Indian Suffrage Essay examples -- essays research papers

Indian SuffrageBefore the English arrived in the new world and began creating colonies,the American Indians lived in harmony and peace with natures. The AmericanIndians were skilled hunters, farmers and used everything in their environmentfor survival or for essential necessities. They shared the buck together andmoved about freely in search of food. The American Indians never consideredthe lands their property because its belong to God and no one have the upright tobuy, sell, nor own it. However, Europeans has an opposite view of Indiansbeliefs, cultures, and use of lands. They viewed Indians as children, savage-un checkd people in fate of their protection and salvation (Carroll and Noble30). Therefore, they felt it is their responsibility to civilize the Indian andput their lands into good uses. Hence, American Indians suffrages andnightmares began. The impact of American expansion has turned upon the Indiansand confronted them with social and economic crises never before expe rienced.As a result, many a(prenominal) tribes torn apart, in many cases extinct, and their identitywas lost. Indians also lost their original lands as a result of direct andindirect contact with the Europeans. The snowys wanted to a greater extent lands for theirdevelopments, and because of this greed, they created direct policies to clearthe Indians off their lands. For example, one form of direct policy that thewhites used to pawn Indians of their lands was by signing treaties. Then laterthe whites broke these treaties and coerce Indian off their lands by the Removalpolicy and claimed the lands as their property (Lowy lecture 11/96). Therewere many indirect methods that white used to rob Indians lands. They usebribery, threats, and among countless other things to trick Indians into givingup their lands. They were often tricked into signing the land cession treatiesthat they did not understand the negotiation and the language (Lowy Lecture11/6).In many ways, the United State s policy toward Indian has beenschizophrenic because the laws never completely nor attempted to give Indians anopportunity to progress and assimilate into American mainstream as an individual.From time to time, whites creates many policies, such as the reservation,relocation, and termination in an effort to assimilate the Indians into theAmeric... ...using their own lands, while the whites over exploited the landsfor profits. Whites also passed laws cut back Indians trading opportunities.Also, Indians lives were greatly affected by the extermination of buffalo. Yet,while Indians dependent greatly on buffalo for their main source of food,clothing, and many inedible by-products, the white destroyed them in massivenumber as hunting sport. A final form, cultural genocide, it explains howIndians languages, religions, values, and cultures was lost or drasticallyswapped.Thanks to the Red proponent Movement and many other Indians movements, theirefforts have strengthened the prospects fo r Indian self-determination in thepolitical, economic, education and religious realm. They have helped to makeIndian people more visible to the whites and whites began to realize that Indianwas our first and natural citizen. However, the government in particular, ownsit to the Indians to give them an opportunity to be a full participant ineconomic, political, and education. They need to put into practice and to bringto fruition some of the reforms and treaties with the American Indians that arelong overdue.