Question

Surrender Speech

Answer 1

I would go with option d)

Answer 2

Answer: I would contend that the right answer is the D) "The white men are bad school-masters; they carry false looks, and deal in false actions; they smile in the face of the poor Indian to cheat him; they shake them by the hand to gain their confidence, to make them drunk, to deceive them, and ruin our wives."

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that a significant portion of this speech, which Black Hawk wrote in 1832, after being defeated during his attempt, and that of his tribe (including women and children), to escape across the Mississippi River, focuses on pointing out the various acts of treachery and the atrocities that the white men perpetuated on him and on his people. Apart from this quotation, in which he describes the white men as hypocritical, opportunistic, and untrustworthy, he also writes that they "do not scalp the head; but they do worse—they poison the heart, it is not pure with them." In addition, he mentions that the white men "came, year after year, to cheat them and take away their lands," and further down he reiterates his point by saying: "The white men despise the Indians, and drive them from their homes [...] The white men speak bad of the Indian, and look at him spitefully." It is, therefore, clear, that one of the major themes in this poignant speech is an openly criticism of the white men, of the hypocrisy and the malice with which they treated the Native Americans.