When His tribe was pushed farther west by white settlers, Tecumseh became angry and took many raids to against whites on the frontier. With the idea of an Indian Confederation, he proposed that all the tribes should stick together and refused to sell land to whites unless all the tribes agreed. The large tribal confederation had known as the Wabash Confederacy that tried to repel the American settlers from their region.
The Removal Act stated that the United States Government had the right to forcefully move the Native Americans to different lands as long as they compensated them for the land that they had to give up in the east. The US Government did not give the Native Americans any say regarding their move. Once the Removal Act signed into place they had to follow it. The move negatively impacted on the tribes’ health, their population and their way of living. Out of about 15,000 Cherokee that were forcefully moved to the West, about 4,000 died on the road there.
From these two videos, I have a better understand of American Indian history overview. Especially from video Pride 101, Dr. Duane Champagne mentions the removal policy of Native Indians, and because of the policy, the tribes have to move from Southeast to Oklahoma. These two videos show audiences a long history and policy about American Indians and how struggled they had been through in a native land. After I finished from these two videos, I can see many parallels between the struggles the Native American Tribes and my people encounter dealing with the U.S. Government “You can never be part of Indian. You are or you are not.
This led to conflicts and therefore partially led to the destruction of the Native American way of life. The white Americans quickly claimed land and would move the Plains Indians around as they saw fit, usually affected by where gold had recently been discovered. This culminated in putting the Native Americans on reservations. In many of the agreements and treaties signed over land the settlers would claim never to go back on their promises “as long as grass grew” and “the mountains stood”. Breaking the promises would have shown the Native Americans that the settlers thought little of their intelligence, and also would instil a lack of trust in the settlers, as now every apparently solemn vow to not attack certain areas or to treat the Plains Indians better etc.
The government didn’t do much to protect the Native Americans, nor were they able to enforce their own laws regarding Native American land and treaties. The Removal Act of 1830 was passed by President Andrew Jackson on April 23, 1980 (Wallace, 4-5). Andrew Jackson conveyed that removal of the Indians to the west was for their own best interest and that removal was to be voluntary (Wallace 65). The Removal Act provided for the Indians large areas of land west of the Mississippi River and each tribe would have its own territory. Those that chose to stay could keep their homes and their gardens, but would have to obey state laws and adapt to white culture and customs (Wallace 65).
Tecumseh also explains that it is the American’s wish to “prevent the Indians from doing as [they] wish for them, to unite and let them consider their lands as a common property.” Not only does Tecumseh accuse the white people, but he also intends to confront the Native Americans who attempted to sell the land. With strong resolution, Tecumseh announces that “No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers.” He also uses firm diction to point out that in the future, the Native Americans are “prepared to punish those who propose to sell land to the Americans.” Overall Tecumseh expresses his opinion on the forced relocation of Native Americans by employing an accusatory and adamant tone while
The first form of legislation only allowed “federally or state recognized” tribes or individuals to sell artifacts and label them “‘Indian made’” (King, 40). Problem is that there are tribes and individuals that can trace their lineages but are still not recognized by either governments. Bill C-31 requires you to marry federally recognized Native Americans or risk your family losing that status down your linage and threatens to eliminate all federally recognized Native Americans “in fifty to seventy-five years” in Canada (King, 144). The horror behind the Bill C-31 is that the
Native Americans were forced to apply the American culture when western settlers had moved on to their land. Children from Native families were sent to charter schools, where they could only speak English. The federal government prevented the Indian tradition of the Ghost Dance because they fear
The economic, social and political issues that occurred were not taken lightly by the Indians and sometimes the way they acted was diverse and disruptive. In today’s time, neither federal government nor the Native American tribes have come to a conclusion as to what identity or status the North American continent should be. In the nineteenth century, times were devastating for the Native Americans. The United States signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 with the Sioux which was to keep non-Indians from hunting or settling on their reservation which had been recently established. At that time, they gave up rights to almost all the land they were occupying.
Racism "Racism breeds racism in reverse." These words so candidly written by Mary Crow Dog, a Lakota Sioux, describe the reverse effect indian boarding schools had upon their pupils. These old Indian boarding schools were intended to push Native Americans into accepting a new way of life as a white man. In lieu of attempting to live peacefully along side the Natives, the white settlers felt they had to force the Indian population to become "civilized". The word civilized, as defined by Websters, means to have an advanced or humane culture, society, etc.. White men did not see the Indian culture as advanced or humane and therefore began forcing white man's way of life upon the Native American Tribes.