The Transformation of the “Indian Problem” :: Essays Papers

The Transformation of the Indian jobIn this paper, I plan to psychoanalyze the marked transformation and the history of the so-called Indian Problem. The idea of an Indian Problem began with the arrival of white settlers in North America, and for them, it was a trouble of safety, security, and land acquisition. Around 1890, the Indian Problem became an issue of how to help the Indians go extinct humanely, or to assimilate into white culture. The current conception of the Indian Problem started after World War II, and the pursuing civil rights movement. lot saw that the Indians werent going extinct and that they were keeping their cultures alive, and the Indian Problem shifted to undoing the damage that the policies of the federal government had ca drilld. I will be discussing the fact that the profound problems which characterize the Indian Problem now argon a direct result of the actions taken in response to forward conceptions of the Indian Problem.The Indian Problem em erged as an issue for white settlers who perceive Indians as savages, as a sub-human race. Because white settlers viewed Indians this way, they thought it was okay to use excessive military force. Through 19th century, this military force was employ to conquer Indians and move them from their native lands and resettle them. Sicknesses that the white settlers had brought with them devastated the Indian world because Indians had not encountered these illnesses before, and they had no natural immunity to them. Additionally, white-Indian relations seem as though they were fragile from the start, perhaps with both sides over-reacting at times. Leaders of the tender English colonies often used aggression and murder to try to keep back the Indians into submission, and into giving food to the English. Angered at this treatment, Indians began fighting back, and killing, too. In just about instances, the white settlers raided and stole food from the Indians. This worsened the al ready fractured relations amongst the two groups. Unprovoked attacks and kidnaping alternated with friendship and trade. From their experiences, Indians realized that these early Europeans were powerful and dodgy people who could not be trusted. However, the Indians had the advantage of sheer numbers and an fellow feeling of the land. For the English, their experiences strengthened their idea that they were superior to these savages in many ways, including culture, technology, societal formation and religion.