Native American Tribe

In the 1400’s the Native American people numbered a vast many different tribes such as the Cherokee and the Iroquois. These tribes held similar beliefs such as a high respect for nature but led different day to day lives depending on their location across the early primitive industrialized United States. The Native American people can be considered different than other ethnic groups living in America today because they were born to this continent. Native Americans were the original settlers of the Americas. They did not immigrate here from another place seeking a better quality of life, like many other immigrants did. In the melting pot that is America today many different ethnic groups like the Jewish American or Chinese American people

came here fleeing war, political restriction, or just a better opportunities, but the Native Americans were native or indigenous to North America as far back as the 30,000 years before first contact. “the question of origin has also been deeply explored in Native American folklore. Based on these stories and beliefs that have been passed down from generation to generation, many Native Americans assert that their ancestors have always lived in the Americas.” (Lee, 2018).

Many tribes living in the Southeast regions of early America, like the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and the Creek grew crops as a source for life. They formed family units and settled in areas like towns relying on neighboring villages for trade. In each township men tended to hunt fish or deer, and the women tended to stay close to camp with young children. Other Native American tribes were more nomadic and hunted buffalo. These tribes migrated with their food sources; and is what most people think of when they perceive Native Americans, located on the plains of Midwest America living in teepees. No matter what tribe or location an ethnic group was from; religion and nature played a big roll in day to day life. A bond between nature and religion was created for many early Native American. This kind of respect for nature is seen in Art, song, and costumes and is something many continue to follow to this day. In Northeastern area, tribes like the Iroquois had complex political or governing system with respect to nature uniting many different tribes under a few leaders like our political

system. Due to language barriers many Native American systems of government, religion, or country or were often misunderstood during early interaction and thought of as simple.The life of a Native Americans in the early americas is vastly different then it was after first contact with other ethnic groups. “Although a number of European nations explored the “New World” in the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, American Indian cultures were affected most by the French, Spanish, and English. Of these, the fledgling American nation based its practices on established English policies” (Scupin, p113) In 1775 after the English colonies won their independence from their native land of England and were aloud to govern themselves little was known about or what to do with the Native American population. Jefferson was the president at the time and wanted to help the Native American tribes, by teaching them to assimilate to the English ways of doing things. The newly formed United States enacted new policies out of fear to control and assimilate the Native American population in all aspects of life from rules of engagement to an approved religion. A government agency though the second continental congress was developed to deal with the indigenous population on matter of trade, land, assimilation, and welfare. One power of this group was a “policy prohibiting Indians in Indian Country from selling land without congressional consent.” (p113) In other words this meant that from the very beginning Indian land that they once used was being taken away by newcomers. “In reality, "helping" Native Americans by encouraging them to adopt an agricultural lifestyle had the added benefit of furthering white interests. Since farming required less land than hunting, Native Americans could sell unused tribal lands to the U.S. government. In addition, the establishment of alliances and treaties with such tribes as the Cherokee and the Shawnee, who heeded calls to assimilation.” (2018)