...Native Americans (including Alaskan natives) consist of 5.2 million people making them only 1% of the whole United States population. There are over 566 recognized tribes and 324 federally-recognized Native American reservations. The largest tribes are Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois, and Pueblo. Although Native Americans live all throughout the United States, they mostly populate California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, and Michigan (US Bureau of the Census). To be considered a Native American depends on who you ask because the rules for each tribe varies. Some tribes use the method known as the blood quantum which defines membership by the degree...
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...period in time, there was still the modern day lust for land and wealth. Native Americans occupied the land early Americans desired. In spite of attempts by the Native Americans to acclimate to American society, they were still forced from their tribal lands. Their treacherous journey west became known as The Trail of Tears. This forced mass exodus has left a blemish on the legacies of both President Andrew Jackson and America. The Trail of Tears was the path the Native Americans were forced to take from the southeastern United States to west of the Mississippi River. The entire length of this forced journey was...
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...The Native America Just the other day in a routine walk to work I overheard a person use the term “A typical American like me”. This stayed with me and had my head spinning the whole day. It kept me wondering, what really can classify a person as a “typical American”, can it be the color of their skin, or the fact that they were born here. In a sense all of us originate from immigrants, the only people that come to mind that were here originally are the Native of Americans. This is a very diverse and multicultural country that has no official religion, culture, or ancestry. It all a melting pot that has a little bit of everything and from and to everybody. What we must take in great consideration that is the origins of America it begins with settlers, arriving to this land and encountering Natives. It is believed that during an Ice Age they traveled a land-bridge across the Bering Sound, from Siberia to what is now known as Alaska today. It is due to Christopher Columbus that they are known as “Indians” this is due to the fact the he believed he had arrived in the Indies. The interaction and trades with the settlers paved the way of nations to born in this continent and with help of Native of Americans the development of these nations. There is a great contribution to the birth of this country be the Native of Americans. However not just to birth but to the development and endurance of time. In the beginning it was Sacajawea who helped Lewis and Clark reached the west...
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...The Native Americans were very worried that the United States would infringe upon their agreements and takeover their promised lands. According to Perdue and Green, various reasons accounted for Indian complaints, including the states that pushed for the intrusion of Indian lands and the defense against Indian retaliation to protect their homes. Georgia encourages their citizens to invade and inhabit the Native lands. This caused much controversy. These encouragements directly contravened the treaties that promised the rights to the land to the Natives (Perdue 24). One example of Indian-American conflict in Georgia was the infringement...
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...fail to comply with the requirements. Native American Cultures before European Contact Introduction Before Columbus’s unexpected landfall in 1492, North America has long been untouched by “outsiders”. There were barely any contact or connections between North American cultures and the rest of the world. After 1492, however, people of generations (mostly European colonists) were motivated to come to the “New World”, hoping for the wealth this new-found-land could possibly bestow them. Their encounters with Native American people were therefore inevitable. The Native American people who had resided in the Americas for thousands of years were, to many of the outsiders’ surprise, not some sort of wild “savages”(Boyer et al., p.20). They were comprised of many different communities, or tribes. And the interactions among the tribes were frequent, leading to the fact that the Native American cultures, in general, have formed many common features. The key word to describe the Native American cultures before European contact, if any, can be ‘Equilibrium’. Throughout the history of Native American Indians before 1492, ‘Equilibrium’ had been Native American’s philosophy in dealing with in-tribe, inter-tribe relations as well as their relationship with nature. To illustrate how Native American Indians achieved ‘Equilibrium’, I will analyze their social structure, religious beliefs and social values. Social Structure The Native American Indians are mostly bonded together by...
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...the lives of the native people that were affected by these events are often overlooked. These people helped and hurt the colonists in a variety of ways. The Native Americans helped shape early America more than many people give them credit for. First, the Native Americans are what initially fueled the new world trade. Many of the skins and hides that helped the colonists survive the unending winter months came from the Native Americans. Trades with the nearby tribes helped fuel the economic prosperity that the colonies were eventually able to form. As the colonies grew, these furs became one of the biggest exports from the colonies back to Britain, where they were then sold as clothing or hats. This trade is what allowed the American colonies to prosper as they grew, and helped keep Britain...
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...and Native Americans Examine some of the Puritan beliefs revealed by the works we have covered that led to tensions, conflicts, and concerns among the colonists and/or the Native Americans. Colonization in America by the Puritans occurred in 1620. Unlike the pilgrims who had arrived in America earlier and settled in Jamestown, the Puritans came to reform the church. All Puritans had strong religious beliefs and wanted America to be a place for liberation. According to the article God in America, 2010 “Puritans did not break with the Church of England, but instead sought to reform it.” Also from the text, “The reign of James I (1603–1625), however, brought about the Separatist movement that sent the Pilgrims first to the Netherlands and then to Plymouth” (Puritanism, 58). The Puritans would settle and form the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Today this part of America is referred to as the New England States. Life at the beginning was hard for the Puritans and many tensions/conflicts would arise with the local Native Americans. Many of these conflicts would be documented through literary works, such as, William Bradford, Mary Rowlandson, and St. John De Crevecoeur. Literary history has allowed society to gain an understanding of the conflicts between the Puritans and Native Americans. William Bradford was well known for his impact on the Plymouth colonies. In traveling to America he was a very religious man. “William Bradford was one of the greatest of colonial Americans, a man...
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...development and government actions in the latter half of the 19th century, due to the simulation of Plain Indians in American culture in the reservation. However, the government funded transcontinental railroads; removal of Indians on to reservations, the encouragement for colonization in the west had catastrophic effect, and the effects and conflicts due to assimilation. Therefore, the negative impact by technological development would affect them for years to come. The transcontinental railroad brought unity to the United States linking the East with the West. However, this transformation was cataclysmic for the Plain Indians living the west. The federal government...
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...During the Civil War in in 1861, native americans fighting in the war had just as many challenges as other soldiers. Many Native Americans had to put their freedom and life on the line during the Civil War. In the Native American language, solider means warrior, protector, and helper. The war itself, brought everyday hardships on everyone but especially the Native Americans. The life of a native american soldier in the Civil War was not always easy. Although the Native Americans knew that they would possibly be giving up their freedom and the land they possessed, they still did what they needed to do for their culture. Approximately 20,000 native americans served in both the union and confederate armies and fought in many battles. Native...
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...fist and saber and boot” (Flight 89, 90). Sherman Alexie is an American novelist, filmmaker, short story writer, and poet. He uses his personal experiences as a Native American to write raw and unvarnished texts that bring forth complicated emotions. You can see an example of Alexie’s unique writing style in the quote above where he boldly states the way violence takes place in his story. As a writer, Alexie targets young adults and teens who may be struggling in their younger years just as he has. Throughout his life, even as a young boy, Alexie had been dealing with struggles and problems in his life. At six months old, Alexie underwent a brain surgery which had a high risk of death or mental disability if he survived (The...
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...contrast the European culture of the English and the French with the Cultures of the Native Americans in the New World. The conquest of American territory and its subsequent exploitation by Europeans caused a breakdown and destruction of existing native cultures on the continent. American lands were take systematically by whites who were founded their towns and cities on behalf of European Kings. When Europeans explorers landed on the north side of the American continent they found only natives inhabiting the place, from this connection to European continent United States became a colony of England. Initially they settled the eastern part of the country, which is the coastline that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Soon after the middle part was colonized by France and south east part by Spain. At the time of European colonization of North America, the Native American Indian cultures had developed relatively complex social systems, adapted to their environment. The Indians shared a highly developed system of trade. Different tribes of Native Americans traded goods all across the country. Several were skilled farmers, while others were hunters. These tribes had developed their own cultures many years before the settlers arrived. Each have a different religion and a strong spiritual belief. Many tribes shared similar one. With the increasing influence of European cultures, native cultures of American Indians were replaced and a new value system dominated the region. This new culture...
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...Dancing, by Tom Whitecloud, the plot is driven by the conflict the narrator faces. Whitecloud, reveals distinctions between Indian and white cultures by examining his narrator’s view on civilization in order to show how identity is constructed and influenced by our societies. Moreover, the conflict is rooted in the narrators opposing views of the two cultures to which he belongs. His views are much more tranquil compared to those of the society where men strive for materialistic pleasures. Therefore, only by a reconciliation of these views will the narrator finally resolves his conflict. At the beginning of the story the narrator presents his views about life. He describes the peace that he feels when he is back home in Wisconsin. However, he also mentions how such peace is completely lost in the everyday life of a big city. It is evident that the narrator has been educated and has lived in a big city for a long time, at least long enough to judge the quality of life in such an environment. The narrator expresses dissatisfaction with society, especially white society. He bluntly states I am tired. I am weary of trying to keep up this bluff of being civilized. Being civilized means trying to do everything you don’t want to, never doing anything you want to. He makes a clear contrast between white society and Native America society. Clearly, the narrator feels as if he is not fit for white society, after all, he is a Native American. It is this discontent with his present environment...
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...China. Many dangerous obstacles such as warships were ahead, which could lead to failure like the previous unsuccessful settlement of Roanoke Island. While the colonists were expecting lots of land filled with gold, the Powhatan Indians were already living along the coast of Jamestown. The English settlers built a fort known as Jamestown, but unfortunately over half the settlers ended up dying. More colonists, most young and poor, came with the desire of working off their debt. They produced the cash crop tobacco, but sadly eighty percent of these colonists died. What caused the death of the colonist in Jamestown from 1607-1611? Many settlers in Jamestown died from 1607 - 1611 because of lack of fresh water, disease, and conflict with the neighboring Native Americans. The first reason colonists of Jamestown died was because of lack of fresh, clean water. Colonists had no fresh drinking water and tried to fix this problem by building wells, which hardly helped (Doc A). Jamestown was also under a drought since the amount of rainfall was less than average. (Doc B). This evidence helps explain why so many colonists died because the tide would come twice a day, contaminating the water from the wells, so colonists had no clean water to drink and would die. Because of the drought, famers also were unable to successfully grow crops because they were not able to water the plants. The effect from this was people had no vegetables. Without nutrients from these vegetables, colonists would not...
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...New World the Europeans saw themselves as a dominant race. Disapproving of the Native Americans and viewing them as barbaric, uncivilized, and rude. Europeans questioned whether to conquer or educate the Native Americans towards a more civilized ways. However, not all Europeans had this view of the Native Americans, some believe that they should be treated equal to the Europeans, they did not see the Natives as a threat. This lead to the question whether to conquer or civilize. Many believe that Christopher Columbus is the one who discovered the Americas. These misleading actualizations are not believed to be necessarily true. Native Americans, the people in America before Europeans, had set up a civilization...
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...the earliest American and Indian wars. For Powhatan this wasn’t the first time settlers have been in conflict with them. They had handled the Spanish settlers even before the war with Jamestown broke out. Even though they helped them through the time where food supply was limited also know as “the starving time” the Natives still did not hesitate to defend their land. On the other hand Jamestown did raid the Powhatan’s food supply, which is kind of ironic considering that they helped get them their food now they are taking theirs as well. This war may have been guns against bows and it may have seemed as if Jamestown had all the advantage, but the Powhatan tribe survived until 1614 when a peace treaty was signed, thus ending the war....
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