Attitudes Towards Natice Americans

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-11. Attitudes held towards Navitve Americans, Cubans, and Filipinos from 1875 to 1905 were similar because they were all based on the idea of white superiority. Whites thought of the Native Americans, Cubans, and Filipinos as savagages and violent people. They thought that the difference in skin color made them superior and more intelligent that anybody else. Some of the attitudes white men had towards these people were “primitive, lazy, devious, and cruel.” (A People and A Nation pg 443) . These attitudes towards these people made it easier for the white men to kill and exploit the Indians. Native Americans, Cubans and Filipinos were starting to out-number in some states and White men were afraid that their superior race and culture would disappear. They were also threated by Cubans and other Mexican-Americans that they would take over their lands and work. White men were also afraid of the different ideas these peoples were bringing. Most of these ideas were revolutionary, many of these people had came from oppressing countries and wanted freedom, but we saw those ideas as a danger for our government. Attitudes held toward Native Americans, Cubans, and Filipinos were different because for the Indians the U.S tried to “Americanize” and “civilize” them by separating them and out-lawing their tribes, and for the Cubans and Filipinos the U.S just simply denied their entrance to the country and did all they could to get them out of the country. All these attitudes were based on one thing only, the idea of white superiority. These ideas and attitudes held towards these people influenced actions taken during this period tremendously. The Dawes Severalty Act was passed to “Americanize” the Indians. All their tribes were out-lawed and their languages too. The Indian kids were sent to Indian school to be taught how to be a proper American. This Act also took away all

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