The removal of the Native Americans
Removal: Necessary Evil?
Since The Europeans landed on American soil they have contested the Native Americans right to their own lands. The Anglo- Americans encouraged the Native Americans to assimilate to their ways. Despite the efforts of the Native Americans to work with the Anglo- Americans, they still ended up being treated exactly how the Anglo-Americans were once treated in their respective home countries. In turn, like the colonists, the Native Americans wrote out their grievances and revealed how similar the situation was; however, their efforts and claims for justice proved to be futile against the hypocritical Anglo-Americans policies, and thusly the Native Americans were unnecessarily removed from their home land.
The removal of the Native Americans was not necessary. The Cherokee natives tried in many ways to appease the government. They conformed to Thomas Jefferson’s idea of a civilization program, binding themselves to the United States through a series of treaties and adopting an agricultural lifestyle. Jefferson believed that if the Native Americans took up agriculture more of their hunting lands would be freed for white settlements. Many Native Americans became cotton farmers. They dressed like their white counterparts and in some cases took part in the slave trade. The Native Americans move towards a lifestyle dependent upon agriculture, not hunting or trade. This move fits in with Clay’s American System which aimed to modernize the economy through agriculture, use tariffs to protect American manufacturing and establish a national system of transportation. Despite the efforts of the Native Americans to assimilate, and the treaties they had in place with the U.S. government, the government moved ahead with a plan to unify the nation and remove the Native Americans to an area west of the Mississippi. Clay’s American System in many respects had room for the Indians and their interests but Congress wanted the Cherokee land for their own
Since The Europeans landed on American soil they have contested the Native Americans right to their own lands. The Anglo- Americans encouraged the Native Americans to assimilate to their ways. Despite the efforts of the Native Americans to work with the Anglo- Americans, they still ended up being treated exactly how the Anglo-Americans were once treated in their respective home countries. In turn, like the colonists, the Native Americans wrote out their grievances and revealed how similar the situation was; however, their efforts and claims for justice proved to be futile against the hypocritical Anglo-Americans policies, and thusly the Native Americans were unnecessarily removed from their home land.
The removal of the Native Americans was not necessary. The Cherokee natives tried in many ways to appease the government. They conformed to Thomas Jefferson’s idea of a civilization program, binding themselves to the United States through a series of treaties and adopting an agricultural lifestyle. Jefferson believed that if the Native Americans took up agriculture more of their hunting lands would be freed for white settlements. Many Native Americans became cotton farmers. They dressed like their white counterparts and in some cases took part in the slave trade. The Native Americans move towards a lifestyle dependent upon agriculture, not hunting or trade. This move fits in with Clay’s American System which aimed to modernize the economy through agriculture, use tariffs to protect American manufacturing and establish a national system of transportation. Despite the efforts of the Native Americans to assimilate, and the treaties they had in place with the U.S. government, the government moved ahead with a plan to unify the nation and remove the Native Americans to an area west of the Mississippi. Clay’s American System in many respects had room for the Indians and their interests but Congress wanted the Cherokee land for their own