Examples Of Breaking The Native American Circle

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Native American Circle One of the most controversial parts of American history is the treatment of Native Americans during the colonization of America. Native Americans were enslaved, abused and killed without justification and these horrendous events destroyed part of Native American culture. Breaking the Native American cultural circle, even as early attempts to repair were unsuccessful furthermore breaking the circle, Native American culture is still alive today and slowly but surely the circle is being repaired. Although it realistically will never be fully repaired working to improve it helps not only Native Americans but others learn from the past. Ever since the first European interactions with Native Americans in 1492 by Christopher …show more content…

One of the earliest examples of leaving Native Americans basically alone and allowing to be free was the proclamation act of 1763. This act issued by King George the third in 1763 declared that no colonist could settle west of the application mountains and that the land west of the appalachian mountains where open for Native Americans to use freely although it was technically under british control. (“MILESTONES: 1750–1775”) This was enacted to please Native Americans after the French and Indian war, although it was supposed to be a peaceful act it angered many colonists because it restricted on where they could settle. In result many colonists decided to ignore the act and settled west of the appalachians and this resulted in conflict with Native Americans because the colonists even though they weren't supposed to settle there thought they has the authority to violently expel Native Americans. This act had good intentions but didn't completely work as expected. But some of the ideas to repair Native relations ended up doing the opposite and breaking the cultural circle. The trail of tears is now seen as a disastrous event killing over 4,000 Native Americans (Fischer,Leannah 1). But at the time according to Andrew Jackson the indian removal act would “enable them [Native Americans] to pursue happiness in their own way”. The Indian removal act was seen by some as a way to let Native Americans be free from the American government so they could be free like they were before European colonization. But now many attempts to repair the cultural circle or work with Native Americans work better and are more effective because of what we learned from the past attempts to repair relations with Native