This dance was very powerful as it did scare the European people. They did not fully understand the reason behind the dance and the religion, but they were very clear as to what the apocalypse was and they wondered if the Indians were somehow summoning the end of the world. Not soon after this Ghost dance caused such a commotion, an Indian by the name of Handsome Lake who was a leader for the Seneca tribe brought a new message to the Iroquois people. His message was to end the drinking. The Iroquois people had began to drink a lot of alcohol that was often offered to them from the European people during the fur trade. Handsome Lake believed that many of the problems that the Iroquois people faced was related to the alcohol. Many of the Indian people were drunk when they were trying to handle problems of poverty or problems with the American or British people. They were not thinking clearly and usually ended up making very bad decisions. Therefore, Handsome Lake worked to spread the word of anti-drinking. He preached that once the drinking stopped, the Indians would be better able to make better decisions. The Americans did not take the message from Handsome Lake very seriously. They knew that many Indians were alcoholics and it would be impossible for them to stop drinking. So, they were not too worried about the messages that Handsome Lake was preaching. They were concerned more over the Ghost dance than the Handsome Lake messages. As a result of all of the issues and events surrounding the Iroquois Indians and the American people, many of the Iroquois nations were hurt. They faced issues of poverty, and lack of a quality education. They were forced from their land and forced to live on smaller reservations where there are no schools and most reservations are located miles away from public schools and colleges. The 1600s and 1700s were very hard times which still has its effects in the modern day world. Today, decendents of the Iroquois Indian tribes still face major issues with equality,...

Many of these decendents still live and strive on the same reservations that their ancestors lived on. The U.S. government does do things to help the Iroquois people in terms of education and treating them equally to the American students, but the help is very little. Not enough money is spent in the areas of education, educational programing and scholarships. Many Iroquois students do not receive the quality education that they deserve because of lack of schools on the reservations and lack of fund for desperately needed programs. In addition, there are not many scholarships readily available for Iroquois students. Thus, many will end up dropping out of school and not get the education they need to be successful in life. It is these students who are often forgotten. The U.S. government needs to recognize the severity of this problem and step up and help these students succeed. Every student in the United States deserves the right to a quality education and the Iroquois students are no exception.
In conclusion, the Iroquois people have traveled a long hard journey throughout their existence. They have gone from peacetime to wartime and back to peacetime several times. Rather they are fighting internal battles with alcoholism or domestic issues or if they are fighting a full blown war with the American people, they are still human beings who are worthy of equality. The Iroquois Indian tribes contained thousands of Indian natives divided into various tribes. They all shared a unique culture and language. They worked hard to build their perfect empire, but in the end had it all destroyed by greed, desire, and lust. When they needed help the most, the American people turned their backs on them and laughed at them. However, they are very strong people and they did not let this type of treatment affect them. To this very day, they continue to move forward to they are always fighting for a better life for themselves and for their families.

WORKS CITED

Kehoe, Alice Beck. North American Indian Tribes, Chapter 5. 1992 Prentice Hall.

Biolsi, Thomas and Zimmerman, Larry. Indians and Anthropologists, Chapter 9. 1997 Prentice Hall.

Iroquois Website. Retrieved December 19, 2009 from http://www.iroquois.net/.