Margaret Peeters
The new parts that were discussed by our class have (February 11, 2008 Discussion) in the front of the context.
1.) Were the changes brought by European traders a good thing for the Chippewa people?
- We thought that the technology advance was good in the way that it made it easier for people to hunt but ultimately it worked against the Chippewa. The technology made the Indians bound to the traders because of their increasing debt. This was the first time that the Indians had to deal with the idea of debt; they had no previous knowledge of the idea and may not have fully comprehended the effects. We were also caught with the question; if the Indians had never been exposed to this technology what would have happened?
(February 11, 2008 Discussion). There were many different changes brought by the Europeans and it seemed to be a not so good thing because the Chippewa were forced to utilize most of these changes. The amount of product brought here by the Chippewa did advance their culture in many different ways. In ways of hunting. Along with trapping. But we agreed that it brought debt to the people.
2.) What would have been different if the Indians had been treated as a domestic problem rather than an independent nation?
- We thought the main reason why the Chippewa, along with other people, were thought of as independent nations is because at that time in history America was looking at establishing themselves and didn’t have the money to exterminate the Indians. “Instead of dealing for, deal with.”
(February 11, 2008 Discussion). We discussed that is could be said they were treated as a domestic problem. Even to be treated as an independent nation is still a negative context, “treated.” To solve any sort of dilemma you “treat” whether it is a domestic problem or treating them as an independent nation.
3.) How can the differences in thought between the Northwest ordinance and the private beliefs of men like Thomas Jefferson and Jackson be explained?
- We thought that the Northwest Ordinance was written with the idea the there was a line in which settlers couldn’t cross and that was beneficial in the way that the Indians were at least given a “chunk” of land that wasn’t open to colonial involvement. But when the British left the America’s this idea was thrown away and the land was open to settlers.
4.) Would it have been better to place Indian affairs in state hands rather than the federal government?
- We thought that it was better for the federal government to deal with this issue because at this time many states hadn’t been created and were spread too thin to effectively deal with the issue. We didn’t really know how the outcome would be different either.
(February 11, 2008 Discussion). In addition, we discussed that it might have turn out to different solutions if Indian affairs were set in the hand of state as compared to the government. The state government is usually smaller and can condense problems within their work as compared to the government, which has a wide set of situations to deal with. However, many state governments hadn’t been created yet so it would be impossible for them to help these affairs.
5.) What leads men in some areas to hate different cultures, while others can easily accept them as neighbors and friends?
- Really the two ideas that dominated this discussion were the ignorance and the insecurity of people in general. We thought that these ideas are what often lead most people to hate. We also thought that another contribution was the fact that people think that becoming culturally sensitive would make them somehow lose what they currently have and the fact that people would want to resist this change. We also talked about how you should treat everybody that you meet with an open mind and not relying on any stereotypes, because most of the time these views are inaccurate and should be thrown out.
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Date created: January 10, 2000
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Copyright © 2008, George R. Spangler