Native Americans In The Film 500 Nation

Through the development of the New World came hardship and war with not only the British but also the Native Americans whose land we cruelly took over. One source that discusses these times is the historical documentary “500 nations”, narrated by Gregory Harrison and produced by Kevin Costner, which first aired in April 1995. The film talks about the life of Native Americans while the Europeans came over. Another source that discusses the Indians hardships with the Europeans is the textbook A People & A Nation published in 2008 by Cengage and written by American Historian Mary Norton and Professor of History at Harvard University Jane Kamensky. Lastly, the primary document in Cengage Mindtap, “President Jackson Reports on Indian Removal” in

This nation’s land was their home and when the Europeans came over they forcefully and unfairly took this land from them. The Film “500 Nations” says “this was their home where their ancestors were buried where they were raising their children” (500 Nations, Part 3) and the Europeans forcefully took that from them.The Europeans also created agreements with the Native Americans that they did not remain loyal to. When the discovery of gold in Cherokee land was creating problems for the Indians, the Cherokee asked the United States for protection but instead, “President Jackson, himself a land speculator removed federal troops from the area, telling Georgia officials: ‘Build a fire under the Cherokee. When it gets hot enough, they'll move.’ The greed of the white man grew and the first thing that came into his mind was: ‘We must obtain this land at any cost.’” (500 Nations, Part 3). From that day on, the removal of Indians grew and grew. Many Native Americans were pushed from their homes and sent on treks where hundreds and thousands of Indians

The different information mostly arises from the fact that these sources are written from different point of views. For example when the Indian Removal Act is mentioned in A People & A Nation it states, “President James Monroe proposed that all Indians be moved beyond the Mississippi River. Monroe considered this an ‘honorable’ proposal that would protect Indians from invasion and provide them with independence for ‘improvement and civilization’” (Norton & Kamensky, 241). From the Indians point of view, however, which is presented in “500 Nations” the Indian Removal Act from the colonists point of view was the government taking back their word and agreement. The film says, “‘The Americans said, 'The land shall be yours forever. ' Now they say: 'The land you live on is not yours. Go beyond the Mississippi’” (500 Nations). They were forced to leave their safe homes and move beyond the Mississippi. In addition, another contrasting piece of information is between the textbook and Jackson’s document. Jackson states, “In negotiating these treaties they were made to understand their true condition, and they have preferred maintaining their independence in the Western forests to submitting to the laws of the States in which they now reside” (Jackson). In the textbook, however, it states “fraud dominated the government’s approach to treaty making and Indian sovereignty” (Norton & Kamensky, 239) and that