Primary Document-Casinos

The Native American population has been decreasing since the expansion of the United States; and ever since the Europeans came to America. Because of this, many Native Americans fell short on money and became some of the poorest people in America for a period of time, due to the fact that they didn't use money. Many reservations had also believed in being isolated from the rest of the world; however this in the end only hurt the Native Americans and put them into poverty. In the 1970s, Native Americans realized how to create a better economy for themselves; and that was through the creation of bingo facilities. By establishing these facilities, Native Americans began to get out of their poor state, and began to make money. However, in 1987, the state of California filed a lawsuit against the Indians in California vs. Cabazon Band of Missions. California was suing this tribe because they were building casinos and other gaming facilities on their land without permission. However, the Supreme Court overruled and said that the state was not to interfere with the production of these facilities due to the fact they were created on their own land. 1988 was a big year for many Native Americans who joined forces in the gaming world; they gained $100 million from the bingo casinos, bringing many of their people out of poverty. Many Native Americans like to refer to this new discovery as the 'new buffalo'. In the process of creating these facilities, leaders and other tribes were becoming worrisome that their own people were going to lose sight of their own faith, and turn to the imperfections of greed and wealth. Although, just recently in 2006, a striking number of 1/3 of Native American tribes have become involved in gaming facilities. In 2008, the Navajo tribe created their first casino which involved slot machines, a bingo hall, and table games such as black jack and poker, which is now in New Mexico named the Fire Rock Casino. The creation of these facilities were able to open up jobs for many unemployed Native Americans, as well as many new opportunities on their reservations. Native Americans were now able to open schools, hospitals, and law enforcement. Along with this, they attracted many people as workers, residents, and even investors into their casinos.

Primary Source: How did language barriers and misconceptions shape European - Native Relations?

In my primary source, I read Reverend Johannes Megapolensis’ description of his interactions with and observations of the Mohawk Indians around the year 1644. He described the many languages of the tribes and how these languages changed and varied among the years and numerous speakers. He recalled how he tried to learn the language, but that it was very difficult. He said that, “there is no Christian here who understands the language thoroughly; those who have lived here long can use a kind of jargon just sufficient to carry trade with it”. Megapolensis tried to keep a record of Mohawk vocabulary by asking them what numerous objects were called, but he said that these efforts were tedious and often fruitless because he claimed that the indians were stupid. This display of ignorance was sad to see. The fact that he would assume that they are not as intelligent due to cultural differences and the language barrier shows the lack of respect and understanding felt for the Natives. I believe that these barriers could have led to many miscommunications. How could treaties be followed if the languages were not interpreted correctly? How could effective dialogue or negotiation take place? Overall, this settler seemed in awe of the many differences in Mohawk society- the role of women, the non-monotheistic religion, the clothing, etc. Despite some notions of superiority, the Europeans of Megapolensis’ settlement seemed to try to coexist peacefully with the Mohawks. He described how they met up in the woods and walked together and how he observed their very different political structure. At this time, relations seemed positive, but it seems that as the years continued, the number of settlers grew and the culture of the natives was infringed upon. The differences between the Europeans and the Natives were sometimes a form of marvel for newcomers, but eventually they would become a factor that distanced the two groups and created a lack of respect and trust. 

In-Depth Source- What Made Relations Between Natives and Colonists so Difficult?

As I read through my in-depth source, “Suspected on Both Sides”, I was able to develop a deeper picture as the complex involvement of the Native Americans during the time of the American Revolution. One influential leader, known as Little Abraham, was an Iroquois who strongly advocated for the doctrine of neutrality, declaring that they were not to pick sides because, “we bear as much affection for the King of England’s subjects, upon the other side of the water, as we do for you, born upon this island”. This amicable tone spoken towards the settlers was surprising to me given the mistreatment received by the Natives from these Europeans. These attempts at friendly relations between the two groups were not easy given the anger and tension likely present at the time, however the efforts seemed to have been made out of self-interests. It was stated in the article that Little Abraham had political, economic, and geographical incentives to stay on the settler’s good sides, and the settler’s had similar views. Many came to America with a sense of entitlement and superiority. Many writings highlighted in this article show the shock of the Europeans upon seeing the sophistication of Native American society. The Europeans marveled at the homes and things that these people had because they held the preconceived notions that the Indians were uncivilized inhabitants of the new land. But what seemed to really inhibit relations between Natives and Europeans were the ulterior motives behind every seemingly positive event. Many of the treaties signed or acts favoring the Native’s land rights carried very little meaning with them besides political manipulation. Both sides lacked a mutual trust and respect for each other based on stereotypes and poor histories, and this insincerity and lack of respect rendered it extremely difficult for treaties to be upheld and for the Natives to have effective relationships with those establishing a new nation on their land. 

What flaws were there in treaties made with the English that upset tribes?

The conflicts between settlers and Native Americans is not necessarily flaws within the treaties, but a fight for natural resources. Before colonists, Native Americans had access to any lands, never faced periodic hunger and lacking the ability to read and write making them at a disadvantage in the English society. Taking a closer look at a treaty that was formed between the Iroquois tribe and the English, Michael M. Pomedli was able to make connections between the Condolence  rites, (scared rites practiced by the Iroquois) and the treaties. By spotting these connections it is easier to see how treaties were not the cause to the Iroquois's conflicts with the English. It was shocking to discover how much the English respected with Iroquois's Condolence rites. All five main components of these rites are present in some form within the trading treaties. One example is when the King of Delaware (this was around 1736) participated in the requickening rite, he was really dedicated and committed to the Iroquois by participating in their ritual and agreeing to their terms. The fact that the English made an effort to combine these two far fetched ideas of a treaty and make a common agreement is quite impressive. The English were extremely logical and wanted a more legal approach. While the Iroquois had a more spiritual approach and saw this pact as a very strong connection with the English. The way the English and the Iroquois combined spiritual and logical in such a successful way is truly remarkable. The main reason that drove the Iroquois away from the settlers was the lack of resources needed for survival. The settler's large use of natural resources drove the Iroquois away. Not their cruel and unfair treaties. Not all treaties worked as well as the Iroquois and the English, but knowing that this relationship existed puts a little hope in the possibility that not all Native American and European relationships were terrible.

How did white Americans influence the Native Americans religiously?

A Native American man named Tenkswataya (also known as "The Prophet") gave a speech to Governor William Henry Harrison of Indiana in 1808.  The Prophet explained to the governor that his goal was to show the Native Americans "the good principles of religion which the white people profess."  The speech shows how The Prophet became a messenger from "The Great Spirit" to tell the Native Americans that he created them and they should not do evil or abandon the world.  The Prophet explained that the religion he has been preaching started to attract more followers from different backgrounds.  Their sharing of the religion has united them and they feel a stronger connection.  The Prophet made a point of saying, "We desire that you will join us for the preservation of both red and white people."  He continued, "we must lay aside this character and attend to the care of our children, " meaning that they should all lay aside their differences so their children could live in peace.  He wants to guarantee that there would be no violence between the next generations of Native Americans and white Americans. The prophet truly wanted peace between the whites and the Native Americans and he promised his people would follow the words of the Great Spirit to get this to happen.

"Doing Business on American Land"

The article, "Doing Business on American Land", answers the question of what Native Americans do in modern day America in order to make money, as well as where they currently reside; whether it is the city or in their reservations. I learned from this article, that many Native Americans currently live in Arizona, almost 60%, and of those 60%, a majority of them are apart of a small business. Some of these businesses that are owned by these Native Americans are gas stations, grocery stores, convenience stores, arts and crafts stores, or smoke shops. However, there are other kinds of businesses as well, however these are considered  part of the 'invisible economy'. An invisible economy is over looked by society, but it is also very important to the Indian economy and people. An invisible economy may consist of the follow: a powwow, native arts and crafts producers, food vendors, vegetable gardening, and other small enterprises. One of the problems that often occur in Native American businesses; is that they do not measure wealth with money. They measure wealth with happiness, good help, good crops, and with the well-being of a community/family. Because of this, Native Americans have a few problems when it comes to equity, access to capital, and the cost of development. However, successful business have found that following are key to making a business: strategic vision, identifying with their own land, a well governed business, responsible, proud to be a Native American (using their own products goes a long way), involvement in politics.

What were the causes of such aggressive action in Indian Removal?

The Indian Removal Act was the resulting action of strong opinions and motives that white colonists and their government had. It was enacted on an entire people that had lived their lives on their land for centuries, and one may question how strong the motivation must have been in order to do so. One idea that hypothesizes about the roots of this motivation is the idea that the people of Georgia were responsible for the entirety of Indian removal. The land that is now Georgia was home to many natives, including most dominantly the Cherokee tribe. This land happens to be extremely fertile, it was a gold mine for growing crops and farming.One of the many reasons for Indian removal was the Georgians want to have the land for their own, because of the extreme value it had in terms agricultural production. After the industrial revolution, the land was near perfect for the use of new technology that allowed for more effective agricultural production. The soil that the Indians lived on was a contributing factor in their removal, Americans had their minds set on money and profits rather than moral values. Other than the more obvious economical advantages of having this land for themselves, Georgians, and most colonists for that matter, believed in white superiority over the natives. They did not view the natives as equal in any way and therefore their extermination was not questioned. This was another simple idea that can be argued as a primary reason for Indian removal, the colonists wanted the land, and the "inferior native population" was not going to stop them. The most thought-provoking idea for the cause of Indian removal was the sense of nationalism that Georgians and most colonists had. They believed in their country, and in their state, and in the rights of that state, and nothing would stop them from having that land as part of their state and country. No matter what agreements or treaties were made, Americans had such a strong sense of nationalism in the beginning generations of our country that they disregarded morals or their own countries values in order to obtain what they thought was their rightful part of their country. They had no interest in having American land shared with native non-Americans, it was their country for their people and it made them strive to make it a land of their own. When all of the different ideas come together, it becomes much more clear as to why the seemingly evil Indian Removal Act was set in place, it is an unfortunate reflection of some of our country's historical opinions and values.

What happened to the Native Americans that did not leave after the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

Natives that did not leave with their nation for Indian Territory were left without a governing body to represent and protect them.  The whites were able to impose their powers over the remaining natives and even used some as slaves.  The US government then tried to get the remaining natives out of the east and offered some tribes land in Indian Territory.  In 1840 the US government offered the Choctaws of Mississippi specific plots of land in Indian Territory (what is modern day Oklahoma) if they left their homes in the south.  Some of the Choctaws left, but around 1500 remained in their homeland.  Similarly, Cherokees of North Carolina were persuaded by the government to move west, but only affluent families who could not establish themselves among the white communities left for Indian Territory.  As a way to get more Cherokees out of North Carolina, Congress offered $53.33 to any Cherokee who would move west.  In these cases the natives were trying to be persuaded to move by the US government, but this was not the case for each tribe. In Louisiana the Tunica-Biloxis lost most of their land from whites claiming it as theirs and killing the Tunica-Biloxis leaders.  The natives were forced to leave out of their own safety having lost their homes to violent whites.  This was a situation where individuals--not a state or government--caused the removal of a nation.  The nations that did stay in their homes, such as the Choctaw and Cherokee, stayed to continue the traditions of their people in their homeland.  They were reluctant to leave because they were in a place their people had lived for thousands of years and knew the whites had no rights to make them leave for a new land.  The natives still living east of the Mississippi found themselves stuck in a white-dominated society and had trouble remembering their culture and traditions as they were too categorized as "colored" and had little opportunities socially or politically to succeed.

Why was the native population so significantly affected?

The obvious reason is because of European settlement. Why did an entire civilization suddenly start diminish beginning in the 1400's? The introduction of foreign disease first by the spanish and the conquistadors. more than half of the original population died from disease that they had never encountered so their immune systems were not fully equipt to handle it. But the population continued to diminish. To explain this we must look at the public opinion of Native Americans both our recent history and in the 1600's onwards. Indians were stereotyped to be theses savage, animal like, superstitious, simple minded beings. If the majority of the new European settlers believed such things then they would have no problem hearing that a group of Indians had been brutally beaten and murdered while being driven off their land by the brave European Armies. Also due to public opinion many “expeditions” were held, the purpose, people would claim, would be to explore new lands in this foreign country, however it was more often than not that the land being explored would be where Native Americans had their homes/ villages, hunting grounds, and their own existance.

Why did the Native Americans react with rebellions/violence?

Native Americans reacted with violence towards settlers or rebellions against missionaries because the natives felt they were imposing foreign cultures on them.  The settlers and missionaries thought they were doing something good for the natives by showing them Christianity, but the natives became annoyed quickly from their actions.  The westward settlement driven by Manifest Destiny was also used as a method to spread Christianity among the native populations.  There were missions established along the Rio Grande and in the California region that offered aid to the natives.  However, any natives that came for relief would be put to work in awful working conditions, giving them reason to rebel against the missions.  These events caused the relationships between the natives and Americans to move towards more and more violent conflicts.  Once the relationship had changed and natives became increasingly tired of whites, the settlers moving west found the natives in their way of westward expansion.  Additionally, because the natives had attacked missions and settlers, settlers felt they could attack the natives out of self-defense. The relationship started to deteriorate once the settlers started imposing Christianity on the natives in western North America and the natives fought back against them.

What Factors made relations between the Natives and the Colonists so difficult?

Poor relations between Natives and settlers began with Christopher Columbus.  He exhibited greed and disrespect for the native people who had called the New World home for centuries, setting a poor precedence for future interactions.  A few hundred years after his exploitation of natives, the English came to settle North America.  These settler- native interactions were often apprehensive, one reason being the language barrier.  There were some instances were natives and settlers lived peacefully.  The natives gave the settlers advice on farming techniques and showed the Europeans the land of America.  But so many other instances, such as the Massacre of 1622 indicated that many natives did not want to live alongside the settlers who came here with the notion that they were entitled to free land- land that belonged to the natives for centuries.  This violent display on the part of the natives was used by settlers as an excuse to push the natives off of their land and act violently as a means of protection.  The fur trade was a lucrative industry, and again some natives and settlers tried to work together to facilitate this trade.   Part of this effort was the formation of treaties.  On paper, these treaties called for peace and coexistence, however in action, few of the provisions were followed.  This distinction between ideas and actual action continued.  When William Penn founded the Pennsylvania colony, he was one of few leaders who wished to exhibit tolerance and respect to the natives in his colony.  However despite this doctrine, settlers came with a disregard for the natives and pushed them off of their land.  Many of the conflicts between natives and settlers came from notions of entitlement.  The settlers felt that it was their right to take the land that they wanted, and the natives tried to fight this.  However, violence always seemed to be the only way either side got their way.  It was said in the article, “American Indian Wars” that, with all that the natives did to help the early settlers, all they were repaid with was, “disease, weaponry with which to kill one another, and exploitation of their land and produce”.  This shows how, despite any efforts to coexist, mutual respect was not present.  Without this, two groups cannot effectively coexist.  As a result, centuries of fighting and defense caused the loss of a large portion of the Native American culture who founded America in the first place. 

In what ways did American-Native American relations involve conflict?

When colonists arrived in America, it was already occupied by a very unique group of people. Colonists had good relations with these people for awhile, trading with them and living among them without too much violence. The tension and violence escalated when the United States became a country. When this happened more and more people came and more settlers came slowly moving west into their new country's land. As they did this, they started to occupy too much Native American land, and tension began to rise. The Native American people's land is their number one asset. They lived off of all that it provided and there was a spiritual connection with nature and its resources as well. When settlers came they started to destroy this asset and occupy it themselves. There wasn't immediate war, but after a number of years Native Americans began to defend their land, and conflict slowly started to get more serious. Many Native American leaders, such as Tecumseh, formed Native alliances and tried in different ways to create forces powerful enough to stop settlers' encroachment. This often ended with little success, as the white people had more advanced weaponry and numbers. The fact that their land was being taken from them was the number one reason for conflict between Natives and American people. After years of complicated conflict and attempts to save their homes, the Native Americans started to be forced to move out of the land they had lived on forever and move west. Even our government, in 1830, put in place an act that would remove all Natives from east of the Mississippi and make them live on reserved land west of the Mississippi. The moving of the people was not easy and quite devastating for some tribes. Once on reservations, Native life was extremely difficult because of the lack of resources. The Natives were not able to live self-sufficiently, because the land they were put on was unfamiliar and poor for producing much of anything. In some cases, the tribes were forced to live among other tribes that they had been enemies with for centuries. The history of Native American relations in this country began when colonists first arrived, and slowly progressed through time producing in the end a brutal story and mistreatment and devastation for an entire people.

Who were some of the first advocates of Native Americans and how did they help?

Thomas L. McKenney helped to start the Bureau of Indian Affairs which acted as a form of government for Native Americans.  It provided basic necessities of life for them and organization to their daily lives and politics.  The BIA, led by McKenney, provided a political and human voice for the Native Americans when they didn't have one.  They were discriminated against and did not have much power, but the BIA gave them power and led them to equality.  Before the BIA, Native Americans were oppressed.  Their land was taken away, they barely had any political power, and they were not treated as the first people of America.  They had trouble resisting the opposing forces but the BIA helped them do this, making them a stronger, more independent people.  The BIA didn't do everything for them so they became dependent on them.  The BIA was successful for the most part, although it ended abruptly because the role and source of its power changed.  It was no longer based on the ideas and beliefs of McKenney and did not help the Native Americans as much.

How did Native American's first interactions with settlers become the base of future conflicts?

When many different European Empires settled in North America in the mid 1600s, each formed a different relationship with the Natives. It is within these early interactions where inequality and tention is quiet evident. The 3 main european powers which had the most interactions with Native Americans was the Dutch, French and English. The Dutch's alliance with Native Americans was for pure economical purposes like trading fur, farming and building ships. The French and the English also allied for economical purposes but also seised the alliance as an opportunity to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. Different tribes allied with different European groups. By now tension is building, there are different tribes working with different European powers, who are all struggling to overpower each other. Indians were being exterminated and killed off their own lands so settlers could have the land for themselves. King Philip's war was the very famous Native american uprising. One of the first and biggest revolts against settlers. It was the result of "Praying Towns" which were run by misionarys trying to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Most of the praying towns served as a safe house for Native Americans. It was a way for them to coexist among the English without conflict. The issue was when King Philip promised to follow English law, and 3 of his tribe members were hung by the British trail for killing an Indian from another tribe. King Philip was upset, and convinced other tribes to join him to fight the English. The war ended badly for King Philip and other indians. Most of them were killed, and survivors were shipped as slaves to the Carribean. This war was a major turning point which suggested that native americans and settlers will have difficultly coexisting. Other tribes which were trading with the French and Dutch were also sold into slavery or some moved away from them. Most indians re-located out west to escape the europeans. There they lived peacefully until Americans stated expanding out west, when more conflicts rised. 

Where did change take place for the Native American people, and why?

Before the 1900s, Native Americans had only been living in reservations. A reservation is a piece of land that was set aside for the Native American people to reside on, and build their own communities in. Some Native Americans, however, did not live on these reservations. Once the Europeans came into the United States, some of the Indians decided that they were interested in living in a European lifestyle. However, the Indians that decided to live on these reservations, had lived on them for many centuries, until the federal government decided that they needed to transition into living an urban lifestyle. This transition mostly happened around the 1950s. The federal government put money aside in order to give these Indians jobs, homes, and they even gave scholarships to the children so they would be able to earn a better education. Many Indians did not agree to this transition, because they preferred to live the traditional Native American lifestyle. However, some of the Indians found this as an opportunity, and chose to pursue it. By the 1980s, over 50% of Native Americans were living in urban areas. It was around this time when the government decided to pull their funds away from helping the Native Americans, pleased with the turnout. Today, many Native Americans are residing in cities and urban areas in order to make a living for themselves. Many of these Native Americans are seeking jobs on railroads, commercial ships, and selling their own Native American novelties such as crafts, fish, and other wild foods. Many of the Native Americans now residing in urban areas, would never have transitioned from their reservations if it hadn't been for the federal governments requests.

1st blog post

The lack of attention and the Native Americans received caused them to constantly face challenges in American society. The unfair treatment thoughtout American history suggests that consideration was not given towards Native Americans when the United States was developing. This lack of consideration carried on and still exists today. A contribution to this, would be how invasive outsiders effected Native Americans and ultimately took advantage of them. Seen in early settlers by their sometimes unfair trading with Native Americans. Black Hawk was an example of an uprising against outsiders because of he fought against them. His courage made him different from other Native Americans who did not want any contact with outsiders at all. It seems like few people made attempts to help and support Native Americans causing them to turn into the forgotten natives of America. One person who did was John Collier. His work to help create treaties to protect Native Americans. The effect of these treaties decreased poverty and improved birth rates and health. To fight poverty, many Native Americans sold their land to companies, and always ended up with an unfair deal. It is unfortunate to see society treat them so disrespectfully because Native Americans have not done anything to deserve such discourtesy because they were the first people to inhabit America. Subtopics we were able to take from this was Political power, Social Equality, Treaties and territories, conflicts and interrelations and cultural contribution.

initial thoughts

I was excited to learn about Native Americans because I had never really learned about them and I think it’s interesting to learn about the first people that were ever in America. After researching, I am shocked by the Native Americans history because I did not know all the struggles they had faced. The European people forced them out of their land. The Native American’s and colonist seemed to have had many conflicts, which resulted in the cruel treatment of the Native Americans. Most of the research I had found was comparing the basic lives of the colonists and Native Americans. I am excited to research more to dig deeper into these conflicts and understand more of our Country’s history. Our group will be focusing on the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th centuries in America. The specific subtopics we will research for each time period is; social equality, political power, outside influence, treaties, territories, conflicts, and cultural relations.

Initial Post

It intrigues and disturbs me that a people that lived on land before others took it from them were, and still are, (though not as much) treated unequally and without respect.  Currently, it seems like the problem is starting to resolve many Native Americans have more power and are equals.  There are even a few on the Senate.  I am excited to learn how this first started and how it is progressed through time, affecting different tribes differently.  Some key pieces of information I found were as follows: Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a representation of Native Americans having more political power; the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and Henry Benjamin Whipple, one of the first and most notable Caucasians to help the Native Americans as an oppressed people.  The subtopics my group and I are using are social equality, political power, influences from others and how they influence others, and territories and conflicts.

First Post-Initial Thoughts

My initial thoughts of the Native American research topic were essentially positive. I was very excited to learn about the cultures of those who first inhibited our country. However, as I began to research this topic, I realized that there would be a lot of disappointing aspects to the topic. The reason for the disappointment is due to the fact that the Native Americans have faced horrible of hardships over time. Not only have they endured the labeling of harsh stereotypes, but their land was taken from them by the incoming European settlers, which essentially displaced great amounts of indigenous people. Although it is upsetting to obtain information such as this, I am still overall excited to further research the history of Native Americans in the United States. Furthermore, when I first started my research, I enjoyed learning about Native American advocates such as John Collier, who have helped gain rights for the American indigenous. The eras that will be studied are the 18th, 19th, and 20th century through the present. Within these eras, the subtopics of social equality, treaties, territories, conflict, cultural contributions and relations, political power, and outside influence will be researched.

First Thoughts

I chose this topic out of interest and because I had never learned much about the relationship between the Native Americans and the European Americans before.  I was curious about the initial relations between the Colonists and Native American tribes and how they lived together.  Through the initial research I found there was even more information that I had not been taught a lot about before in school including the presence of Native Americans in the United States military and how the expansion westward contributed to the process of their relocation.  Using the library database sources I found a few pictures relating to how Native Americans were portrayed in the media as well as some graphs illustrating the changing populations within certain tribes throughout American history.  This showed me there is more to the topic than I first thought and  that our group could find a lot of information about how Americans saw Native Americans and how the cultures clashed.

Some research topics include: Social equality, political power, outside influence, treaties/territories/conflicts, and cultural contributions/relations.  We plan to research these topics in these time periods: The beginning of the United States and in the 18th Century, the 19th Century, and the 20th Century to the present.  This should give us a well-rounded understanding of a wide variety of topics dealing with the Native Americans in America's history throughout each century.

Initial Thoughts

As I began my initial research on Native Americans, I saw how complex their history has been.  It was appalling to read of the ways in which these tribes were pushed further and further West.  What especially shocked me was the fact that many Native Americans supported the American cause during the revolution, but once America was established as a free land, they were pushed off of their homeland.  This nation, founded on the prospects of social equality and religious freedom, forcibly tried to take much of their land and resources and erase many aspects of their culture and religious beliefs.  However, aside from the many sad, violent parts of the Native American’s history, there are many facets of it that remain overlooked.  These people made invaluable contributions to our culture and society that have shaped what America is today.  If it were not for their generous instructions on farming for the newly arrived settlers, many of the Europeans would not have survived here and today’s farming industry would not be the same.  They introduced corn, which would eventually bloom into one of America’s biggest crops.  Influences from their languages can be attributed to many words and expressions in American English as well as the names of numerous geographic locations.  Their culture and knowledge base gave us many of the sports Americans are still fond of, over 200 important pharmaceutical drugs, as well as a number of tools and crafts.  Their guidance helped settlers plan the blueprint for America’s growing infrastructure.  They were early models of a society that included women’s rights and the Iroquois especially played an important role in that movement.  It is so important to for all Americans to recognize the important, lasting contributions these individuals made to America. 

 

Key Terms and people:  

o   Pan-Indian Organizations

o   Gertrude Bonnin

o   Reservations

o   Environmental Issues

o   Derogatory use of images and mascots

o   Diseases and epidemics

o   Treaties

o   Christian Missionaries

o   Proclamation of 1763

o   War of 1812

o   Worchester vs. Georgia (1832)

o   Trail of Tears

o   Mexican-American War (1848)

o   California Gold Rush

o   Sand Creek (1864)

o   Homestead Act (1862)

Our research will be divided into three categories:        

®     The 18^th Century

®     The 19^th century

®     The 20^th and 21^st centuries

Within each of these categories we will explore the subcategories of:

®     Social and Cultural Issues (i.e. contributions, relationships)

®     Politics (i.e. relations with settlers, treaties, territories, wars, lawsuits)

®     Tribal Issues (i.e. important leaders, diseases, reservations, farming)

First thoughts and impressions

My initial thoughts upon the topic of Native American, was that I was excited. I remember learning about Native American history in elementary and middle school, but we never looked that closely into it. I have always been interested in our nations past, as well as the first people who were ever on the land. After doing some research, I found that the Native Americans were completely innocent people. They were forced out of their land by the European people which consisted of the Spaniards and the Portuguese. Not only did these people try to kick the Native Americans out of their own homes, but they also carried diseases, such as the North American Smallpox Epidemic, which spread among the Native Americans, killing many of them. As I continued to do more research, I learned that Native Americans have always been discriminated against; ever since the late 1500s, even to present day America. In the past, Native Americans created organizations which fought for their rights, one of them being the "Society of American Indians", which was created in the early 1900s which was put in place to fight for Native American civil rights as well as their education, health, and local government. One major part of Native American history took place in the 1950s, when Native Americans were accused of fishing too much. This case was brought to the Supreme Court, and they ruled that the Native Americans were able to fish at their "usual and accustomed places".

Other ideas:
Early 1700s-Virginia and Carolina had a slave trade of Native Americans --> lucrative fur trade
French/Indian war of 1754-1763
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988
Worcester v. Georgia of 1832
*recent incidents of discriminating towards the Indians in 2007*

Subtopics and divisions
18th century/early America
19th century
20th century/21st century

Topics within eras
Social equality
Treaties/territories/conflicts
Cultural contributions/relations
Political power
Outside influences

First Post: Initial Thoughts

My first thoughts on everything that I've read so far seem to all be more feelings of confusion and anger toward what happened to the Native American people. It seems that although both colonists and native Americans did things wrong, the land and life of Native Americans were taken from them. Based on the information I've obtained so far, it seems the Native American relations with colonists started alright and then took a turn for the worst and never improved. There were peaceful relations and also relations of conflict and then eventually it was only those relations of conflict that led to brutal mistreatment of the Native American people. Something I thought about was how the treatment of Native Americans directly violated some of the most basic values our country is supposed to have. There were many key events such as wars and leaders of both colonist and Native American sides. Subtopics that we will need to explore regarding Native Americans in the United States of America are: Social equality, Political power, Outside influence, Treaties, Territories, Conflicts, and Cultural Relations. All of these subtopics will be the structure of research for our three time periods: The 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in America.

WELCOME