Native Americans Views about Colonists through 1879

Evolution of the United States through from the Perspective of Native Americans

Most modern Americans are unable to appreciate the profound and lasting impact that the arrival of English colonists in the early 17th century would have on the indigenous people of North America. Indeed, although the scientific community remains divided about the precise date, most authorities agree that Native Americans arrived in North America more than 30,000 years ago, thereby making their claims to these lands original and legally superior to all others (Higham 2020). Nevertheless, many Native Americans welcomed the early English colonists and even helped them win their independence from Great Britain (Arnold 2020). Likewise, some Native American nations even fought for the preservation of the Union during the Civil War despite aggressive efforts by the South to recruit them first (Nishikawa 2022).

Moreover, despite assertions to the contrary by early English settlers that Native Americans were just primitive savages that did not appreciate or know how to care for their land, Native Americans were already practicing sophisticated agricultural methods on traditional farms on the very same lands that the Europeans decided they wanted for themselves (Loewen 1996). Therefore, from the perspective of Native Americans of the day, the English colonists were insatiable and ruthless invaders who demonstrated time and again that they could not be trusted to comply with the terms of their treaties. Moreover, the Manifest Destiny of the United States ran directly contrary to the best interests of the Native Americans who just happened to be in the way and their forcible relocation pursuant to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Native Americans on the Trail of Tears (Lyons 2023). In sum, the first two hundreds years of experiences with Europeans were a devastating period for most Native Americans and it is little wonder that many sovereign Native American nations continue to work to promote cross-cultural understanding among mainstream Americans today.