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
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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
The land of the Native Indians had been encroached upon by American settlers. By the
The generalization that, “The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s was more a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790s than a change in that policy,” is valid. Ever since the American people arrived at the New World they have continually driven the Native Americans out of their native lands. Many people wanted to contribute to this removal of the Cherokees and their society. Knox proposed a “civilization” of the Indians. President Monroe continued Knox’s plan by developing ways to rid of the Indians, claiming it would be beneficial to all. Andrew Jackson ultimately fulfilled the plan. First of all, the map [Document A] indicates the relationship between time, land, and policies, which affected the Indians. The Indian Tribes have been forced to give up their land as early as the 1720s. Between the years of 1721 and 1785, the Colonial and Confederation treaties forced the Indians to give up huge portions of their land. During Washington's, Monroe's, and Jefferson's administration, more and more Indian land was being commandeered by the colonists. The Washington administration signed the Treaty of Holston and other supplements between the time periods of 1791 until 1798 that made the Native Americans give up more of their homeland land. The administrations during the 1790's to the 1830's had gradually acquired more and more land from the Cherokee Indians. Jackson followed that precedent by the acquisition of more Cherokee lands. In later years, those speaking on behalf of the United States government believed that teaching the Indians how to live a more civilized life would only benefit them. Rather than only thinking of benefiting the Indians, we were also trying to benefit ourselves. We were looking to acquire the Indians’ land. In a letter to George Washington, Knox says we should first is to destroy the Indians with an army, and the second is to make peace with them. The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1793 began to put Knox’s plan into effect. The federal government’s promise of supplying the Indians with animals, agricultural tool...
Unfortunately, this great relationship that was built between the natives and the colonists of mutual respect and gain was coming to a screeching halt. In the start of the 1830s, the United States government began to realize it’s newfound strength and stability. It was decided that the nation had new and growing needs and aspirations, one of these being the idea of “Manifest Destiny”. Its continuous growth in population began to require much more resources and ultimately, land. The government started off as simply bargaining and persuading the Indian tribes to push west from their homeland. The Indians began to disagree and peacefully object and fight back. The United States government then felt they had no other option but to use force. In Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson on May 18, 1830. This ultimately resulted in the relocation of the Eastern tribes out west, even as far as to the edge of the Great Plains. A copy of this act is laid out for you in the book, Th...
As Americans sought to expand their settlements into Cherokee land, the Cherokee faced three choices: assimilate, leave their native land, or defend their sovereignty. The Cherokee Indians had lived on these lands of thousands of years before the colonist claimed it for the United States. Five million acres of land in Georgia was trying to be peaceably obtained from the Indians. The Cherokee Indians having already given portions of their lands in numerous Georgia treaties wanted to hold onto what little land they had left. When the Americans continued to occupy land that they believed they deserved the Cherokee Indians were left with no alternative but to try to defend their sovereignty.
First of all, they would not agree with the ownership of land section, as Native Americans believed that land could not belong to individuals in the first place. The African Americans in the Declaration of Wrongs and Rights also say “as natives of American soil” when in reality, the true natives of the land were the Native Americans. Also, the document continues to talk about how African Americans claim the right to remain in said lands. Native Americans were moved from their native lands several times. The Homestead Act in 1862 could be seen as an example, new settlers were encouraged to take “free soil” but at the same time move over Native American settlers. Another example of this can be seen with the Osage who already lived on a reserve, they had already been removed and deported. Railroad companies wanted to use their land and were willing to pay for it. Then another railroad company saw the same opportunity and tried to convince them to move. The Osage refused to move and then the government intervened with the 1870’s removal law, which moved the Osage and sold their land for 1.25 dollars an acre. Eventually the situation got better for the Osage since there was oil in their new lands. Another example of this would be the concentration attempts of the Lakota. It nevertheless made sense to the authors since African
With hope that they could even out an agreement with the Government during the progressive era Indian continued to practice their religious beliefs and peacefully protest while waiting for their propositions to be respected. During Roosevelt’s presidency, a tribe leader who went by as No Shirt traveled to the capital to confront them about the mistreatment government had been doing to his people. Roosevelt refused to see him but instead wrote a letter implying his philosophical theory on the approach the natives should take “if the red people would prosper, they must follow the mode of life which has made the white people so strong, and that is only right that the white people should show the red people what to do and how to live right”.1 Roosevelt continued to dismiss his policies with the Indians and encouraged them to just conform into the white’s life style. The destruction of their acres of land kept being taken over by the whites, which also meant the destruction of their cultural backgrounds. Natives attempted to strain from the white’s ideology of living, they continued to attempt with the idea of making acts with the government to protect their land however they never seemed successfully. As their land later became white’s new territory, Indians were “forced to accept an ‘agreement’” by complying to change their approach on life style.2 Oklahoma was one of last places Natives had still identity of their own, it wasn’t shortly after that they were taken over and “broken by whites”, the union at the time didn’t see the destruction of Indian tribes as a “product of broken promises but as a triumph for American civilization”.3 The anger and disrespect that Native tribes felt has yet been forgotten, white supremacy was growing during the time of their invasion and the governments corruption only aid their ego doing absolutely nothing for the Indians.
To own land, that is the privilege of whom? To Andrew Jackson the Cherokees current homesteads where on his country’s land. For whatever reason at that time some people living in America weren’t treated as good as there white counterparts. Meanwhile the Cherokees principal chief John Ross felt like that land belonged to his people. If you want to get technical he was speaking on the behalf of a tribe that made up a mere one-eighth of his ancestry. Not exactly a full blooded leader. He also was one of the main reason the “trail of tears” was as hostile and brutal as it was on his people. Its ironic, even as hard as Jackson pushed and deceived the Cherokee, the Cherokee people in turn pushed back, but past the point of being rational.
To take these lands, American settlers physically invaded the lands to claim as their own, however, they also petitioned the Federal Government to remove the Indians from their native lands. By doing this, they gained the support of the government’s resources and influence, especially President Jackson’s. Using both political and military attacks, the settlers quickly gained the upper hand over the Indians.
The American Indians were promised change with the American Indian policy, but as time went on no change was seen. “Indian reform” was easy to promise, but it was not an easy promise to keep as many white people were threatened by Indians being given these rights. The Indian people wanted freedom and it was not being given to them. Arthur C. Parker even went as far as to indict the government for its actions. He brought the charges of: robbing a race of men of their intellectual life, of social organization, of native freedom, of economic independence, of moral standards and racial ideals, of his good name, and of definite civic status (Hoxie 97). These are essentially what the American peoples did to the natives, their whole lives and way of life was taken away,
Many tribes had reigning governments and tribal counsels as a way of life. With westward expansion brought changes. Many Americans were killing their livestock, the food they ate, and Americans were settling more and more on the Indian lands. In time, Indians began to fight back and take what had been theirs. Once this happened, the Americans decided to make the Indians like Americans, so we took their land and tried to make them Americans.
Maintaining large amounts of land has always been a goal for American government. During the 1830’s, vast amounts of Native Americans were being forcibly removed from their land so that the Americans could claim it as their own. With little defense compared to the Americans’ superior fire power, the Native Americans basically had no choice on whether or not they wanted to move west from their lands. One specific group of Native Americans that was unjustly removed from their lands was the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokee clashed with American government and did not willfully move out of their homelands in the southeastern parts of the United States. Although the Americans had substantial reasons why they wanted the Cherokee’s territory, they had no right to kick the Indians out of their homeland.
The United States Government was founded on the basis that it would protect the rights and liberties of every American citizen. The Equal Protection Clause, a part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provides that “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. Yet for hundreds of years, the US government and society have distressed the Native American people through broken treaties, removal policies, and attempts of assimilation. From the Trail of Tears in the 1830s to the Termination Policy in 1953, the continued oppression of American Indian communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension and gave the native peoples a reason to fight back. In 1968, Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks, and Russell Means founded the American Indian Movement to address issues concerning the Native American community and tackle the situation and position of Native Americans in society. Over the next few decades, the movement led to a series of radical protests, which were designed to raise awareness to the American Indians’ issues and to pressure the federal government to act on their behalf. After all of the unfair and unjust policies enacted by the U.S. government and society, all of the American Indian Movement’s actions can be justified as legitimate reactions to the United States’ democratic society that had promised to respect and protect their people and had failed to do so.
The once great tribes of Native Americans are now all gone from the land in which their forefathers were born in. This act of ethnic-cleansing was called the Indian Removal Act. This law authorized the removal of Native Americans to move to the west of the Mississippi River in exchange for land. Although this act lead to the growth of America, the Native Americans shouldn’t have had to relocate. The Native Americans shouldn’t have relocated because they were becoming more civilized, because they were on the land first, and they were not safely transported as the government promised.
From the beginning of the 20th Century, there were nearly 250,000 Native Americans in the United States who accounted for approximately 0.3 percent of the population. This population was mostly residing in reservations where they executed a restricted extent of self-government. Native Americans have experienced numerous challenges related to land use and inconsistent public policies. Actually, during the 19th Century, Native Americans were dispossessed of a huge section of their land through forced removal westwards, through a series of treaties that were largely dishonored, and through military defeat by the United States in its expansion of control over the American West (Boxer par,1). Moreover, Native Americans have experienced
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...