Major Issues on Questions in History - Essay Example

? History and Political Science 18 July Answers to Short Questions Why can the Tempest by Shakespeare be looked upon as an allegory of the European arrival in America? Who do some of the Shakespearian characters represent? The tempest by William Shakespeare was among his last solo-authored play. It was also the first play to be written in the first folio of his collected books. Unlike the other plays he has written with many pages, the Tempest is very simple because it has only nine scenes. The Tempest tells of a story of a usurped duke and the ship wreck he arranges in order to avenge (Shakespeare 2). The whole play is about mastery and rule. It is a play that represents colonization by the English colonizers and their expansion into America. The Tempest can serve as an allegory, as we know that an allegory is an indirect representation of something .The story criticizes the European for the bad treatment to the native people. Native Americans represent a significant contrast to all of the other groups, for theirs was not an immigrant experience; they were the original Americans before the voyage of Columbus. When English colonizers arrived, they stereotyped them as savages and seized their lands by warfare (Takaki n.p.). Some of the Shakespearian characters in the Tempest have been used to make representation. For example, Sebastian and Antonio wanted to overthrow King Alonso and make the drunken butler Stephano the king of island. These characters represent the English colonizers, who came and possessed the native America’s land through warfare (Takaki n.p.). Caliban, one of the principal characters, was a new world inhabitant by the name Carib, which was the name of an Indian tribe, who came to mean savage for America. What are some of the parallels between the English expansion into Ireland and the English expansion into America? The English colonizer had different impacts in Ireland and America. The Irish were viewed as a people living outside of civilization, and they were believed to be strong pagans, who externally displayed themselves as Christians. The English colonizers argued that the Irish lacked knowledge of God or good manners, and were described as lazy. The English colonizers killed Irish families, arguing that such families provided support for rebels. After four years, the English had reduced the Irish people to wretchedness and they took possession of the Irish land (Takaki n.p.). While in America, the English colonizers had a lot of impact. The native people in America were the Indian people. The English colonizers saw the Indians reminding them of the Irish people. Unlike the Irish people, the Indians did not waste time in taking advantage by beginning with the educational process that would transform their lives (Takaki n.p.). Why did the European colonists believe that American Indians were lower on the scale of development then they were? The English colonizers did not find any difference between the Indians and the Irish people; they saw them as being lower on the scale of development. This was because they saw the Indians as being uncivilized and with no educational skills, so they could not be able to work on any development. They were also seen as being lazy and unwilling to work for their own needs. According to Takaki, the European colonists described them as beasts that were only ready to reap from what the English had (n.p.). Why did the British wish to take over Indian land? What opened the way for them to do so? In America, the English colonizers first settled in Virginia, where the Powhatans, an agricultural people, occupied and cultivated corn. Initially, when the English came to Virginia, the encounter between these Indians and the English was a peaceful one, and of friendship. After they had established a camp, it was reported that there came starvation and most of the English colonizers died leaving only a few. That is when the English started attacking the Indians trying to extort their food. The English colonizers were soon encouraged by their culture of expanding the lands they already owned. In 1613, their desire for more Indian land was made stronger because of the development of the new cash crop, tobacco, and its exportation (Takaki, n.p.). Why can Andrew Jackson be called a "symbol for an age"? What were his views of the American Indian? Andrew Jackson was less a political figure in America, and was the seventh president of America. He lived for 78 years from the time of the revolution to the eve of the Mexican War (“Indian-Killer Andrew Jackson,” indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com). He had received an electoral vote to become president but was declined by a congress that gave it to John Quincy Adams. He is referred to as the “symbol of Age” because he was the symbol of the democratic age. This means that he helped broaden the umbrella of democracy because earlier on, the only people who were allowed to vote in America were those who owned property. He was a defender of the common man from aristocracy. Andrews Jackson is said to have been the worst United State president, because he had a reputation of being a hater of the Native Americans or the Indians. When he became president in 1812, he signed a law which was called the Removal of Indian Act (“Indian-Killer Andrew Jackson,” indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com). What were some of the effects of the land allotment program and the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek? The land allotment program allowed allocation of land in fee simple title to individual Indians. As land owners, they could be reduced to citizenship or were forced to sell their lands and move west of Mississippi River. Through the land allotment program, t he Indians could now succeed in the white society. The allotment also enabled the white speculators, farmers, and planters to take Indian lands legally. In the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, Choctaw families and individuals were instructed to register with an Indian agent six months after the ratification of the treaty, if they wished to remain in the state of Mississippi and receive a grant of land (Gill, Montenegro and Domeland 98). What was Indian removal, and how was it justified? What were its effects on the Cherokee nation? Indian removal meant the removal of the indigenous people form their homelands or the Indian from the east of Mississippi River. This removal would allow the white settlers to gain land from the Indians, in what they termed as being legal. Jackson gave a philosophical justification to the forceful elimination of the Indians from their lands. This removal gave way to 2500000 acres of land for white settlers and slavery, which was initially for southeastern Indians (Gill, Montenegro and Domeland 98). Gill, Montenegro and Domeland point out that the removal hand some effects to the Cherokees; that is, their lands were seized and cultivated by forcing them out and most of time, they were killed (98). What were some of the effects of the coming of the railroad on the Pawnee nation? The white colonizers had received a lot of hostility from other Native American tribes, but found refuge among the Pawnees. Pawnees were known to have fought other native tribes, and thus the white settlers saw the Pawnees fit for the job of protecting the railroad. As their land was taken for the reservation of the railroad, the Pawnees thus lost their lands. Many of them died in the quest of protecting the railroad as other Native Americans attacked, such as the Sioux (Boughter 257). Who was Wovoka? What was his vision? How was it expressed? What effect did it have on the Sioux? What were the results? Wovoka was an Indian counselor. He had a vision for the Indians that if they gave up alcohol, lived a simple life, and devoted their life to prayer, the white men would disappear from earth, Indians lands would be given back, and their fellow Indians who were dead would rise and join them. This vision was contained in the Ghost Dance ritual and involved worship and was expressed through dancing. When the Ghost Dance spread to the Sioux, they began ecstatic dancing as they were led by the sitting bull. The sitting bull and his grandson were killed in warfare (Murrin et al 487). What was Francis Amasa Walker's answer to the "Indian Problem"? What was his ultimate goal? Explain. Francis Amasa Walker was an Indian commissioner and a professor in Yale. His answer to the Indian problem was through science, and he created a modern reservation system. This reservation system would provide the Native American government support and help, as they were in the transition from savage to the republican, and prepare them for citizenship. This would help them have self control over their animal like appetites. Walker and his supporter believed that through this, they would be able to breed a better Indian race (“Race and Ethnicity,” 198). What was the Dawes Act? What effects did it have? The Dave Act was an act that was passed by the United States congress to provide for granting of landholdings to individual Native Americans. This act resulted in land loss and undermined Indian’s self sufficiency, and the cultural practices and traditions of the Indian were interfered with by other assimilation programs. It also broke the tribal units and also declared that those Indian’s who owned land would become American citizens (Malone 144). What was the Indian Reorganization Act, and what were the effects of this act on the Navajo people? The Reorganization Act was an act of 1934 (Iverson 62). It was a ground breaking legislation that immediately changed the federal Indian policy and had been strongly supported by collier. Among its aim was to terminate or bring an end to the sale of the Indian land. It also aimed at regulating the ownership of federal funds to buy more lands for tribes, and through it, a system of federal loans for tribal economic development was established. The fact that collier supported this Act made it very suspicious for many. The Navajos rejected the provisions that the Act was offering (Iverson 64). Who were the code talkers? In what great battle did they participate? What was the result? The so called code talkers were Native Americans, who used their native dialect to pass important messages to allied troops. During the Second World War, the Choctaw, Sioux Indians, and Comanche were used as code talkers in Europe and the Pacific (Congress 10522). During this period, the code talkers experienced a lot of problems because they could go for many days without food and protection from their enemies. They helped protect the American soldiers and also helped American win most of its battles. From the "Kaleidoscope" readings, we are given an account written by Giovanni da Verrazano. What is the most common reaction from the natives of North America to these strangers? Why do you think they reacted in this manner? According to Giovanni, the encounter he had on the Native Americans was a friendly one, rather than how the other people had made the natives look bad. They did not clearly understand why these strangers possessed their lands and their demands for the land increased time to time to an extent that they had the Removal Act made into law, so as to eliminate the Native Americans. What could the new generations today learn from the Giovanni da Verrazano attitude and his view of Native American people? The attitude that Giovanni had towards the native people was that of a humanistic culture, unlike the others. The new generation should learn that the Native Americans are people and are not short of anything. What the white settlers could do, even the native people would have done. They should in other words treat them with great respect; that is, like humans and not less humans. What problem is our society today facing that the people of the Pequod tribe faced in the short story "A Son of the Forest"? A son of the forest is a short story that talks about a son who had come from a poor background; the mother was a servant in the gentry’s household, while the father was a shoemaker before the son was born (Apess 10). The couple moved to Colchester and lived there in what William Apess calls comparative comfort. They later had some quarrels and consequently separated; their son had to live with his grandmother and grandfather together with his siblings. When the children were living with their grandparents, they often went hungry. Their clothes were insufficient to protect them against the cold weather that they depended on good Samaritans. The story shows the hardships the people of Pequod faced like starvation, separation, and divorce. In today’s society, people are still facing the same problems, as some die of hunger, and others are divorcing and separating. In the story, The Red Convertible, Henry is in the river and says to Lyman that his "boots are filling." How does Henry's death mirror the history of the Native American experience? The Red convertible is a story of two Native American brothers. The story explores on the relationship between the two brothers before and after Henry, one of the brothers, had come from Vietnam, where he was held as a prisoner. The struggles of Henry trying to bring back his self after he had been held captive by the Vietnamese signifies the struggles that the native Americans had gone through during the invasion by the white settlers. Henry also fighting in the Vietnam signifies or mirrors the many Indian men that were used in fighting the American wars. In the Story of the Red Convertible, there are many parallels between the story of the brothers and the story of the Native American struggle as a whole. Identify a few of these parallels, then identify and discuss the similarities and the repercussions of such reflections. The story of the Red convertible has a number of similarities with the story of the Native American struggle. The story of the Red Convertible signifies assimilation and also tells about the effects of the Vietnma war to the Native Americans who participated in it. The two stories have talked about struggles that were passed through. For example, just like the Native Americans struggled to bring the former fun loving Henry back, they also fought against the white settlers so as to get back their lands. Also, Henry fighting in the white mans war shows how the Native Americans had been used in fighting the white wars, like the code talkers who were characterized by the Native Americans. The two stories also have some differences. For example, the red convertible shows that the white world was modern with more civilization than the world of the Native Americans (Nagel 42-44). Works Cited Apess, William. A Son of the Forest and Other Writings. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts, 1997. Print. Boughter, Judith A. The Pawnee Nation: An Annotated Research Bibliography. Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2004. Print. Congress. Congressional Record. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2011. Print. Gill, S. I., Claudio Montenegro and Dorte Domeland. Crafting Labor Policy: Techniques and Lessons from Latin America. New York: World Bank Publications, 2002. Print. “Indian-Killer Andrew Jackson Deserves Top Spot on List of Worst U.S. Presidents.” indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com. Indian Country Today Media Network, LLC, 20 February 2012. Web. 18 September 2013. Iverson, Peter. The Navajo. New York: InfoBase Publishing, 2009. Print. Malone, Michael P. Montana: A History of Two Centuries. Washington: University of Washington Press, 1991.Print.  Murrin, John M. et al. Liberty: A History of the American People. California: Cengage Learning, 1863. Print. Nagel, James. The Contemporary American Short-story Cycle: The Ethnic Resonance of Genre. Louisiana: LSU Press, 2004. Print. “Race and Ethnicity.” The sociology Project. Gnutext, LLC, n.d. Web. 18 September 2013. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. New South Wales: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Revised Edition). New York: Little Brown and Company, 2008. Print. Read More