Native Americans and white settlers viewed each
other as having extremely odd cultures that were contradictory in many ways. The
American settlers thought that Native Americans were very primitive, savage,
and barbaric in their way of life. This fueled settlers desire to send Native
Americans on the Trail of Tears. Assimilation of Native Americans made perfect
sense to Americans. The concepts of ownership along with wealth were very
different between the two cultures. Wealth consisting of land, property, and money
were cornerstones of how the world worked to Americans. Native Americans shared
their belongings believing that the tribe as a whole was entitled to it and not
for one person only. To Native Americans land was similar to air in that nobody
can own the air because everyone breathes the air. The land was to be used by
everyone according to them but white settlers saw it very different. Settlers
did not want to share land and sent Native Americans on the Trail of Tears to
own it themselves. White settlers wore European style clothing that covered
their bodies while Native Americans had small clothes covering themselves.
Settlers also built homes from wood and brick that were big and sophisticated
in towns while Native Americans for small villages in the forest. In the State
of the Union address President Andrew Jackson stated “What good man would prefer a country covered with
forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded
with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements
which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000
happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and
religion?”(Jackson, 1830) The cultural
differences between the American settlers and the Native Americans inevitably
made it impossible for them to coexist in the infant stage of a nation. (NC Trail
of Tears Association, 2006)
Photo
Max D. Standley. (n.d.). Arrival in Indian Territory. Retrieved from http://www.maxdstandley.com/trail_of_tears_series/arrival_in_indian_territory-trail_of_tears.html
Content
Jackson, A. The Pennsylvania State University, (1830).State of the union
addresses of andrew jackson. Retrieved from A Penn State Electronic
Classics Series Publication website: http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/poldocs/uspressu/SUaddressAJackson.pdf
NC Trail of Tears Association. (2006). The story | trail of tears
national historic trail. Retrieved from http://www.nationaltota.org/
Max D. Standley. (n.d.). Arrival in Indian Territory. Retrieved from http://www.maxdstandley.com/trail_of_tears_series/arrival_in_indian_territory-trail_of_tears.html
Content
Jackson, A. The Pennsylvania State University, (1830).State of the union
addresses of andrew jackson. Retrieved from A Penn State Electronic
Classics Series Publication website: http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/poldocs/uspressu/SUaddressAJackson.pdf
NC Trail of Tears Association. (2006). The story | trail of tears
national historic trail. Retrieved from http://www.nationaltota.org/