. These laws created inequality in the educational institution by conducting the black schools and whited schools separately; whites used different textbooks than blacks and they could not be interchanged, and promoting equality for the races was considered a misdemeanor offense resulting in fines or prison. Because of these institutions, we see that there is an American Ethnic Hierarchy. This is divided into a three tier system: first ...