Native Americans vs. English Settlers

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The interactions between Settlers and Native Americans can best be described as a shameful episode of American history. Over the course of 100 years, Native Americans were subjected to shameful acts including brutal treatment, broken treaties, and the destruction of their culture by white Settlers. The first century of the United States is filled with shameful words and acts of brutality toward Native American cultures. Founding fathers and ‘heroes’ such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson referred to Native Americans as “Wolves and beasts” and advocated efforts to “Pursue them to extermination.” These were not empty threats, as his actions toward Native Americans earned Washington the nickname “Destroyer of towns” as he promoted the slaughter of natives both hostile and otherwise. After that, future President Andrew Jackson promoted the wholesale slaughter and mutilation of natives in the 1830s, ordering his men to cut the noses off hundreds of slain natives to provide accurate body counts. This mentality of brutality isn’t limited to early American History. As late as the 1890, future President Theodore Roosevelt was declaring that in nine out of ten cases, the “only good Indian was a dead Indian.” All four of the individuals mentioned not only served as President of the United States, but three of them are celebrated with their likenesses carved into the Mt. Rushmore National Monument. That we describe the practitioners of such brutality as ‘heroes’ can only be described as shameful. Seemingly the next step in any treaty made with Native American groups was the destructive decision to void it by the Americans. As early as 1830, the Indian Removal Act, which removed natives to ‘Indian Territory’ west of the Mississippi River, stated that the President would “forever secure and guaranty” this land to the natives. Forever turned out to be roughly 77 years as

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