European American thought of Native American in reference to the Cherokee Removal (Essay Sample)

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European American thought of Native American in reference to the Cherokee Removal
Americans of European ancestry had different mixed views of Native Americans or Indian natives since they often described them as uncivilized, barbaric savages and that, together with a lot of time and effort, they could be assimilated and educated into the European civilization. The Europeans dismissed the poor cultural practices and spiritual beliefs of the Indian natives such as their education, land ownership, faith, lifestyle, government, legislation, and economic. However, the Europeans thought that they were smart and their ethic traits can be easily converted to resemble the European culture. In the year 1620, the first school for Indian natives had been formed to educate Indians on European manners, and by the year 1640, Harvard began a school for the Indians. This shows that the main aim of the Europeans was to assimilate the Indians into the European culture through education. The Indian natives did not come to be viewed as inherently different in connection with their colour till the mid 18th century. Some of the causes of this shifting conception had been a rise of the Europeans, atrocities and bloody battles, grouping of legislation made to restrict the Indians, and the views of the Europeans began to unite as being ‘white’. The significant underlying attitudes, beliefs and values which were held towards Native Americans by the European Americans are clearly demonstrated in Michael D. Green’s and Theda Perdue’s book, The Cherokee Removal: A brief History with documents, which narrates the emotionally-driven and complicated tales of the Cherokee people before, during and after the removal campaigns of the year 1800s.