Native American Slavery 1800

The constitution of the United States reads; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In the 1830’s, there existed a deep division among the nation’s white population reguarding Native Americans. In their dealings with Native Americans, the first white settlers adopted policies that were shaped by their own European worldview and experience. When the United States became a nation, the new government built on this European foundation, but over time adapted its Native American policy to changing perspectives and needs- mainly the desire for more land and wealth. Eventually the Native Americans were regarded as an anachronism irreclaimable savage by those west of the Appalachians and redeemable savages by eastern philanthropists and humanitarians.

To the whites settlers in the trans-Appalachian frontier that ran from the mid-west to the southern states, Indians were considered a threat that had to be exterminated.

Believers in Native American reform were largely from the industrial and commercial centers in the Northeast where few Indians lived.

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The Cherokee nation was split into two: those that favored removal and those that opposed it. Many aspects of African American culture, including handicrafts, music, and folklore, may be Native American rather than African in origin. Dubois, The Negro in the South: His Economic Progress in Relation to His Moral and Religious Development (Philadelphia, George W. " Native Americans were not without some commercial value. In 1817, Senator Andrew Jackson forced Cherokee leaders into a treaty, which traded a third of Cherokee territory for land in the Arkansas Territory. On the eve of the Revolutionary War, Cherokee traditional leader Attakullakulla spoke metaphorically (and almost biblically) of how, within the "old way," there was a house of cultural accommodation in which blacks had a room of their own. They were often seized throughout the South and taken to the slave markets and traded at an exchange rate of two for one for African Americans. ”

Indian Removal Act:

After the passing of the Indian Removal Act, which mandated the relocation of eastern tribes to the west, thousands of Indians began their trek across the country.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIVE AND AFRICAN AMERICANS:

During this transitional period, Africans and Native Americans shared the common experience of enslavement. The article further describes Native American slaves as "not of such robust and strong bodies, as to lift great burdens, and endure labor and slavish work. The Fourth of July is yours, not mine.

Indian slaves were considered to be "sullen, insubordinate, and short lived," A. The result is that the greater portion of the American Indians has disappeared, the greater portions of those who remain are not civilized.

Approximate Word count = 1419
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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