Preview

The Forced Assimilation of Native Americans

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1053 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Forced Assimilation of Native Americans
The Forced Assimilation of Native Americans

One of the more horrible and lesser known aspects of the Europeans colonization of the United States is the destruction of numerous Native American societies and cultures. With whites feeling that Native Americans were on "their" land, the United States tried to force the Native Americans to assimilate to white people in the United States. Native Americans were forced into becoming new citizens in the United States. The repercussions of this massive destruction of the American Indians is still felt today in some ways.

Whites coming to the United States from Europe at first tried to compromise with Indians. This can be seen in such acts as the Fort Laramie treaty which established tribal boundaries and government protection in return for whites being able to cross tribal territory. Soon, with the whites pushing to the West however, promises were broken and the US government tried to justify this empiricism over the Native Americans. As Helen Hunt Jackson writes, "...and the United States Government breaks promises now as deftly as the, and with an added ingenuity from long practice..." Before long, wars broke out, forcing the indigenous Indians and the Europeans settlers into a struggle for North America.

After about ten years of fighting, the US and the Native Americans end the wars with many Native Americans being allotted land by the United States. This is hardly fair to the Indians. As Chief Joseph said in 1879, "You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases." Even more appalling was how, during and after armed conflict, whites in the United States tried to integrate the Native Americans into white society; destroying American Indian culture, language, and society so that the Indians could assimilate into society. Government officials were opposed to all manifestations of Indianness and were devoted to the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Were the English Colonists Guilty of Genocide?
    • 610 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Were the English Colonists Guilty of Genocide?

    The early 1600s brought the first European settlers to the Americas, and on arriving they found the land inhabited by thousands of Native Americans. The colonists' lack of knowledge about the land and people led to a series of disputes to ensure the colonists' safety. Unfortunately, this eventually led to genocide, an act of hatred directed towards the natives, but undeniable because overtime the colonists began to kill for sport rather then defense against the Indians' attacks.…

    • 610 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Indian Removal Research Paper
    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page

    Indian Removal Research Paper

    Unfortunately, despite how precisely Indians followed white men’s laws and requirements, the Indian Removal would have eventually transpired. The Five Civilized Tribes shed their Indian traditions and culture to take on the Americans way of life. Indians not only adopted principles in government and agriculture, but also religiously. Despite all of this, whites still wanted to kick Indians out of their lands in order to bring profit to themselves. Even the national government could not terminate the Indian Removal. Through both the United States Constitution and Worcester v. Georgia, the national government declared that states could not operate the removal of Indians. All of this, illustrates the inhumanity and lack of compassion whites had…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Assignment 1 Native American Indian Tribes 7 20 2014
    • 3415 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Assignment 1 Native American Indian Tribes 7 20 2014

    Native American Indian Tribes were and still are as diverse and as dependent on ritualistic life as the explorers and immigrants who came to America were and are presently. Their culture and population were almost desolated and destroyed by immigrants, progress, government and the pursuit of land for a new nation in the future. The Indians greeted the Mayflower; a ship with pilgrims looking for a new beginning and introduced them to new foods and farming techniques were to assist in their survival. Although not intentional in many ways the pilgrims did undue harm these unsuspecting Native Americans by bring disease, foreign plants, animals, insects, bacteria, sea life, grains and religious views which would forever change the Indians way of life, ancestry, food sources and education. Pilgrims saw the Indians as a savage people who needed religion and education so that they might be better integrated into society. Their lands were seen as needed for settlement of even more immigrants to promote growth and food sources. Governments began to hunt and destroy tribes which they saw as problematic, the Indians who would stand and defend their land or simply trying to survive by any means necessary. This included raids on white settlements, war, robbery and murder. Indians rights were essentially ignored and their way of life destroyed all in the name of immigrants rights along with the good of the nation. Native American Indians were persecuted and driven from their way of life by foreign influence and growth in the name of progress.…

    • 3415 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    European Explorers' Influence on Native Americans Essay Example
    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages

    European Explorers' Influence on Native Americans Essay Example

    As a whole, European settlers and Native Americans were constantly clashing over ‘ownership’ of land, as well as simple quarrelling in general. Between the spread of disease and multiple wars involving the foreigners and natives, the Native American population in the 17th and 18th centuries was on a decline. Additionally, there was a major loss in Native American culture due to the Christianization of the Indians by European missionaries and an increase in trade. European explorers and settlers had a negative impact on American Indians because of the massive loss of life, whether because of war or disease, and a loss of culture amongst the people.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Assimilation Of Native American Settlers In The 19th Century
    • 2190 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Assimilation Of Native American Settlers In The 19th Century

    The four regions that constituted the U.S. at this time are the nation's major cities, the South, the North, and Trans-Appalachia. -The nation's cities were centers of commerce, trade and manufacturing. The artisans and apprentices of the 18th century gave way to factories and wage-based pay in the 19th century which caused urban life to radically shift toward a labor-focused rather than agrarian-focused lifestyle. In New York shoes and iron were top commodities while Philadelphia was a center for textiles. With agriculture becoming less of a focus, the gap between the lower and upper classes was widened between laborers and factory owners.…

    • 2190 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Historical Report on Race
    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Historical Report on Race

    People of my cultural lived on reservations, we had learned to separate ourselves and adopt our own way of life and government. Native Americans had created their own nation and it caused and has caused a lot of tension between us and the U.S. culture. As a Native American, we were all about live the traditional way of life. There was value to our land and the resources that we used and the white people wanted and did take it from us. It seemed as if we were constantly at war with the white people so that we could protect what we thought was rightfully ours. They had created an act known as the Indian Removal Act, which was passed in 1830 (Schaefer, p. 150, 2012). This opened more land for settlement and allowed people to come in and take over our reservations (Schaefer, p. 150, 2012).…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Essay On Native Americans After The 19th Century
    • 1764 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Essay On Native Americans After The 19th Century

    When the US began to expand West from the original colonies, Americans and Native Americans saw the West very distinctively. The US believed in the “divine right” to expand and the Native Americans saw the West as their home and part of their culture. The 19th century time period helps us understand that there is more to the story of Native Americans than how we our taught about them. In order to understand why the destiny of both Americans and Native Americans turned out the way it did, we need to explore all the ideas of how both parties approached the Indian American conflict.…

    • 1764 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Assimilation Among Second Generation Native Americans
    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Assimilation Among Second Generation Native Americans

    It is safe to say Shukumar misunderstands the flexibility of the nuclear family. He fails to see the nuclear family can stretch only as far as the inside of a 1,000 square foot home in Levittown, but not as far as India. He views the nuclear family or the American dream as a way to prove belonging – a couple adhering to South Asian identity, while also fitting into the American fold – but the American Dream is really about assimilation. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Assimilation as “The action of making or becoming like; the state of being like; similarity.” In the context of Ethnic American Literature this meaning becomes much more sinister. It means to scrap away the home culture from the immigrant and force them to adhere to the American way.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Native Americans and Colonization Essay Example
    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Native Americans and Colonization Essay Example

    Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European Colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worst. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Native American Boarding Schools
    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Native American Boarding Schools

    I am shocked by the treatment that according during the years were Native American’s were removed from their homes and reservations and into boarding schools. Students were forbidden to express their culture, language, religion, and family structure. The federal government sent Native Americans to off reservation boarding schools in 1870s based off the educational programs developed in prisons with the ideal “Kill the Indian in him and save the man” They hoped to remove their culture and replace it with a White American ideal. During this time black men were given the right to vote. Enforcement Acts were placed to stop the Ku Klux Klan. However, there is tension between the Native Americans and the US Armies. They were thought to be savages…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay European Settlers
    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Essay European Settlers

    European settlers went through many changes after the discovery of New America because of Christopher Columbus voyage. The Europeans accidentally found the American land which was originally owned by Native American tribes. The Native American culture was very liberal and had very different lifestyles when it came to beliefs in religion, owning land, medicines, hunting farming and family. The Native Americans did not see people as enemies and believed that many people could be invited to join their tribes. The Natives taught the Europeans of their survival skills which included farming, hunting and tools. The Europeans later took advantage of the Native Americans benefits and weaknesses. The Europeans discovered that the Indians had lots of unclaimed land and saw their governing rules as weak. Europeans settlers disagreed with Native American religion, celebration, music, medicines and saw the male as weak. The reason the male Indians were looked at as weak was because they would constantly hunt and the woman would stay and handle all the labor at the tribes. In result, the European people began learning more of the culture and disagreeing with the lifestyles leaning more toward a governed political aspect. Europeans did benefit in many ways of the discovery of the “New America” since they came up with the idea of taking over the so called unclaimed lands, controlling the Indians and turning this into their very own. Soon the European settlers were all migrating to America in seek of farming and land ownership. Since the Europeans learned of all the work that needed to be done they then turned to slavery of people from Africa. The Europeans did not want to have to work constantly and put in infinite hours to the hard labor so this is why slavery became a great way for them to complete their projects. The European settler’s mindset was focused on riches and power. They did not care of the African slaves and their emotions. The Africans were looked at as showing less…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Early American Expansion Essay
    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Early American Expansion Essay

    America was, as expected, a place of many opportunities, lots of land, and plenty of resources. To support the growth of settlers, the US government expanded America. Many people turned a new leaf in their life after coming to America. But, there were some people who didn't prosper from this influx of settlers. these people were the Native Americans, and they were the ones who got pushed around in order for the settlers to move in. The Trail of Tears was a result of the growing population of Americans. To take the Indian land that the Native Americans would not give up, Polk shackled the Indians and forced them into wagons, moving them west of the Mississippi river. Dozens of Indians died on the way there. The government also pushed the Nez Perce out of their homeland and onto a reservation to make way for the settlers. All of this was justified by the reason that the Native Americans were savages. Because the Native Americans lived differently, followed different religions ad wore different clothes, the Americans labeled them as savages. This was much like Britain's treatment of the settlers who did not follow the religion the king forced upon them. Those settlers were persecuted, and once they came to America, they persecuted the Native Americans. In order to gain Indian land and expand America, the US gave up its morals and made more of the same mistakes that Britain did. Each…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Relationship Between Native Americans And European Settlers
    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Relationship Between Native Americans And European Settlers

    At the start of the seventeenth century, Native Americans greeted European settlers with much excitement. They regarded settlers as strange, but were interested to learn about the new tools and weapons Europeans brought with them. The native people were more than accommodating to the settlers, but as time passed, Europeans took advantage of their generosity. “Once these newcomers disembarked and began to feel their way across the continent, they forever altered the course and pace of native development.” Native Americans and Europeans faced many conflicts due to their vast differences in language, religion and culture. European settlers’ inability to understand and respect Native Americans lead to many struggles that would eventually erupt into violent warfare.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Warfare and the Cultural Divide Between Settlers and Natives in America Moral Judgment and the Demise of the Native American Culture
    • 3265 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Warfare and the Cultural Divide Between Settlers and Natives in America Moral Judgment and the Demise of the Native American Culture

    The difference in values and traditions between Native American cultures and the Europeans who settled in America served to spark a cultural divide that ultimately lead to the demise of Native American civilizations. Whites and Indians in conflict began with the landing of the first settlers in what became the first colonization of America and continued through the late 1800’s; some would say it continues today. The differences in the ways war was traditionally waged between the two cultures contributed to the European idea that Indians were Godless savages whose genocide was justified by their failure to assimilate to European culture on their own land and failure to embrace Christianity.…

    • 3265 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Racial Assimilation In America
    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Racial Assimilation In America

    The social construction of race or ethnicity in the United States was the basis of race prejudice and discrimination of the minorities in America. History indicates that the minority groups, who were known as people of color, suffered a lot in the hands of the whites. However, time has passed, and a new spirit of equality is almost in place. Several factors have led to the emergence of a new system in America that looks at individual rights rather than the dominant groups. As a matter of fact, America has evolved from the old system of racial discrimination and racial prejudice to an era of equality for all human beings irrespective of race, gender, religion, ethnic background, country of origin and all other aspects inherent in human beings. The key term here is assimilation. The assimilation of different cultures, social backgrounds, lifestyles, religions and all sorts of human differences, has overseen the differences that once formed the basis of hate, discrimination, and racial prejudice in America.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More