Native American Paper

Submitted By Lien-Amin
Words: 897
Pages: 4

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Lien Amin
Mrs. Fleetwood
English I­F

19 March 2015
Waischu
Waischu:One who takes best meat for himself, or selfish. The Native Americans moved from their homes to reservations. White settlers took the Native Americans land because they needed space for cultivating, living, the valuable gold on their land, and most of all greed. The
Trail of Tears which caused a high death toll, began in the early 1800’s and continued for several years. The reservations take place in the mid/South West. Later on Andrew Jackson signed the act which formally removed the Native Americans from their homes. The country had rascists who had a superiority complex. The United States gave little consideration to the native
Americans. The Native Americans had been pushed out of their homes because the English of the 1800’s felt superior and greedy, this causes wrecked families, lost culture, and diminishing population. The short term effects may be overlooked even though they caused detrimental effects.
The English treated inhumanly throughout history. “The government operated as many as 100 boarding schools for American Indians, both on and off reservations. Children were sometimes taken forcibly, by armed police.”(Bear) People already living under harsh conditions, had their children ripped away. We see this throughout slavery also. The reservations overflowed with death, poverty conditions, and a diminishing culture. A 13 year old girls describes the conditions on the reservation in 1880, she explains how much has changed since the white men had put her family in a reservation “Without our warm bison robes and deerskin clothing, we are always cold in the winter winds. As if cold and hunger aren't enough to deal with, our people have been sick.

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We have little resistance to white men's diseases, and many people die­­especially children...”(Johnson). The Native Americans became forced into English culture by the government officials. They had to get rid of their clothes that provided extreme warmth. This caused sickness and death in the reservations. Trade within the reservations between the French and English produced violent outcomes. Disease transferred through the French and English, also caused death. “Many of the tribes destroyed by constant warfare and catastrophic diseases,... The fur trade in particular made many tribes powerful and more aggressive”(Williams). When the
English traded they thought that since Natives were in reservations they could take advantage of them. The Native Americans became very clever and traded with both. Once the English realized that they got swindled, warfare became mediocre.Even though these effects did not last forever they still had a grievous toll on Native Americans lives.

The Native Americans turned into a poverty stricken and have lost their heritage and culture because of the reservations.
The government made a promise to help the Native
Americans stay on their feet. This was short lived
. “In 1953, the Termination legislation was passed and signed. This law ended the relationship between Indian tribes and the government.
Reservations would no longer be independent entities”(Sandefur). By leaving the tribes on their own with little resources and many families below the poverty line, the government created a recipe for destruction.
Sadly a probable cause of low population could be from over 100 years ago. The trail of tears caused 1000’s of Native Americans to die. “In Census 2000, 4.3 million people, or 1.5 percent of the total U.S. population, reported that they were American Indian and
Alaska Native. This number included 2.4 million people, or 1 percent, who reported