Repression of the Native American Society

Intro: Ever since the first white settlers arrived at America in 1492, the Native American population has been seen as a minority. People who weren’t as good as the new “white” settlers and unfit to live the new found land of America. As America expanded westward with the Louisiana Purchase and war with Mexico that ceded the south west to the U.S. as a result of the treaty of the 1803 Guadaplupe-Hildago Treaty, white settlers continued to move westward. They found rich fertile land, but there was a problem. The land they so desperately wanted was already occupied by Native Americans. The stage was set of inevitable conflict as a full out war between the U.S. government and natives then ensued. Some tribes fought back, like the Sauk, Fox, and Cherokee. The Sauk and Fox rebelled by force. The Cherokee took a different approach. They decided the assimilate, to try to be like the dominant white culture. The Cherokee adopted a constitution based upon the American Model. Furthermore, they created a newspaper printed in with their native language and english. They owned plantations and slaves. But all of their efforts were not enough. President Andrew Jackson denied their attempts of assimilation and gave them an ultimatum. They would have to leave the lands of their ancestors for new land in Oklahoma or they would forcibly be removed from their homeland in Georgia due to a new government, led by President Andrew Jackson. All around the Cherokee similar tribes were subjected to the same treatment. Most had already left by the time 1830 rolled around. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. Under this law, the federal government “provided funds to negotiate treaties that would force the Native Americans to move west.” (The Americ...

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...ux was forty-six years.” (Zinn, 534) Unresolved issues from from as far back as the 1600’s were finally being addressed.

Ts4 (NOTE: How do we cite an interview?) American cant’ change their history, but we now can use Native American culture as a example of how we can improve our own. We should take a closer look at the Native American values of family, community, economy, local agriculture, and green energy. In Native American cultures, government is like a circle. Every man, woman and child has a place and is important. In our government today, we are like a pyramid. Their are only few on top who control many, many people on the bottom. The native americans are not perfect but we can use the natives culture to respond to our own growing issues of advanced capitalism, martialism and over consumption. (interveiw quote but fon’e know how to cite....)