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Americas Dishonor Darnell Graham English 090 November 11, 2011

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Abstract Since its formation the United States government has been mistreating Native Americans by taking land, denying them basic rights and going back on our word. From the day Christopher Columbus and his men settled in Jamestown Anglo- Americans have been deceiving Native Americans enslaving them to look for gold. The treaties Anglo-Americans have made with Native-Americans have been falsified. The Native Americans were offered land in which the Anglo-Americans did not want for their reservations. The Indian Removal Act allowed the Anglo Americans to take what they believed was theirs.

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Since its formation the United States government has been mistreating Native Americans by taking land, denying them basic rights and going back on our word. From the day Christopher Columbus and his men settled in Jamestown Anglo- Americans have been deceiving Native Americans enslaving them to look for gold. The treaties Anglo-Americans have made with Native-Americans have been falsified. The Native Americans were offered land in which the Anglo-Americans did not want for their reservations. The Indian Removal Act allowed the Anglo Americans to take what was rightfully theirs. One of the first acts of Continental Congress was the creation in 1775 of three departments of Indian Affairs; northern central and southern. This was the first attempt by the United States government to try to make up for the discrimination of the Indian people. Native Americans were finally being treated as human-beings, or so they thought. Unbenounced to the Native Americans the Department of Indian Affairs might have been a government committee to protect their rights, but they did not always have the best interests of the Native Americans at heart. Fourteen years later, the U.S. congress established a War Department and made Indian relations a part of its responsibilities. The United States congress places a committee formed for the general well-being of a peoples in a department used for the annihilation of anyone who stands in our way. America is the country that as the world power is assigned to play rescuer for the younger, smaller, weaker countries. In addition to being the Big Brother to them we must look after the people who live in our own borders. The Indians refer to the arrival of Christopher Columbus as the American Holocaust. The Indians believe that we as a country are on the same level as Hitler, Joseph Stalin.

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James Harlan argued that Americans had, driven the Indians before the tide of civilization instead of incorporating them in to civil society and providing for them in that way, having literally robbed them of their homes and given them to strangers. The idea that the United States government has the power to uproot a peoples is a sign that the government has acquired to much power. The United States government was established to protect and govern the very people who help this country run. Taking away the things that make up America [Indians] will make this country weaker as a whole. March 11, 1824 Secretary of War John C. Calhoun created what he called the Bureau of Indian Affairs without authorization from the Congress. McKenny First designated it the Indian Office in his correspondence, and later uniformly used the Office of Indian Affairs. Thomas L. Mckenny on March 31, 1826 drew up a bill that called for the Office of Indian Affairs created by the Congress, with a responsible had having authority and responsibility to deal with all matters relation to Indian affairs. This requested the appointment of a General Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to head the Office of Indian Affairs, and to whom would have been assigned all Indian relations that had rested with the Secretary of War. The bill gave the president authority to appoint a Commissioner of Indian Affairs to serve under the Secretary of War, and have the direction and management of all Indian affairs, and all matters arising out of Indian relations.

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The Bureau of Indian Affairs, also referred to, until 1947 as the Office of Indian Affairs and the Indian Office is one of the oldest agencies within the U.S government. The commission recommended many changes including the appointment of honest more effective agents and the establishment of a separate independent agency for Indian Affairs.

Reference List Since its formation the United States government has been mistreating Native Americans by taking land, denying them basic rights and going back on our word. From the day Christopher Columbus and his men settled in Jamestown Anglo- Americans have been deceiving Native Americans enslaving them to look for gold. The treaties Anglo-Americans have made with Native-Americans have been falsified. The Native Americans were offered land in which the Anglo-Americans did not want for their reservations. The Indian Removal Act allowed the Anglo Americans to take what was rightfully theirs. Appeal of the Cherokee Nation. (2009). Appeal of the Cherokee Nation, pg.1-7. The appeal of a Cherokee Nation was a government document. Since it was the first of its kind I believed it was the best kind of article. It talked about how much the government has been mistreating Indian Americans. The Leaders of their tribe talked about how much they have given up to be kicked to the side, and thrown away like a piece of trash. To me I do not believe that America should be allowed to give up their land, because, we signed treaties and had oral agreements that the land was theirs and should respect arrangements of the past. Cahill, Cathleen D. (c2011). Federal fathers & mothers - a social history of the United

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States Indian Service 1869-1933. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. This book was chosen because I believe it could be very useful in helping me attain knowledge that I can use to find more information about the relations between the United States and the Native Americans. The subject matter in the book seemed to be an accurate depiction of what I was searching for to guide me through my search. The tittle of the book was a definite The book was helpful because, it talked about the relations with Native Americans some of the chapter headings lead me to believe this book held information that would help me understand the ways in which the government had been treating the Natives like they were less of people. And, lastly, the progression of the state and Indian services seemed to me like it would help me with the ways in which the US tried to make relations better if at all. C.L.Henson. (May 25, 2011) From war to Self-Determination a history of the Indian Bureau of Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/indians.htm The article From war to Self- Determination a history of the Indian Bureau of Affairs is very helpful in my search for quite a few reasons. The first is the article had a summery at the top left hand corner and It told me the articles goal was to trace the obtain neutrality between the US and the Indian Bureau of Affairs. Also it traces the development of the India Bureau of Affairs since 1775-2011. Secondly, the tittle of the article seemed to be promising because my past research has shown that anything with the IBA is worth taking a look into. Also this article was

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written in a large time frame and I am positive that I could find some information about a few ways the government had slighted the Indians. Steven W. Baggs, (May 1, 1997) American Indian Stereotypes: 500 Years of Hate Crimes Retrieved from http://www.dickshovel.com/jank.html The article American Indian Stereotypes was useful to me because it takes me back to Christopher Columbus arriving in America and how he saw them as less of people because they did not look like Anglo-Americans. It was helpful in defining some of the ways in which American took land such as the Trail of Teals. Also it talks about how some Native Americans view Christopher Columbus in America as the beginning of the American Holocaust.