Primary Sources:
"Kill the Indian, Save the Man" Richard H. Pratt "They told us that Indian Ways were bad" Sun Elk
Native Americans were regularly moved to reservations as a result of American citizens continuously migrating westward in search for new opportunities. The conflicts created as a result were often violent. The Dawes Act of 1887 was established by congress and authorized by the President in an effort to divide Native land into portions for individual Indians. It emphasized severalty and encouraged the Natives to be treated as individuals instead of tribe members. Assimilation was considered to be a progressive alternative solution for the “Indian problem.” The assimilation attempt resulted in the creation of assimilationist schools, such as The Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
“Kill the Indian, Save the Man”, written by Richard H. Pratt, expresses the reasoning behind Native American assimilation into American culture. The environment that an individual is raised in will determine future actions and behaviors; an Indian is the same as the American when first born. “He is born a blank, like all the rest of us. Left in the surroundings of savagery.” Pratt continues to convey his aversion to Indian culture as he writes that it is uncivilized and is preventing success. “All the Indian there is in the race should be dead.” His negative opinions of Native American culture were influenced by Social Darwinism. Pratt created the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879; it was run with military discipline and enforced his negative and strict beliefs. “Carlisle has always planted treason to the tribe and loyalty to the nation at large.” He used education to assimilate Natives as he required them to speak English and dress as an average American citizen. Pratt hoped that the Natives that attended the school would not return to the reservations and instead would become a part of society.
“They told us that the Indian Ways were bad”, written by Sun Elk, was composed from the view of an Indian that attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. “They said we must get ‘civilized’...It means ‘be like the white man’…And the books told how bad the Indians had been to the white men.” He describes his experience as he was taught to detest the Native American lifestyle. “And so after a while we also began to say Indians were bad. We laughed at our own people…” Sun explains that he felt that his true identity was erased and that after assimilated, he was “not very happy.” His experience was commonly shared amongst the other Indian students. Their culture seemed to have diminished.
These two sources represent contradicting opinions concerning the assimilation of Native Americans into American culture. Richard H. Pratt expressed the opinion of many who believed that assimilation was important and could encourage success for Native peoples. Sun Elk’s experience served as a voice for the Indians that attended assimilation schools and underwent the process forcing them to forget their culture and identity.
Synthesis Article:
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1887 barred out the Chinese from entering the United States. It was the first significant law that restricted immigration. The Act was passed primarily due to the fact that Chinamen had a different appearance to the average white man and their language and religion was contrasting to that of Europe. The law suspended Chinese immigration and declared the Chinese as unqualified for naturalization. The Chinese population in the United States declined proving the legislation quite effective. President Donald Trump’s immigration ban, in 2017, is similar as the racial discrimination motivated social and political controversy and racial anxiety. Similar to the Exclusion Act in 1887, the current ban is restricting immigration based off of nationality. The citizen’s or inhabitants of seven majority Muslim countries are not permitted to travel or enter the United States. Fear plays a role in each of these situations as American citizens hold prejudice against specific races because of panic or anticipation; the administration states that the reasoning behind the act is to protect Americans from terrorists. The Chinese were treated unfairly as they did nothing to instigate or provoke such action. Shortly after the law was passed in 1887, political cartoons, many created by Thomas Nast, were published to express contrasting views and voice the unfair treatment. Many protests are transpiring as a way to voice their disagreement. The order signed by Trump reads "I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry.” Though the document does not directly ban all Muslims, it is still discriminatory. Many argue that President Trump’s exclusionist policies are counteracting America’s core foundation. Race and ethnicity are continuously dividing factors in American society.
Continuity and Change:
The United States undergoes many transformations from 1865-1898. The newly industrialized economy results the gap between the rich and the poor to widen. The maltreatment and neglect of the lower class continues to worsen in the Gilded age as the wealth of the higher class continues to grow and prosper. Ideas such as “natural superiority” were adopted as justification for the immense amount of wealth for few and the large amount of severe poverty for the majority of the population. The lack of government involvement in the economy results in the creation of monopolies, such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, the corruption of big businesses. Immigration laws and restrictions, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1887, develop in period 6 as a result of prejudice and racial discrimination.
Though the country changed substantially, a few similarities to America previous to 1865 still remained. The belief of social status based on wealth advanced into the late nineteenth century and continues to widen the gap between the wealthy and the poor. The rights of women remained slim to none. Though they worked in factories as a way to earn additional income for their families, women in the Gilded Age still primarily served a domestic role. Females were still seen as inferior to males resulting in small job options and lower wages. White superiority continues to be seen throughout history. The mistreatment of Native Americans is a common trend throughout history. The Natives were seen as savages easy of removal; they were constantly removed from their land to make room for the western settlers seeking to find opportunity and wealth. Native Americans were seen as a problem that needed to be dealt with. They were constantly moved and pushed west until the assimilation idea was introduced in period 6. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1887, the Know Nothing Party are both reactions to the substantial amount of immigration from 1800-1848 which caused the anxiety and fear of many Americans worried about them “acquiring all the jobs.”
Image of the Era:
Thomas Nast, a famous political cartoonist, made it his personal mission to expose the corrupt behavior of William Macy “Boss” Tweed. Nast’s cartoons were published in Harper’s Weekly, a popular newspaper that covered the immense corruption that took place in New York by the members of Tammany Hall, a highly organized group of men, and Boss Tweed, informing the public and encouraging them to resist the tricks and bribes of the wealthy men. The cartoon was published in 1871 as a response to Tweed’s criminal actions; it questioned the behavior of the members of Tammany Hall found in the “Tweed Ring.” The cartoon specifically focuses on the fact that nobody took the blame for the criminal behavior of the political machines. The leaders of the machine bribed and tricked immigrants to vote in their favor which would ultimately secure their political position in the government. The actions of the group were planned carefully to ensure that they would never be traced to only one individual, which made stopping them difficult. Nast depicts the “Tweed Ring” as simply standing in a circle passing the blame to the next man reinforcing the idea that the men involved lack personal responsibility. The image perfectly illustrates the public’s view the Tammany Ring. Nast’s influence was mainly visual as the majority of Tweed’s voters were illiterate, so while they couldn’t read the articles published to expose the corruption in politics, they could understand the cartoons. The images caught the attention of the public and provoked anger; they greatly impacted the view of Tweed and the members of Tammany Hall. The Tweed Ring was weakened with the election of 1877, many Tammany candidates were voted out of office.
Work Cited:
https://blog.mcny.org/2013/09/24/thomas-nast-takes-down-tammany-a-cartoonists-crusade-against-a-political-boss/
https://gendebtcartooncomm.wordpress.com/page/2/
http://www.history.com/topics/chinese-exclusion-act
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/27/politics/trump-plans-to-sign-executive-action-on-refugees-extreme-vetting/
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3505
https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-of-ann-rinaldis-my-heart-is-on.html
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/category/gilded-age
http://www.history.com/news/category/gilded-age
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/02/muslims-talk-muslim-ban-tv-170213090653137.html
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/sitting-bull/videos/the-battle-at-little-bighorn