Native Americans vs. Federal Government

Native Americans vs. Federal Government

 During the 1800s and 1900s, the Native Americans had their lives turned upside down. Before, they were living peacefully amongst each other, tribe to tribe, and had never imagined anything else. After the Europeans, living on a self-established government and on their own lands seemed like a dream.
During the 19th century, most of the Native Americans' land had been taken away forcefully by a cycle of treaties (even though they usually were not put into place by the whites regime) and by army loss by the United States as it has further enlarged its power over and on the America's West. By the 1830s, John Marshall, the Supreme Court's Chief Justice, had tried to explain their standing. He had stated that the Native Americans' tribes were 'domestic dependent nations' where 'relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian', he acknowledged the Indians were unique. And not like any other small majority, they were both different lands but still pieces of the United States of America. He had tried to clear up why their social relations (the government) had been so troubling.
With the use of the word 'guardian', as mentioned in Marshall's statement, it is alluded that the US is trying to reach a goal of the Native Americans' being able to 'fit in' with the US's trends. But the word guardian is also used as a shielder and someone who helps someone until they reach an older age, where this could be where Marshall is proposing that the government is obligated to care for the Indians. This is where things get murky, while the US is trying to conform the America's Indians at times, they also go back and understand their duty to help the Indian's development. But what really tampered with their relationship is the priceless land and assets that the Indians had and the Americans didn't. Most of the land was gone and as a consequence, the Native American's history is a moralistic concern.
The Americans, with the federal government to back them...

Similar Essays