M2 - Journal Blog - The Indian Removal Act
The information I’ve read hasn’t necessarily
changed my view on native communities. It has just made me realize how cruelly
they were treated, and how delusional the colonists were, believing they had
the right to force the Natives out of their land. Claiming that they were asking
the Natives to leave their land because they wouldn’t be able to live under the
laws of the United States, blaming them for whatever bloodshed they endured
when they refused to evacuate their homes. In August of 1830 Andrew Jackson
told John Pitchlynn, “If now they shall refuse to accept the liberal terms offered,
they only must be liable for whatever evils & dificulties may arise. I feel
conscious of having done my duty to my red children and if any failure of my
good intention arises, it will be attributable to their want of duty to
themselves, not to me.” (http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.html).
It's
hard to understand how the Natives were considered inferior in their own land,
and how the colonists could treat them in such a way in the name of “progress”.
How could the government put these policies in place without consulting the
people they would affect the most? The first Native American reservation was
established in 1786, and treated each tribe as an independent nation. This
policy was in affect for more than one hundred years. During James Monroe’s
second inaugural address, he stated that treating Natives this way “flattered their pride, retarded their improvement, and in
many instances paved the way to their destruction.” Even though Monroe
had this concern, his administration still removed Native Americans from the
states north of the Ohio River. (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/native_american.html)
I do find it very inspiring how tribes survived
and how strong they are today. They were able to rebuild, growing in
population, cultural traditions, and developing sovereign governments.
Sources:
Treuer,
Anton. Atlas of Indian Nations. National Geographic. 2016
https://cira1838.wordpress.com/cherokee-indian-removal-act-of-1838/
The Native people are strong to have survived before white settlers arrived in America and are doing so today. The United States government has always not done the right thing by Native American.
ReplyDeleteThe Indian Nation, to me is coming back strong, despite the set backs.
Blog 1: 12/9/2017
ReplyDeleteAlice Cunningham was a middle aged researcher who went to live amongst Native American tribes in the late 1800's. She was an educated person from the Boston area, of Cuban descent, a teacher, and a women's rights contributor. Her studies and research were in the area of humanities and anthropology. Under the guidance of Fredrick Putnam, a director of Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, her interests in the studies of Indian culture grew. She taught Indian children at the Carlslile Indian School in Pennsylvania, and was awarded during her career with a Harvard Fellowship.
While Alice lived and studied the Indian Culture, she kept a journal of her surroundings and environment. A novice in the study of anthropology and obervational studies, she gathered a very brief but candid replication of her perceptions when combined with the tone of her own learned paradigms. Her descriptive journal entries are not reflective of the Indian struggles with the white man. The title being "Fieldwork" does not seem as fitting for the content. Regardless, the accounts of interactions somehow helped rather than completely leaving the work of an Interior Department's employee to no further fundings for their purposes at all.
Although the perceptions of Alice Cunningham were not as well received by the Native American tribes as she might have hoped, her contributions to the study of the Indian peoples allowed funding programs and Native American assistance. This quote relays the course of action put in place by allowing Alice to study and relay her findings:
"Soon after she returned from her visit in the Midwest, Fletcher helped create and push through Congress a bill that allowed the Omaha people to claim title to their own land. Fletcher returned to the Omaha Reservation in 1883 as an employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to allot private property to the inhabitants of the reservation, and she carried out similar work at the Winnebago and Nez Perces reservations throughout the 1880s" (Smithsonian Institute 2017).
Works Cited:
Department of Anthropology. (n.d.). Retrieved December 09, 2017, from http://anthropology.si.edu/naa/home/naahome.html
Hi Colleen,
ReplyDeleteI’ve been following the Cherokee voice for my project in class, and the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the beginning of a long battle for them. President Jackson and Congress began manipulating the tribes early on and eventually through “legal” means with the Indian Removal Act. “From 1814 to 1824, Jackson was instrumental in negotiating nine out of eleven treaties which divested the southern tribes of their eastern lands in exchange for lands in the west.” (PBS People & Events Indian Removal 1814-1858 n.d.) The United States government used the ploys of treaties and capitalizing on the Native tribes’ good will by Andrew Jackson failed and resistance positions hardened on all sides. Many tribes submitted to the government by signing these forced relocation documents which commenced the horrific grim walk of death to designated territories across the Mississippi River. The Cherokee tribe took the case to the United States Supreme Court and won a ruling in their favor of their land sovereignty, but deceitful tactics nullified the ruling because other tribal leaders signed agreements with the government.
Works Cited
PBS People & Events Indian Removal 1814-1858. 11 December 2017 .