American Indians (aka Native Americans) were the first people to settle down inAmerica. The Native Americans had lived on this continent since about 12,000 BC. Therewere probably about 10 million Indians populating America north of present-day Mexico.They were rich variety of peoples, cultures and languages. American Indians were differentfrom the Europeans. They were non-Christian. Arrogant Europeans made a problem out of it.This resulted in killing off American Indians. They were killed as the effect of racism.Slavery, the treatment of the Native Americans and the events lead to this horrible result.When people talk about slavery, the first thing that comes to their mind will beAfri ...view middle of the document...
Manifest Destiny refers to the colonizers belief that they had a right to spread west.That it was "for the greater good". It was the way colonizers justified their actions towardsNative people. This was mostly because they did not share religious beliefs and they did notshare the same way of living. Indians could never be the equal of whites. The acts theycommitted against Native people to act upon their manifest destiny were horrible: genocide,cultural genocide, land theft, rape, torture, kidnapping, etc. The English settlers were muchgreedier for land and grew less tolerant of the Natives standing in their way. There werenumerous amounts of massacres. Native people were removed from their homes and cultures.The events that Native Americans suffered were cruel. Americans committed acts ofgenocide towards the Native Americans for personal gain and profit. There were two big actsagainst Natives- the Wounded Knee Massacre and the Trail of Tears. The Wounded KneeMassacre in 1890 is known as the event that ended the last of the Indian wars in America.After an excited Native American fired a rifle shot in a non-combat situation, US Army troopsmassacred 300 Indians, including seven children. It was the symbolic final step in the war forthe West. After Wounded Knee the Indians surrendered to the wishes of the government,leaving themselves to reservation life. The Trail of Tears is even depressing to say the name.On May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson enacted the Indian Removal Act as a means to tradeland which lied on the eastern side of the Mississippi where the Native Americans resided. Inreturn, ...
