Ownership of land was the concept of private property that one person or group owned permanent, absolute control of a part of land. This was difficult to understand for many Native Americans because they have practiced a communistic land system for a long period of time. Land was not a product, perceptible, or an inert item that could be sized and sold. The Native Americans never established a structure or civilization of personal land ownership. Their land was not possessed by people and instead belonged to the community as a whole. They thought the territory should be used by all of their people and land was not dissected, sold, or owned. They were closely connected with the land, what grew on the land, and the life on the land. Although the natives did not own the land, they enacted territorial rights to different parts of America between tribes (Voss). The Native Americans believed land was sacred and should be respected, land could not be sold, and they lived in harmony with the land.
Animism is the acknowledgement of a soul to plants, inactive objects, and natural experience. The land was a living thing in its own right, inculcated with a soul and retained in trust by all the living for their need and the usage of their offspring (Justice). The Natives praised the land and the
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They valued Earth and its surroundings with souls which gave them the obligation to practice rituals that maintained the harmony of nature. The Natives have lived and benefitted from nature, but never overused, what it gave them because they understood the importance of preserving the natural goods. They Native Americans worked together as a community by dividing land within their families and each person or group had one agenda to focus on. They showed approbation towards land and cherished its benefits. Natives cared about others as they did land and the nature surrounding them and