I have chosen to compare the Native Americans to both the Spaniards and the Puritans. I will do so on three levels: culture, religion, and literature. I will show how both the Spaniards and the Puritans wanted to impose their traditions upon the Native American; however, the Spaniards did so by merging with the Indians and the Puritans did so by oppressing the Indian.
To begin the comparison, I will explore the American Indians and their culture, religion, and literature. Culturally speaking the Indians were “well adapted to their environment” (Lauter, 5). In the Indians environment, their land was their culture which gave them a sense of a fixed place in the world. The Indians primary goal was to survive on their land which had survived throughout many ancestral generations. The Indians could “retain their culture if their land remained in their possession” (Utley, 23). Another important part of the Indians culture, which was also a part of their environment, was nature. The Indians existence was nature-based and everything from nature was to be noted and respected.
The Native Americans began to supplement and replace their own tools and other objects by the Europeans . However, this process reflected “merely a substitution not an alteration of their basic culture pattern” (Utley, 38). Life for the Indians remained essentially the same. There were “no changes in settlement patterns, warfare practices, means of subsistence, social or ceremonial activities” (Weber, 241).
The Native Americans religion “reflected their cultural practices” (Lauter, 5). The Indians religious practices were associated with their me…
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…llowed for the Spaniards to get down on the same level as the Indians. The questions to justify the toleration set forth by the Spaniards to the Indians could go on; but, one thing is for sure, the Puritans must have known what they were doing because even though their influence was last, it still impacts what is now called the United States.
Works Cited
Lauter, Paul, vol. 1, 3rd ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Pub: by Houghton Mifflin, 19
Segal, Charles M. and David C. Stineback, Foreword by Sacvan Barcovitch, Puritans, Indians and Manifest Destiny. Pub: by Putnam, 1977
Utley, Robert M., The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890. Pub: by University of New mexico Press, 1984
Weber, David J., New Spain’s Far Frontier: Essays on Spain in the American West, 1540-1821. Pub: by University of New Mexico Press, 1979.
The Contributions of Frederick Douglas, William Apess, Sarah Margaret Fuller, and Sojourner Truth
The Contributions of Frederick Douglas, William Apess, Sarah Margaret Fuller, and Sojourner Truth
As has been noted before, when we look at the authors of The Declaration of Independence, we are quite aware that the ‘document’ was written in the interest of the people who were there. The wealthy, white, landowners make up the Constitution to fit their needs and exclude everyone else. The people most notably left without rights are African American’s, Native American’s and Women. These minority groups formed a bond with each other because they were outside the dominant group. These groups of people helped gain their strength and voice through speeches and conventions with each one using the very words of the Constitution as their platform. During this time powerful voices spoke out like: Frederick Douglas, William Apess, Margaret Fuller, and Sojourner Truth, who didn’t have the advantage of a formal education, but still found a way to become educated or taught themselves.
A brilliant speaker, “Abolionist, women’s rights advocate,journalist and newspaper editor, social reformers and race leader, Frederick Douglas was unquestionably one of the most prominent black leaders of the nineteenth century and one of the most eloquent orators in American public life”(1751). Frederick Douglas was basically self-taught and his voice became so polished that he was in fear of losing the audience of his own race to the cause of freeing slaves because he sounded “too white”. Douglas was asked to speak at a Fourth of July celebration and in his speech; What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? ; He expresses that it is: “Your National Independence, and of your political freedom”(1819). He reaches out to his audience by showin…
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…ither has been answered fully”(2022). This is the backbone of most of the representative material. It is based on spiritual and Christian thought and that people are created and given their rights by God. Since most of these authors weren’t taught in the classical sense the Bible was a useful and sometimes life altering tool. Hopefully, we will learn more about these representational authors so that as a collective group of Americans we can fully understand their impact on the growth and development of our country.
Works Cited
The Heath Anthology of American Literature Copyright 1998 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Issues in Feminism Copyright 1998,1995,1990 by Mayfield Publishing Company
Owl-eyes Biography and Etexts
http://owleyes.org/douglas.htm
Bright Moments
http://brightmoments.com/blackhistory/nsotrue:html