250 words APA format cite within paper…..
answer one of these questions……
1. Do you think the Indians could have driven out the colonizers when the colonists were first arriving in small numbers and why do you think they did not try harder to do that?
2. What do you think was the turning point when the natives realized they would not be able to defeat the Europeans?
3. Why do you think this is an important topic for students of American Indian history to understand?
this is is what I wrote about to answer one of the questions above
The Rise of Land Issues Between Aboriginals, the White Settlers, and the Government
Long before white settlers arrived in America, the entire American land was primarily considered a land of the natives. In particular, the Aboriginals viewed their communally owned land as a gift from their creator, who offered it to His people for survival. Their existence and sustenance of their livestock and food crops was entirely attributed to this gift from their creator. As such, the natives felt attached to the land and had to protect it from outsiders (Nash, 2006).
While this lasted for many years, the arrival of white settlers in 18th century became a threat to the native people since some of the white settlers had interests in the people’s land for farming and mining purposes. After extensive exploration, the settlers identified many areas that had valuable resources such as gold, while others were identified as ideal lands for extensive farming (Nash, 2006). This culminating interest to take up the land that had been in possession of native Americans led to conflicts and attempts by the natives to gain possession and protect their land from the intruders.
The struggle of the Aboriginals to retain their land was profound and thus the white settlers had to device methods of counteracting the barrier and evicting the native inhabitants of the land that they were interested in. Having come from industrialized European countries, the white settlers had the resources to evacuate the natives from the land. Most commonly, wars and disease were the primary methods of driving away the natives in the 18th century, while use of treaties and passage of bills and Acts became widely used in the 19th century (Todd, 2008).
Wars
At first, the white settlers came in small numbers and established peaceful co-existence with the natives. As time passed by, more settlers relocated from Europe and settled in the areas where the first white settlers had occupied, organizing themselves for strategic expansion (Newbigging & Carter, 2000). In the meantime, the natives realized this threat and were reluctant to provide land for more settlers. As such, the rate of conflicts started rising up, with the settlers being better positioned due to their sophisticated firearms and use of trained forces.
Diseases
Some diseases that had struck the European nations were used as a means of suppressing the native population. As conflicts intensified, small pox, measles, chicken pox, and influenza viruses were introduced in the land, which killed a majority of the natives since they had neither drugs nor body immunity to fight these infections. As noted by Newbigging and Carter (2000), about 30% of small pox cases resulted in death and hence the population size of the native people was highly reduced. Others fled in fear of contact with the settlers as they viewed them as the source of these diseases. This eventually paved way and more land for the white settlers.
Treaties and Reservation Section
As the years advanced and white settlers flooded America, treaties and introduction of reservation sections became a new way for settling the white settlers in America. The acquisition and expansion of constituent States of America played a significant role because the government and the established parliamentary system had powers to pass Acts regarding to the signing of treaties and allocation of reservation sections. For instance, in 1850, John Fremont and William M. Gwin who were the first California senators introduced bills to extinguish all aboriginal title in California. After the bill was passed, three commissioners were appointed to negotiate the terms of the treaties for the acquisition of the land under the aboriginal title (Lerner, Klesert & Downer, 1992).
Reservation land rules for the Indians also played a significant role in facilitating the allocation of more land to white settlers. Between 1830 and 1868, Indian Removal Act passed by the federal government led to evacuation of Indians from areas that were dominated by white settlers. Essentially, these Indian reservation sections were set aside by the government where the evacuated native Indians were to relocate to in order to create more land for the European settlers in the land (Lerner, Klesert & Downer, 1992).
In 1887, individual land reservation system was adopted, which primarily sort to offer land to individual parties. While this system lasted for 47 years, it was restructured to suit the culture of the aboriginal people in the land since they embraced communal land ownership over individual land ownership (Todd, 2008). Nonetheless, compensation of land was still considered a viable option if the State government wanted to acquire land from the natives. For instance, areas where the government ought to have developed interests in mining could be forfeited by the inhabitants after considerable compensation for that land.
To present, the same issue of native’s land and government involvement take a central focus. As indicated in a recent case where natives were objecting allocation of native’s land to foreign mining company reported by Gouge (2014) on Indian Country News, land issue is still an issue of concern in the recent times, despite the high level of civilization and revolution of system of government from the 18th century to the 21st century.
Reference
Gouge, W. (2014). Native News Update December 5, 2014 – Indian Country News.Indiancountrynews.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014, from http://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/tv/native-news-update-m-f/14107-native-news-update-december-5-2014
Lerner, S., Klesert, A., & Downer, A. (1992). Preservation on the Reservation: Native Americans, Native American Lands, and Archaeology. American Indian Quarterly, 16(4), 570. doi: 10.2307/1185318
Nash, S. (2006). Paper Talk: A History of Libraries, Print Culture, and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada before 1960 (review). Libraries &Amp; The Cultural Record, 41(3), 415-417. doi:10.1353/lac.2006.0050
Newbigging, W., & Carter, S. (2000). Aboriginal People and Colonizers of Western Canada to 1900. The Journal Of Military History, 64(3), 855. doi: 10.2307/120899
Todd, R. (2008). Aboriginal Peoples and the Land: Ownership, Understanding, and Development. British Journal Of Canadian Studies, 21(1), 105-128. doi:10.3828/bjcs.21.1.6
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