Analysis Of Indian Land

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Indian Land, Not American

Imagine if every few years or so, your family and neighbors are forced out of their homes, and have no other option but to relocate themselves in order to maintain their freedoms. This is what life would have been like for Native Americans living in America during the 19th century. White American settlers unjustly ripped land away from Indians in a greedy struggle for additional land and wealth. When the Natives first encountered the white men, they usually did nothing but extend an olive branch of peace and welcome to the Colonists. Why then, would the colonists be so cruel as to take land away from a friendly people, who had shown them nothing but kindness? Some proponents of the Native American’s removal were …show more content…

Many greedy Americans wanted to take land that was not theirs in order to gain from the loss of others. The American mentality towards Indian removal might be well summarized in the words of Leonard Nimoy who played the character Spock on Star Trek, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. Although this quote has much truth to it in many situations, when it comes to land ownership, such an idea does not apply. For example, imagine there is a city with 50 people that all have property, but one of them has a larger amount of land than the rest. Would it be right for the forty nine people to seize the property of the land owner that owned more property for no other reason than personal gain? If such an outrageous principle was applied in American society, there would be no basis for freedoms we hold today such as private property rights. Ever since Americans developed an insatiable desire for more land, they repeatedly convinced the Indians to cede land through treaties, and sometimes even through bribes. By making treaties with the Indians, in order to obtain more land, Americans validated the property rights of the Indians over the North American Land. Having been inhabitants on American soil for far longer than the Americans, Natives had the rights to the North American land, passing down such rights through inheritance from generation to generation. Many Indians, such as the Cherokee also occupied the land. Some Americans had the misconception that Natives were merely wanderers who never cultivated the land, and therefore had no rights of ownership. On the contrary, Cherokee Indians often did occupy and improve their lands by planting crops, and constructing tribal villages. Even when Indians did not cultivate land, that did not alienate them from land ownership. For example, if if a person has a

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