American Indian Rise In Success

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American Indian Rise in Success
The beginning of the twentieth century United States of America had 0.3 percent Native Americans of the total population (Zhou and Portes 100). They were estimated to be 25,000 and most lived on reservations with limited self-government, which was limited in general. This was as a result of the ninetieth century occurrences where most of the Native Americans were oppressed and deprived of their land by the westwards, developed succession treaties targeted them as the whites did not seem to honor them and the military also had a part to play in their suffering when they expanded their control over to the West of America. Observing history of the Native Americans there is no doubt that the unpopular journey involves suffering and oppression in the hands of the white Americans. However, over the years, there has been a turnaround of events and natives American have slowly grown and gained their position in the society. This paper is going to look at the Native Americans social, political, and cultural journey in the United States and lay emphasis on the American Indian.
To understand the modern Native American there is a need to look at their historical journey to where there are today. John Marshall the Supreme Court Chief justice at the time made an attempt to define the status of the Native Americans in 1831 (Williams 811). His declarations were that the Indian tribes were domestic dependent nations and their relations with the United States was equal that of ward to guardian. In his declaration, one notices that he tried to portray the picture that the American Indians were unique and they had a way of separating the nations and part of the United States. Unlike the other minorities. This could be termed as one of the reasons why the relationship between the Native Americans and the federal government has been troubled.
According to the court chief justice interpretation, the United States police was to aid in the assimilation of the Native Americans into the mainstream United States culture. This is so because among the guardian's duties it was to prepare the ward for independence. The guardian was also liable to nurture and guide the ward until adulthood and hence according to the chief justice the federal government had an obligation to nurture and protect the Native Americans until they are assimilated to the mainstream United States culture. This was the beginning of the shaky federal policy towards the Native Americans. The policy since then seems to lurch back and forth, as sometimes it aims at assimilation of the Native Indian, and other times it shows concern of taking care and assisting the Indian development.
Unlike other minorities who seek recognition and retention of their civil rights Indians still have with them land reservations and resources that are deemed valuable and the white Americans had always had an envious eye on the same make the situation more complicated. Much of the resources and land reserves were lost subsequently and hence the reason why in most cases the history of the Native Americans is often presented as a morality saga. The federal government headed the white Americans in cheating the Indians out of their resources and ...