“They (Native Americans) were America's first settlers, and the world they inhabited was anything but new.” (CITE) Europeans were not the defining factor of America, other civilizations lived there before their arrival. However Europeans did change the way of life in the Americas, in a negative way. In “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford the viewpoint that Europeans significantly changed the Americas is seen, with accounts from Bradford that stated the uncivilized nature of the Indians and how the Natives were savages towards the migrants. Opposing views are shown in “Coming of Age in the Dawnland” by Charles C. Mann, where it is stated that Natives had large impressive civilizations. These two different excepts discuss how Europeans …show more content…
might have created unrest in the Americas and how stepped into greatly developed ones. Europeans assumed the level of Indian development and imposed unfair laws on the already developed society. Upon European arrival settlers were quick to make assumptions despite the already impressive civilizations that were in existence. William Bradford’s point of view is that these natives, even though it was their territory, were savages and skulking about. ”So they made them a barricade as usually they did every night, with logs, stakes and thick pine boughs, the height of a man, leaving it open to leeward, partly to shelter them from the cold and wind (making fire in the middle and lying round about it) and partly to defend them from any sudden assaults of the savages” (Bradford 213-217). Bradford, only having been in this new place for a relatively short time compared to the Indians, assumes that the Indians are all savages. This assumption is unfair, due to Bradford having little knowledge on the Native’s society. In “Coming of Age in the Dawnland” Mann shows the high level sophisticated society by describing one Indian settlement in particular, the Hopewell Indians. “Around two thousand, Hopewell jumped into prominence from its bases in the Midwest, establishing a trade network that covered most of North America. The Hopewell culture introduced monumental earthworks and, possibly, agriculture to the rest of the cold North” (Mann Lines 62 -65). Mann shows the advanced nature of these Natives stating that they set up a large trade network and created monumental burial mounds. Therefore Bradford’s, similar to other settlers, assumption that the Natives were uncultured and “savages” would be at the very least unfair. Europeans as well as assuming that the Indians were underdeveloped, also imposed unfair treaties on the already developed government of Indians.
For example Bradford tells of an agreement with the Indians that tells the Natives to leave their weapons behind and be peaceful. “That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them” (Bradford 384-385). This treaty fails to mention the Europeans leaving their guns behind when they are meeting with the Indians, suggesting that the settlers still had to be worried about the Indians and their “savage” disposition. Therefore this treaty is unfair to the Natives, due to them having no means of defending themselves if the settlers were to attack within their meeting. The Europeans cast the Indians into these agreements where the Europeans benefited greatly and the Indians gained little. The Indians however were no stranger to treaties, due to their highly developed governments in many Native civilizations. “Patuxet, like its neighboring settlements, was governed by a sachem, who upheld the law, negotiated treaties, controlled foreign contacts, collected tribute, declared wat, provided for widows and orphans and allocated farmland when there were disputes over it” (Mann Lines 204-207). The Indians already had this high functioning government. They did not need to have treaties where they were treated unfairly and with rights stripped away from them, as they were already an impressive society with a fully functioning government. For that reason these treaties made to favor the Europeans were
unfair. Settlers from Europe were quick to assume, giving the natives unfair treatment, despite the impressive cultures that were already around beforehand. Settlers called the unfamiliar Natives “savages” even though they had very grand societies set up, and set up an unfair treaty partly based on this assumption. The Natives were the first ones to settle America and created their own world, without the Europeans.
The other author to provide readers with a different historical perspective is Daniel Richter. Richter’s book Facing East from Indian Country allows readers to see the story of coming to America from the Native American perspective. An interesting point that Richter makes in his book is “Perhaps the strangest lesson of all was that in the new nation whites were the ones entitled to be called “Americans” Indians bizarrely became something else” . In early America when the first Europeans arrived to America they mistakenly referred to the natives as “Indians”. Even people today use the term “Indian” when referring to the Native
America had a newfound fervor for land already occupied by the Indians. Although the Treaty of Paris ended the war, in the west, war continued. In the treaty the British gave up all claims to the lands, but declared the Indians still owned their lands. America thought the Indians had no real claims to the land so they made treaties to legitimize American expansion.
The terms of the Treaty included the acknowledgement of Indian tribes’ asking for forgiveness and the English dominating Indian trade and commerce. There were other terms that included the English being able to use Indian land for recreational use and any “remedy or redress” (Calloway 174) being brought to justice based on English laws. Overall, the terms and language used in the treaty is used to place blame of past hostilities on the Indians. The English completely twisted the language in the treaty to favor the English and shows the Indian people as rebellious savages that were begging for forgiveness for King George and the English.
...style they only used what they needed to for survival. The different lifestyles determined the different environmental uses of the land. Although, culture however, encouraged trade. The Europeans and Indians made alliances from the trade market, which changed the Indian lifestyle. The Indians now had prices for objects that never had a price before. The market trade would become damaging to the Indians way of life, which the Indians where unaware of. When the Europeans came to New England they didn’t just change the environment of the land, plants and animals, but also changed the lifestyle of the Indians already living there. Europeans turned New England into a form of global capitalist economy, changing New England forever.
Thomas Morton wrote about the Native Americans and their way of life while the colonist slowly populated the Americas. Native American’s living styles, religious views, and the relations the Indians had with the colonist are a few of the things that came across when you heard about the Indians during the time the colonist inhabited the Americas.
The essay starts with the “Columbian Encounter between the cultures of two old worlds “ (98). These two old worlds were America and Europe. This discovery states that Native Americans contributed to the development and evolution of America’s history and culture. It gives the fact that indians only acted against europeans to defend their food, territory, and themselves.
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
Considering historical evidence, the notion: Native –Americans was not the first inhabitant of America is a complete false. For centuries, history kept accurate and vivid accounts of the first set of people who domiciled the western hemisphere. Judging by those records, below are the first set of Native-American people who inhabited America before the arrival of another human race; the Iroquois: The Iroquois of Native Americans was one of the tribes that lived in America before other people came. Based on historical evidence, it is believed that the Native Americans came from Asia way back during the Ice Age through a land bridge of the Bering Strait. When the Europeans first set foot in America, there were about 10 million Native Americans
America was expanding at such a rapid pace that those who were in America before us had no time to anticipate what was happening. This change in lifestyle affected not only Americans, but everyone who lived in the land. Changing traditions, the get rich quick idea and other things were the leading causes of westward expansion. But whatever happened to those who were caught in the middle, those who were here before us? One of those many who roamed the land before Americans decided that they owned it were the Native Americans.
Despite the fact that these agreements were a clear violation of existing British law, they were used later to justify the American takeover of the region. The Shawnee also claimed these lands but, of course, were never consulted. With the Iroquois selling the Shawnee lands north of the Ohio, and the Cherokee selling the Shawnee lands south, where could they go? Not surprisingly, the Shawnee stayed and fought the Americans for 40 years. Both the Cherokee and Iroquois were fully aware of the problem they were creating. After he had signed, a Cherokee chief reputedly took Daniel Boone aside to say, "We have sold you much fine land, but I am afraid you will have trouble if you try to live there."
The Native Americans who occupied America before any white settlers ever reached the shores “covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell paved floor” (1). These Native people were one with nature and the Great Spirit was all around them. They were accustom to their way of life and lived peacefully. All they wish was to live on their land and continue the traditions of their people. When the white settler came upon their land the values of the Native people were challenged, for the white settlers had nothing in common and believe that it was their duty to assimilate the Native Americans to the white way of life.
Towards the development of the United States of America there has always been a question of the placement of the Native Americans in society. Throughout time, the Natives have been treated differently like an individual nation granted free by the U.S. as equal U.S. citizens, yet not treated as equal. In 1783 when the U.S. gained their independence from Great Britain not only did they gain land from the Appalachian Mountains but conflict over the Indian policy and what their choice was to do with them and their land was in effect. All the way from the first presidents of the U.S. to later in the late 19th century the treatment of the Natives has always been changing. The Native Americans have always been treated like different beings, or savages, and have always been tricked to signing false treaties accompanying the loss of their homes and even death happened amongst tribes. In the period of the late 19th century, The U.S. government was becoming more and more unbeatable making the Natives move by force and sign false treaties. This did not account for the seizing of land the government imposed at any given time (Boxer 2009).
The prevailing opinion is that European explorers came to the America’s to peacefully colonize and gradually begin mutually beneficial relationships with the native people. However, Howard Zinn proves that the majority of explorers could not coexist with the native tribes, as the conquerors slowly stole their land, and did not return the initial hospitality most of the natives had showed to them. Therefore, the European colonizers blatantly ignored the rights of the Native Americans and acted with violence towards them. In order to conquer the natives, the colonizers “set fire to the wigwams of the village” and “ [destroyed] their crops” (Zinn).
The First "Europeans" reached the Western Hemisphere in the late 15th century. Upon arrival they encountered a rich and diverse culture that had already been inhabited for thousands of years. The Europeans were completely unprepared for the people they stumbled upon. They couldn't understand cultures that were so different and exotic from their own. The discovery of the existence of anything beyond their previous experience could threaten the stability of their entire religious and social structure. Seeing the Indians as savages they made them over in their own image as quickly as possible. In doing so they overlooked the roots that attached the Indians to their fascinating past. The importance of this past is often overlooked. Most text or history books begin the story of the Americas from the first European settlement and disregard the 30,000 years of separate, preceding cultural development (Deetz 7).
The Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied all of the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who speaked hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large built terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper. seashells and soapstone.To this day, movies and television continue the stereotype of Indians wearing feathered headdresses killing innocent white settlers. As they encountered the Europeans, automatically their material world was changed. The American Indians were amazed by the physical looks of the white settlers, their way of dressing and also by their language. The first Indian-White encounter was very peaceful and trade was their principal interaction. Tension and disputes were sometimes resolved by force but more often by negotiation or treaties. On the other hand, the Natives were described as strong and very innocent creatures awaiting for the first opportunity to be christianized. The Indians were called the “Noble Savages” by the settlers because they were cooperative people but sometimes, after having a few conflicts with them, they seem to behaved like animals. We should apprehend that the encounter with the settlers really amazed the natives, they were only used to interact with people from their own race and surroundings and all of this was like a new discovery for them as well as for the white immigrants. The relations between the English and the Virginian Indians was somewhat strong in a few ways. They were having marriages among them. For example, when Pocahontas married John Rolfe, many said it has a political implication to unite more settlers with the Indians to have a better relation between both groups. As for the Indians, their attitude was always friendly and full of curiosity when they saw the strange and light-skinned creatures from beyond the ocean. The colonists only survived with the help of the Indians when they first settler in Jamestown and Plymouth. In this areas, the Indians showed the colonists how to cultivate crops and gather seafood.The Indians changed their attitude from welcome to hostility when the strangers increased and encroached more and more on hunting and planting in the Natives’ grounds.