Struggle of American Indian in Modern America

The American Indian's Struggle for Survival in Modern America

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the American Anglo-Saxon ideology of Manifest Destiny laid the foundation for the government's right to territorial and economic expansion. The American republic was deemed a white Anglo-Saxon republic. Hence, white races would be readily absorbed into the nation, but nonwhite races would not be welcome. Using these arguments as a base, the government was able to justify the annexation of areas that were heavily populated with "inferior" races and the country shaped policies that reflected its belief that Indians were inferior and expendable (Horsman 226).

The move toward what would eventually become the near-decimation of the Indian population in North America began as early as 1803, with the Louisiana Purchase (Morgan 20). From that date on, governmental policy reflected the country's belief that any relationship between white Americans and Indians was necessarily conflictual. During the first half of the nineteenth century, most of the Indians living in the South were removed to what would later be called Indian Territory (Morgan 26). Then, during the 1850s, the federal government focused its attention on the Indians inhabiting the trans-Mississippi West (Milner 173).

From the 1850s, the relationship between America and the Indians was characterized by a series of wars that lasted into the 1890s (Milner 173). Although all the Ind

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at receives less than ten inches of rainfall annually. The Hopi believe their success is a result of their spiritual practices, which place all of life within a cycle of Earth-related ceremonies and activities that help them know exactly when to plant, how to place the seeds, and exactly where the seed will be able to draw from the underground water table. Hopi ceremonies, they say, not only bring abundance from the sand but also "keep the whole world in balance" (Mander 269). Traditionally, the Hopi keep only the number of animals needed for their immediate family. In fact, one distinction between the traditional Hopi and the new breed of "progressive" Hopi, who have adopted the Mormonism in which they have been inculcated, is that the non-traditional Indians practice large-scale herding and ranching (Mander 269). The Navajo "First there was the beautiful and rugged land. And then came the people to the land and they called themselves Dineh" (Locke 7). Although the translation "The People" is accepted by most linguists and anthropologists, Dineh can also be translated as "men" or "people" or "earth people." The Hopi called them "The Tasavuh," which meant "head pounders" because of their habit of killing their enemies by

Category: History - S