We know that the landing of Colombo on the new continent was an extraordinary event and that it must be celebrated constantly, as we have done at the moment.
A new land is always exciting and exploring it will bring many positive results for the nation, but we cannot fail to mention the existence of inhabitants on that land and its importance in the new continent.
When Columbus arrived in America, he found it full of inhabitants, natives, totally different from us in appearance and personality. They look wild and have no fancy customs, but they have a civilization of their own that has apparently worked well for years. The natives live in tribes, each tribe has its language, its culture, its customs, its habits and its religions. They live on what nature offers and have peculiar traditions, besides seeing no value in gold or silver.
We must not suppress these people, but rather live in harmony with them, since they are the true owners of the land and have their own organization that we must respect, even without understanding.
1. Sincere individuals thought that if Native Americans adopted white clothing and ways, they would try first-hand how much better it was and leave behind their native culture, thought as uncivilized by that time. As they would become more assimilated to the American society, the Government wouldn't have to overlook their welfare.
2. The Dawes Act, named after its creator Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts, allowed the President to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into allotments to be handed to Native Americans as individual property.
3. Native Americans registered on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation land. They had to leave behind their culture and adopt the white American one. If they did so, they were granted U.S. citizenship.
4. Excess land after the distributed one to tribal members was sold on the open market. The land allotted to Native American families were a lot of the time desertic, and could not sustain them. The self-sufficient farming techniques were very different from tribal ones. Many of the tribal members didn't want to take up agriculture, and the ones that did couldn't afford tools, seeds and so to get started. Inheritance was also a problem: if there were many inherent, the parcelled allotments wasn't enough to sustain all of them.
5. The government succeeded in erasing a vital part of tribal culture, the common property of the land, setting the foundations for their assimilation and the destruction of their culture. In the long term, these various cultures still exist, despite the government's efforts on the contrary. If the government wanted to protect Native American rights, it failed.
The answer is trade barrier.
thx
