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Inequality through Native American Property Rights

Beginning with the Native American Removal Act, President Andrew Jackson
shoved his way into the lives of the Native Americans and treated them like a pesky bug.
To him and the other citizens of the United States, the Native Americans were irrelevant
gnats that were a distraction to their overall cause. The Natives were treated as a nuisance
like the worthlessness of an actual gnat, as they were forcibly pushed to a reservation. To
put in perspective of how belittled they were, the only land the Choctaw tribe was given
was 11 million acres of infertile land out of all of the US territory, which totaled to over a
billion acres at the time. This was a major deprivation of their freedom and rights,
comparable to Nazi concentration camps during World War II, as they were transported in
chains to camps in their designated land. Although the United States had ambitious goals
for themselves and assisted many countries across the globe with their advancements,
they undoubtedly altered the Native Americans course in history and likely escorted them
to the brink of extinction. However, the U.S. government did attempt to correct their
mistakes with the Dawes Act in 1887, but these atrocities were far too reversible by then.
The Trail of Tears undoubtedly damaged the lives of thousands of Native Americans and
when there were second thoughts about their lack of property rights and regrets about
their involuntary impoverishment, little that was done had a great impact. As the new
citizens of the United States, its important that we repent our wrongdoings in order to
forge a new relationship with the Native Americans.
Even before the removal of Native Americans, property of the Indians were not
protected. The Cherokee tribe for instance dealt with several cases of Georgia men
forcibly seizing horses and cattle, as well as taking possession of houses (Thornton

289). The Trail of Tears was the brutal removal of several Indian tribes to reservations
where land was not needed by the government. This forced migration and ensuing
problems of relocation took the confused and ill native people away from their homes
where nearly 5,000 men, women, and children perished from the ravages of disease,
hunger, and exposure (Brown 1). Not only were the Natives forced to pack up their
belongings and uprooted from what theyve known as home for centuries, but throughout
the relocation, the treatment of the Native American peoples was inhumane and
merciless. The new nation forming in America saw the Native Americans as a hindrance
to gaining agricultural lands and becoming economically, and politically successful. The
Native Americans, the original owners and settlers of America, were unreasonably given
a small percentage of land that deemed unfit for the new nations usage. Resistance to the
removal was high as many were taken out of their houses bound or tied. The cruelty of
the round up of Indians by U.S. troops as they were placed in concentration camps,
where they were kept as pigs in a sty was atrocious and horrific that the Natives were
forced to live in rotten conditions (Minges 467). This barbaric uprooting of Indians from
their homes took away any property rights the natives once held in their own tribes. John
Locke once said, All mankind being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm
another in his life, liberty, or property. The Constitution was based off ideas similar to
John Lockes and fought for a free and equal society, therefore, the Natives property and
possessions should not have been taken from them in a merciless manner.
The United States primary goal was to assimilate the Native Americans into their
own culture. However, the whites saw themselves as superior to their Native
counterparts, thus they further alienated the Native people, and assimilation became

increasingly more difficult. For a while the Natives were given some rights, although not
equal, but they were able to earn and were no longer cooped up in disease stricken and
unproductive territory. The Dawes Act gave Indians, who fit the requirements such as age
and citizenship, one-eighth of reservation property upon inspection of the land unfit for
agriculture. In the Treaty of Hopewell, any citizen not apart of the Indian tribes were to
settle on the lands hereby allotted to the Indians he would no longer be under the
protection of the United States Constitution and the Indians may punish him or not as
they please (1786 Treaty of Hopewell 2). These laws enforcing that no man should
take what is rightfully the Indians were not always obeyed, as there are many cases of
robberies and killings of the Natives. Even though the United States had good intentions
to set things straight, not enough effort was put in and there wasnt effective enforcement
of these laws; their attempts were therefore overshadowed by the misery that haunted
peaceful tribes. Although for a short period of time there was a gleam of hope when the
Dawes Act and Treaty of Hopewell were implemented, the end of the treaties meant the
end of treating tribes as sovereign nations (The Reservation System 4). With the end
of the treaties came harsher racial inequality among whites and the Natives. The Native
Americans held little power any more in the matters of their property. The whites
ignorance of racial equality distanced the Native Americans and reversed the process of
assimilation. Furthermore, a connection between whiteness and property has long defined
racial theories and was thought to justify the taking of lands from those who lack the
moral qualities needed to advance civilization, and position whites as rational agents
capable of intervening in and transforming nature (Reardon and TallBear S235). The
global European notion that those who were white were superior to those of color has

lessened severely over the generations; yet, it would be implausible to say that our Native
counterparts have gotten the acknowledgement they deserve, considering their brutal
oppression. The attempts to incorporate the Indians as citizens with full rights never
lasted to create an impactful effect.
The United States Congress contributed significantly to the world economy and
technological revolution, but when they attempted to mend their wrongdoings to the
Native Americans, racial superiority -favoring whites- soon overpowered those treaties,
causing more havoc and inequality towards the Native Americans. The Trail of Tears
radically altered the Natives way of living and changed history forever. Native American
property rights were undeniably scarce and insufficient for any citizen of the United
States of America. Correcting the past will not be enough to compensate for the atrocities
executed, but treating the Native Americans as equal citizens with equal rights is a good
place to start.

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