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Position of native americans in the gilded age
Position of native americans in the gilded age
Impact of the environment on native americans
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“The settler colonial logic of elimination in its crudest form, a violent rejection of all things Indian, was transformed into a paternalistic mode of governmentality which, though still sanctioned by state violence, came to focus on assimilation rather than rejection.” –Patrick Wolfe, After the Frontier: Separation and Absorption in US Indian Policy, 13 Wolfe’s statement illustrates how the US government put more emphasis on legalized absorption of Indians into the White society rather than using forceful and violent methods to acquire the Natives’ land. After the colonization of the westward land and the end of the Frontier era, the US government’s method of assimilation of the Indians started revolving around allotment and blood quanta. With no place to further push the Natives away, the established Bureau of Indian Affairs and the government took action to eliminate the Natives culturally and spiritually instead of physically.
The explorers of the Americas were both fascinated and disgusted by the Native American way of living. The Indians had no structured set of rules or government and did not even have a ruler. Their society was free from social classes based on land ownership, which was common in the Old World. A common nickname for the Indians was the “noble savage,” which meant “the man of liberty living in the natural state” (Weatherford, 1988, p. 124). Although the word “chief” implies authority, each Indian was equal to one another and was spiritually tied to the land they lived upon.
Facing East from Indian Country by Daniel Richter is--without question--one of the most effective studies of Native American history. Richter’s previous book, The Ordeal of the Longhouse, which viewed the European invasion of northeastern America from the perspective of the Iroquois peoples of modern New York a similar awareness of early American history. Facing East challenges the instilled perspective of westward expansion from the early sixteenth century well into the nineteenth. By viewing the early European-Indian encounter through the eyes of the Native Americans, this revolutionary examination intends to “turn familiar tales inside out, to show how old documents might be read in fresh ways...and to outline stories of North America”
As stated in the introduction, Ablavsky’s purpose is to demonstrate how those two narratives “are not only complementary but mutually explanatory.” In this, he is largely successful. By piecing together histories from all groups that inhabited the Northwest and Southwest territories, indigenous groups, the Anglo-American settlers, and the French inhabitants, Ablavsky is able to demonstrate that each of these groups called upon the federal government time and time again to settle disputes within and among the groups, provide financial compensation for the perceived wrongs they suffered at the hands of each other, and for protection. In doing so, each group was in effect laying the groundwork for the federal government to have an ever-increasing presence in its territories. An effective method used by Ablavsky to illustrate his argument was to divide Federal Ground into two primary sections: “Property” and “Violence.”
Beecher points out that, “This continent was once possessed only by the Indians, and earliest accounts represent them as a race numerous, warlike, and powerful. When our forefathers sought refuge from oppression on these shores, this people supplied their necessities, and ministered to their comfort.” Beecher addresses a key point that the land where she and other Whites live was originally and rightfully belonging to the Indians. Yet, the Indians were kind enough to offer assistance to the Whites as they sought refuge on these lands. Even though whites received so much assistance form Indians they insisted for more and thus took more and more land.
So by removing the Indians they get to take the Indian's land and make theirs which gave Americans more
Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.
The Americans believed that it was their right that was given to them by God to colonize the land with their people. They were trying to create a new country to live on to escape British rule. At this time, they believed that the land was available for them to
“Owning land was extremely important to the European settlers … meant that a person had great wealth and political power”(VOA). On the other side, the native population, “believed that no one could own land … that anyone could use it … [and that if one] wanted to live on a piece of land and grow crops [one] could do so”(VOA). At the beginning when there were not that many colonizers the Native tribes were helping these Europeans and would share the land with them, but as tribes such as the Lenni Lenape began to see that more people were coming from another part of the world and started to take their lands, cut the trees and build roads and houses, the native tribes stated to see the true intentions of these
“In 1817, Americans burned a Seminole village on the border (Florida), killed five Indians, dispersed the rest.” (Shi and Tindall, 306) This comes to show that the trail of tears was not the first ruthless obtainment of territory on America’s part, and as shown throughout History, it was not the last. Territorial expansion helped raise the population and diversity of white men and women, but through the expansion of America in unscrupulous ways millions of Native Americans and black slaves were killed. America’s hunger for more territory was not always satisfied by the thieving of other ethnic group’s territories, soon America began pioneering west once more.
The colonists had no thought for the Natives who lived on the land, pushing aside their established residency and sharing it amongst themselves, ultimately placing the Natives at a state of second
During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the
The year 1890 was a pivotal point in American history. It was at this point that the American frontier was officially declared to be closed. The United States now occupied the land from Atlantic to Pacific. This also marked the end of Manifest Destiny on the North American continent, since Americans had already fulfilled God’s will to conquer the western territory and vanquish the “savages” who inhabited that land. This phenomenon is explored in further detail in Frederick Jackson Turner’s 1893 thesis, which was ironically given at the World’s Columbian Exposition, given on the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ trans-Atlantic voyage.
With the arrival of Anglo-Americans, Native Americans lost much more than just their land. Tribes were forced onto reservations, stripped of their culture, wealth and place in society, with no hope of regaining what they owned unless by complete assimilation. For the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Anglo-Americans continually pushed for Native Americans to abandon their cultures and “savage” ways. However, despite the many attempts to force Natives into Anglo-American culture, many Native Americans found ways to negotiate with the demands of the Anglo-Americans through mainly social, economic and legal means.
Political, social, and economical structures were everywhere (Olson & Beal p.194). Being forced from their lands and coerced onto reservations where the Native Americans were under the constant control of whites had to play a huge role in the loss of their cultural identity. They almost had to accept the lesser roles in order to survive. However, in doing so they lost their independence, as well as their sense of personal
