X-Marks Native Signatures of Assent written by Scott Richards Lyons explores the history of the American Indians in the United States. Further, Lyons goes into depth about boarding schools, assimilation, treaties, broken promises, and tragic events that caused harm to millions of American Indians. In this paper, I will discuss how the White Europeans came to the United States and basically assimilated the tribes that were located here before the “discovery” of the Americas. Next, I will define the terms treaty and x-marks. Lastly, I will explain how unjust everything is, in particular when we talk about the rights, and properties that tribes had before the Europeans came to contact them. According to Scott Richards Lyons, when Christopher …show more content…
Noted, The Bering Land Bridge is a myth constructed by Jose de Acosta, claims that the migration to the New World came through this passage. If I’m not mistaken, American Indians were forced out from the Old World and so they travelled and encountered the New World through the Bering Land Bridge, which is passage that connects from the tip of Northern Russia to the tip of the Western Alaska. From there, many tribes continued their journey towards the south and found the …show more content…
Scott Lyons describes the term X-marks, as force signatures. For instance, “An x-mark is a sign of consent in a context of coercion; it is the agreement one makes when there seems to be little choice in the matter” (Scott Lyon;2010, Page 1). As treaties were being made between the Indians and the Europeans, the Indians left x-marks behind. Which represented their properties, their rights, and their land. “Beginning in 1778, Indians entered into 367 ratified treaties with the United States, another six whose status is questionable, according to Francis Paul Prucha, and approximately as many illegitimate or non-ratified treaties and agreements….natives entered into more than six hundred treaties at the apex of the age of nationalism” (Scott Lyons;2010, Page
Between the years 1600 to 1700, English colonists were just settling the New World and establishing their own colonies, yet this colonization didn’t come without obstacles. Upon entering the seemingly unscathed land, colonists were greeted by Native Americans. At first, the two groups expressed a relationship characterized by amity and cooperation, yet as time went on, the “white superiority” of the colonists and the belief that they were primary owners of land soured the relationship. It was just a matter of time before the colonists would take over and run out the Native Americans. Primarily peaceful and affable, the relationship between the Indians and English steadily depreciated as the English overran the lands of the Indians while the
Throughout history, we have explored and conquered new lands, stamping the American flag into the earth and claiming it as ours — even if the rightful owners disagree. These feats have enabled us to assert ourselves throughout the world, settling communities and influencing those around us. In doing so, our ancestors refined distinct societies, adapting to the terrain and operating accordingly. Our efforts were not invariably supported, however, and disputes arose among those who were indigenous to the lands we thought ours.
This states that the ancestors of Native Americans crossed a land bridge, currently known as the Bering Strait, from Siberia to Alaska around 11,500 years ago. The first people to populate the Americas were believed to have migrated across the Bering Land Bridge while tracking large animal herds. The confirmation for the Land Bridge theory came from the discovery of spear points near Clovis, New Mexico in the early 20th century, between 1929 and 1937, that matched the kinds of artifacts found in Beringia.
After reading Native Americans and the “Middle Ground,” I realized how narratives of historians are quick to shame and blame Native Americans in history. This article begins by revealing how European settlement presented the Indians as obstacles. Recent historians, such as Gary Nash, show the Native Americans as being conquered by the Europeans. Author of The Middle Ground, Richard White, seems to be one of the first to examine the culture of Native Americans and the relationship between colonists. White writes about the “middle ground” of the politics and trade that is eventually established.
Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.
The original relationship with the Indians was positive, but more was happening than what was on the surface. The Indians were being manipulated from the beginning, and given less than what was taken from them. It was believed that Indians should have the right to their own nation, and should not have their rights taken away from them. (Document B) However, at the time of Washington’s Administration after the war, The Indians were given less than half the land they had before American Independence through the treaty of Holston.
During the early to mid 1800s, the colonization of “Indians” and subordination of “women’s rights in the American society,” was very essential to those in authority. They were perceived as a mere means to an end by promises of a better life in exchange for “land and work.” Although locals complied, those in offices took advantage by using antagonistic tactics in achieving wealth, power, and ownership. However, these actions lead to “The First Seminole War, The Monroe Doctrine, Andrew Jackson’s leadership, The Indian Removal Act, The California Gold Rush, The Seneca Falls Convention, and the Birth of the Republican Party.” Although some Americans have been perceived as heroes, their actions have said otherwise about their character.
“In 1817, Americans burned a Seminole village on the border (Florida), killed five Indians, dispersed the rest.” (Shi and Tindall, 306) This comes to show that the trail of tears was not the first ruthless obtainment of territory on America’s part, and as shown throughout History, it was not the last. Territorial expansion helped raise the population and diversity of white men and women, but through the expansion of America in unscrupulous ways millions of Native Americans and black slaves were killed. America’s hunger for more territory was not always satisfied by the thieving of other ethnic group’s territories, soon America began pioneering west once more.
I feel that a contradiction may come from a lack of involvement of women in colonial America. Though both articles emphasise a love and belief in God, though both works of literature display a love of God being displayed in a different manner. The author 's purpose is to shed light on the atrocities committed against the natives in colonial America. This may have influenced American policies to where we feel we don 't answer to anyone on earth, and we gain our power from a greater
In the book, The Cherokee Removal, Perdue and Green argue that the Cherokee Nation was treated unfairly by the U.S. Government in the 1800s. The majority of Americans were not fond of the Native Americans, and the Americans felt as if the Native Americans were on their rightfully owned property. Perdue and Green display how the states were trying to remove the Natives when they write, “A state could use its legal institutions to make life for Indians so miserable that they would gladly sell their lands and flee to the West” (Perdue and Green, 73).
During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the
The Columbus Letter and 1941 The article ‘’The Columbus Letter’’ by is about the Columbus voyage in 1492 from Cadiz to an unknown land. Columbus is describing everything that he saw and discovered during his voyage. Instead of sailing to the east, Columbus went west on the Indian sea. During his expedition, Columbus discovered numerous islands occupied by men without number.
Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, thriving organized communities of native people had centuries of history on the land. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, altered the course of both Native American and European history. 1492 sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers. Prior to European contact, Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherers, living and traveling in groups of typically less than 300 people. These Native Americans spoke over 400 languages and practiced a myriad of different religions (The American Pageant).
“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.
Throughout the 19th century Native Americans were treated far less than respectful by the United States’ government. This was the time when the United States wanted to expand and grow rapidly as a land, and to achieve this goal, the Native Americans were “pushed” westward. It was a memorable and tricky time in the Natives’ history, and the US government made many treatments with the Native Americans, making big changes on the Indian nation. Native Americans wanted to live peacefully with the white men, but the result of treatments and agreements was not quite peaceful. This precedent of mistreatment of minorities began with Andrew Jackson’s indian removal policies to the tribes of Oklahoma (specifically the Cherokee indians) in 1829 because of the lack of respect given to the indians during the removal laws.