Of Benjamin Franklin's 'Remarks Concerning The Savages Of North America'

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Michael Doneallan
Professor Gasperini
English
October 10 2013
Value and Respect in American History
In “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” Benjamin Franklin talks about the differences between The English and Native Americans. An interesting point in the essay was how both cultures ultimately have different views on value and respect. The Native Americans were willing to help a stranger they have never met before, whereas the white people were more concerned about how much money the stranger had before they even considered to help them. Another difference between the two were the Native Americans would not talk when other people were speaking, and they would not answer a proposal on the same day. The white people
took that as offensive and thought they were being rude, but the Native Americans considered it respectful because they took the time to think about it instead of giving a quick answer. In addition, Native Americans allowed everyone to talk in court, while the English spoke over each other and would not accept being wrong. Many of these habits are still evident in today 's world. Unfortunately, value and respect is not an ideal presented in our history.
After the horrific tragedy on September 11th many Muslims struggle to live a normal life. It is common for Americans to stereotype a group of people based on how they look and what their beliefs are. Many Muslims struggle with stereotypes every day. Because of the terrible attacks on the twin towers, many American people lack respect
Donellan 2 and fear all Muslims even though the people that attacked the towers are considered Muslim extremists. There are some Muslim terrorists, but it 's foolish and unfair to assume all or even most Muslims are terrorists. “There are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world (22% of the population), and the number is rapidly growing. Islam is projected to overtake Christianity as the majority religion on earth later in this century (Keinon).” As you can see it is absurd to categorize all Muslims as terrorists when there are so many in the world today.
Another group of people that Americans did not respect in history were the African Americans. Americans went into Africa and took innocent people out of their home and brought them across the world to be treated worse then animals. Because the African Americans skin color was different and they were not educated, the white people thought it was okay to treat them like savages. The treatment of slaves in the United States varied by time and place, but was generally brutal and degrading. Whipping, execution, and sexual abuse including rape were very common (Gatell). Most slave owners did not treat slaves well. They beat slaves and punished them very badly. The owners had complete power over their slaves and thought they would work harder if they were afraid of being punished. The slaves worked extremely hard for no pay and the owners considered them property, not a human being.
In the American society today people of Spanish decent are often stereotyped of being illegal immigrants. Throughout the history of the United States, immigrants have flocked to the country in hopes of achieving a brighter future economically and socially. “The United States has captivated prospective citizens with the concept of the “American
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Dream, a dream in which many consider to be real and tangible due to the economic flourish that the United States has achieved (Ablett).” Many different types of people have come to America to live a better life.
Since it is so hard to get a green card and takes many years to become a legal citizen, people have no choice but to come to America illegally. American people get very upset over this topic because they feel illegal immigrants are taking jobs and are getting away with not paying taxes; which is true but on the other hand can you blame these people? In the country they live they might not have any choice but to leave because if they stay their family might be killed. Mexicans have become the image of illegal immigrants. American people have protests and rallies to show how upset they are about the topic. There are some Spanish illegal immigrants, but people need to respect that the reason they are here is because they are trying to give their family the best opportunity they possibly can. If American people were in the same situation, I’m sure their actions would be very similar to those of the illegal immigrants. By nature people are going to try and provide the best opportunities for their family; American people need to respect
that.
In conclusion, American people lack value and respect throughout history. Different groups of people such as Muslims, African Americans and Mexicans face hardships in our society. The American culture is very stereotypical and seem to categorize groups of people by the way they look or what they believe in. Hopefully one day it does not matter how you look or what you believe in, but by the type of human being you are.

Work Cited
Ablett, Eric. "Prejudice Of Mexican Immigrants in America." The Difficulties Mexican Immigrants Face Due to Language Barriers and Prejudice in the United States. Tangient LLC, n.d. Web. 9 Oct 2013. .
Keinon, Herb. "Fresnozionism.org." Can this relationship be saved?. California 's Central Valley, September 16 2013. Web. 9 Oct 2013. http://fresnozionism.org/
Gatell, Frank Otto. "Turner, Nat." The World Book Encyclopedia, 1982