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2 perspectives during the American Indian removal act
2 perspectives during the American Indian removal act
The effects of the Indian removal act
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Anybody who has read “The Captain’s Dog” By Roland Smith or “Undaunted Courage” By Stephen E. Ambrose knows about the hardships that the men had gone through during the expedition or the many different encounters with the Indian tribes along the way, but not everybody has looked at what should and shouldn’t be admired about the Americans. U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the leaders of the expedition, were set out to explore western territory most of which however was purchased by President Thomas Jefferson which is also known as the Louisiana Purchase and thought that is was their destiny to expand west.
The Lewis and Clark expedition could be admired in many ways, such as expanding their territory, “Our mission… is to
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One of the things that was bad for America was that while the Americans had made friends with some Indian tribes, they were not able to befriend all of them, “The first meeting between the Sioux and the Americans had gone badly. Certainly Lewis and Clark had failed to make the favorable impression on the Sioux that Jefferson had ordered them to do” UC (PG 171). The Americans making enemies with some Indian tribes had later led to the Indian Removal Act. During the expedition many people had died during this expedition on both the American and Indian sides. While the Americans tried to represent themselves with gifts, In “Captain's Dog” when they first met the Indians Lewis explains the first step:“When we first arrived they offered us gifts but after that it was all business” Captain's Dog( PG 59), they weren’t always doing so well when it came to showing friendship. Showing weaponry was a sign of hostility taken by the Indians and the Americans also tried to force them to follow Thomas Jefferson by threatening them, “Lewis told the Otos that they must avoid the council of bad men “lest by one false step you should bring upon your nation the displeasure of your great father, who could consume you as the fire consumes the grass of the plains.” The Great Father, “if you displease him,” would stop all traders from coming up the river” (page 157
Lewis and Clark were very successful people however their greatest success was only achievable with the help of Native Americans. April 1803 President Thomas Jefferson purchased uncharted territory from france. Jefferson always had liked the idea of western expansion so when he got the chance he took it. Jefferson pushed for approval to head an exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, and in 1803 it was approved. Jefferson had named Meriwether Lewis the leader and William Clark as his associate it wouldn't be until their first winter during the exploration that sacajawea would come into the picture . However Jefferson did not announce publicly that the U.S. had purchased eight hundred and sixty eight thousand square miles of land for fifteen million dollars until July .Lewis and Clark’s journey began near St.Louis, Missouri May 1804. Most days of the exploration had harsh conditions or at least one challenging obstacle to get around.For example during the exploration the hundred and forty six days spent in North Dakota, they experienced harsh temperatures below zero. This vast amount of uncharted land would become thirteen of the the states we know today. This expedition would discover a hundred and twenty two new animals, and a hundred and seventy eight plants, the expedition took eight hundred and sixty three days over a length of seven thousand six hundred and eighty nine miles, and at the cost of thirty eight thousand seven hundred and seventy two dollars and twenty five cents. Lewis and Clark’s Expedition would not have been as successful as it was without the help of George Drouillard, Sacajawea, and the Native American tribes they encountered. These Native Americans helped provide shelter, food, knowledge, and artifacts ...
Lewis and Clark weren’t very kind towards all the Native American’s he met. Lewis and Clark stole, killed, and addressed Indians as “children” to tribes. Lewis and Clark also did some nice things such as take a child in and hand out medicine. The good doesn’t outweigh the bad things they’ve done. Lewis and Clark weren’t very kind or respectful people to the Native
In Jamestown, the settlers had to deal with the Powhatan Indians. The relationships with them were unstable. John Smith, whom was the leader of Jamestown, was captured by these Indians while he was on a little trip with some of his men. As he left two of his men, he came back to find them dead and himself surrounded by two hundred members of the tribe, finding himself being captured. “Six or seven weeks those barbarians kept him prisoner…” 87). After this event, the relationship only grew worse and there was constant fighting between the settlers and Indians. The Indians practiced many methods in capturing settlers such as “scalping” and other dreadful techniques. The settlers did many negative practices also which is the reason they fought so many wars and battles against each other. Later on, the Indians killed the English for their weapons that were rare to them. In contrast to the Plymouth colony, these settlers dealt with the Pequot Indians and the relations were much more peaceful for a certain time frame. At one point, one Indian was brave enough to approach them and spoke to them (in broken English). He taught them the ways of the land, and developed a peace with the man. The settlers from the Plymouth colony learned many ways to grow food from these Indians. “He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities, and was also their
This transaction would come to be known as the Louisiana Purchase and nearly doubled the size of the new nation. While George Washington and John Adams made efforts at westward expansion, Thomas Jefferson secured the Louisiana Purchase and initiated the Lewis and Clark expedition. According to Wulf, “maybe Lewis would find the huge mastodon roaming across the plains; discover profitable crops, flowers in exotic shapes and sizes, and trees that would soar even higher than those already encountered. Jefferson planned this expedition in the name of science, but it would also be the beginning of a distinctly American glorification of the wilderness” (Wulf, 157). The Lewis and Clark expedition and the Louisiana Purchase had such a significant impact on America’s identity.
On December 29, 1890, the army decided to take away all of the Sioux weapons because they weren’t sure if they could trust those indians. Some people think a deaf man did this, but one man shot his gun, while the tribe was surrendering. Studies think that he didn’t understand the Chiefs surrender. The army then opened fire at the Sioux. There was over 300 indians that died, and one of them was their chief named Bigfoot. This is an example of how we didn’t treat Native Americans fairly, because if it was a deaf man then we probably should of talked it out before we killed all those innocent
Jefferson was especially concerned that Lewis and Clark establish good connections with the Indians and carry out linguistic and ethnological studies. Consequently, they held several meetings with the Indian tribes they met on their journey. The Americans wanted to open the door to diplomatic relations and gain access to trading rights with the Indians too. They were instructed to notify the Indians of the new sovereignty of the United States under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase. In making these contacts, they hoped to shift trade away from the Spanish, French, English, and Russian competitors and toward American interests.
Each European country treated the Native Americans distinctively and likewise the diverse Native Americans tribes reacted differently. The vast majority of the tribes didn’t wish to overtake the Europeans, but to rather just maintain their status quo. Moreover, Axtell mentions that during the inaugural stages of the encounter, the relationship between the two parties was rather peaceful since the Europeans were outnumbered by the natives. Axtell depicts that unlike the Europeans, the Native Americans treated the strangers equally or superior to themselves. The Indians would welcome the Europeans into their towns and shower them with gifts and blessings. The relationship between the two factions was going serene until the cultural differences became a burden on both
The process of assimilation, as it regards to the Native Americans, into European American society took a dreaded and long nearly 300 years. Initially, when the European’s came to the hopeful and promising land of the “New World”, they had no desire or reason anything but minimal contact with the Indians. However, starting in the 1700s the European colonists population skyrocketed. The need for more resources became evident and the colonists knew they could attain these necessities by creating a relationship of mutual benefit with the Native tribes. The Indians, at first skeptical, however became growingly open to the colonists and the relationship they were looking to attain. Indian furs were traded for colonial goods and military alliances were formed.
Talking Back to Civilization , edited by Frederick E. Hoxie, is a compilation of excerpts from speeches, articles, and texts written by various American Indian authors and scholars from the 1890s to the 1920s. As a whole, the pieces provide a rough testimony of the American Indian during a period when conflict over land and resources, cultural stereotypes, and national policies caused tensions between Native American Indians and Euro-American reformers. This paper will attempt to sum up the plight of the American Indian during this period in American history.
The Louisiana Purchase was the most influential and important land purchases in American history. The acquired land in this historical purchase proved to far outweigh what most Americans at the time could imagine. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States, and lead to many great discoveries and societal benefits. Some of the major and most prominent ways that the Louisiana Purchase influenced the evolution of American were the expeditions of Louis and Clark on the newly acquired westward territory, increase in the countries resources, which in turn increased in trade and resulted in a richer, more economically stable country, and it also played a very pivotal role in the relationship with African Americans, which still is remembered and prevalent in today's society.
American history is accompanied by a long list of explorers who first discovered and who explored the massive continent. All of the explorers had an impact on the development of America. The Lewis and Clark expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, stands prominently at the top part of this list. The Lewis and Clark Expedition has had a significant political, social, and economic effect on America. They were the first to map out the west and set off westward expansion. Without the success of the expedition growth of America would have taken five times as long, as predicted by Thomas Jefferson.
When the shape of America first started to grow from just land to the 13 colonies to the westward expansion of our country in less than a century, it sure feels like hopes and dreams came true. Though it might have seemed like an easier task, it took luck, labor, and intense warfare. The long process of American territorial expansion was justified by a mid-century ideology known as Manifest Destiny (pg 1). The one people we seem to forget about when we discuss the growing settlement of our country are the Native Americans. They had inhabited the country long before Columbus had discovered America, and still play an important part in today’s society. Manifest Destiny justified the displacement and domestication of Native Americans all while
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
The first point he made was how the Westward expansion affected the Plains Indians. The Plains Indian tribes consisted mostly of the Kiowa, Kiowa Apaches, Comanche, Sioux, and Cheyenne. As the white settlers made their way across the country taking land, the Indians pushed back by raiding settlements and killing the occasional settler. More and more white settlers were pouring into the West in search of gold and silver. As the settlers came into the territories, large herds of buffalo were killed, much of the time just for the sport of it. This had an adverse affect on the Indians since they relied on buffalo not only for food, but also for hides and blankets as well as to make teepees. Another factor was the pony herds; the U.S. Army frequently seized herds and a herd of upwards of one thousand was killed just so the Indians would not be able to use them. The soldiers that were on patrol in the West kept pushing the Indians, driving them away from their hunting and fishing grounds.
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.