Native American vs. European American Views on Land and Identity - Free Paper Sample

On one hand, the Native Americans believed in communal land ownership. As integrated as they were culturally, they also thought that land belonged to no one in particular but was communal. Therefore, there was no ownership of land among Native Americans. On the other hand, the European Americans believed that everyone had a right to own land, and therefore, the land had distinct owners. Each person was consequently entitled to hold a particular portion of land. The Native Americans had faith in ancient gods, and their culture did not allow them to hunt where animals were depleted or even carry out activities that would harm the land. Therefore, they considered the land to be holy. The European Americans could cut trees, erode the soil, and hunt down animals. (Churchill, 2012) They believed modernized and doing those acts was not wrong.

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The intervention of the government towards the Native Americans had roots in the desire to assimilate the Native Americans into the white culture. As much as it was said to be in their favor, it was highly controversial, and thus it was materialistic. The white perspective towards the native Americans' land and their policies was that America had to expand, and therefore the Native Americans had to give up their land for expansion. They claimed that America had ordination towards development and that the land that was native to the Americans would be suitable for the growth of the plans. The Native Americans responded by fighting brutal wars in a bid to secure their land. (Johnson, 2016)

The Dawes Act favorably impacted the Native Americans' culture and religion by dividing their land into plots and separating them. The communal bond that existed among them disintegrated, and therefore the culture became disintegrated. The act aimed at assimilating the Native Americans into the U.S. culture, and consequently, it did not play the social responsibility of integrating their cultures. It was breaking them apart instead.

References

Churchill, W. (2012). Struggle for the land: Native North American resistance to genocide, ecocide, and colonization. City Lights Books. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2hbDLjhkzu8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=the+allotment+era+and+resistance+in+the+native+west+&ots=ONsRWsJkZO&sig=cxlZyL4QHkxi6hnDupW3W4iZz0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20allotment%20era%20and%20resistance%20in%20the%20native%20west&f=false

Johnson, T. R. (2016). Native American Resistance and Revitalization in the Era of Self-Determination and History in America. Cultural Representation in Native America, 77. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SIL82RpRoWAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA77&dq=the+allotment+era+and+resistance+in+the+native+west+&ots=i9Q_Hohs4I&sig=6Rf88cRRMCZl8NsUZVJLFc5VJUo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false