Over time, Native Americans have been through many adversities. Since the time of Columbus, Natives have had many problems to deal with. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, and that was the beginning of the start of persecution for the natives. This trend is still true in modern times. Columbus not only enslaved the natives, but also killed many of them. This set the precedent for the next 500 years and counting.
The American Revolution kept the mistreatment of the natives to a minimum. However, once this ended with the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) the hard times would continue. The Treaty of Paris made it so the North American territories south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River were ceded to the United States. This was great for the US government but terrible for the natives living in the ceded territory. The agreements that the British had with the natives were no longer valid and new deals would have to be made. The Old Northwest War (1785-1795) was the first major war, where the natives suffered multiple humiliating defeats. This resulted in the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1786. This took the natives’ land, and turned this new territory into states. This was just the first treaty that the natives were forced into. The Indian Commerce Clause was added to the Constitution, and gave the government an immense amount of power over the natives. These “Treaties” were just agreements where the natives were forced to give their land away. Some natives weren't so hasty to cede their land and this resulted in the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794). Anthony Wayne led an army of more than 5,000 troops to attack the Native Americans, specifically: Delaware, Ottawa, Miami, Ojibwa and Shawnee. The landslide defeat led to the Northwest Ordinance was the Treaty of Greenville (1795) which once again, gave away tons of land, this time near the Ohio River. On the other hand, they natives were promised a permanent boundary. This was supposed to mean that this was the last time that they had to give up land, but it was pointless. |