How could they possibly believe there was nothing wrong with what they did?
2006-06-12 15:57:49 · 18 answers · asked by Strange Design 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
They justify it the same way with every other land they invaded, they thought they were better than the 'savages' that lived there first, they did it in Africa, Asia, S. America, and N. America
2006-06-12 16:00:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Part of the answer is that the settlers considered Native Americans subhuman. In order to believe one can kill another with impunity, one must believe that the other is subhuman.
Besides that, I suspect that the Europeans simply wanted the land and the wealth that came with it. That would probably explain the justification that since the natives treated the land as sacred soil instead of a money-making machine, they were therefore unworthy of it.
Religion has something to do with it, too. Many people actually thought America was the New Israel and the settlers were the new chosen people. How did the Old Israel enter Canaan? By killing people and destroying cities. So some people read their Bibles and figured God would bless their efforts.
That is by no means the entire explanation.
2006-06-12 16:41:49 · answer #2 · answered by Kevin F 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The settlers weren't justified. Some tried to use religion as an excuse, but the Bible says to love your neighbors, to help the poor, and take care of strangers, etc... so those settlers who claimed "divine right" as an excuse to conquer the Native Americans must have been hypocrites.
I do believe that things could have been done peacefully and without deceit to get along with each other.
however, there were some tribes who mercilessly killed some innocent settlers, but the most part was the settlers killing and stealing from innocent tribes.
2006-06-12 16:09:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The same way that Germans justified their crimes against the Jews and Gypsies in Europe. The same way that rich people justify their opulence at the expense of truly starving countries all over the world.
It happens when people think that they are better than someone somewhere. When the educated think that education is so important that uneducated people are inferior. When healthy people think that health care is so important that people who are ill are less valuable as citizens. When Protestants think they are better than Catholics or when Lutherans think they are better than Huguenots.
Nobody denies that what the whites in America did to the Indians was the same kind of systematic genocide that Hitler did to the Jews and Gypsies.
But in the United States, we don't call it genocide. We call it something that is nice and tidy and helps us lie to ourselves about what it is. Genocide is what it really is.
2006-06-12 16:07:01 · answer #4 · answered by Roseknows 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I dont know.
There is so much that people dont know about the killing and treatment of Native americans. There is so much that people don't learn in school. ( or ignore)
This webite below is very interesting, it taks about The struggles and things that they dident talk about in school. I was shocked when I first learned these things years ago. I was so hurt that my people were so horribly tortured.
"20 US Medals of Honor were given for killing over 200 Women & Children. They were slaughtered at Wounded Knee under a flag of truce when there was no war. They died for their religious beliefs and the color of their skin.
Killing Native Americans had become a trophy sport in which photographers and bystanders watched for entertainment.
Postcards were sold of this scene and other bodies of men. The women and children's corpses were covered or moved by photographers so as not to overly shock their audiences."
2006-06-12 16:10:05 · answer #5 · answered by rxqueen♥ † 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
European settlers were pikers, compared to the Spaniard. Their atrocities against American Indians rival Hitler.
2006-06-12 16:36:24 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They didn't have to justify anything. Like most Caucasians, they assumed they were so superior to the natives that the lives and rights of the natives didn't exist, except to serve them. In truth, things have not changed that much through out the years.
2006-06-12 16:27:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Europeans did not consider the inhabitants of the new world as humans because they weren't Christians (natives). If you really want to learn more about that and other facts related to American history,your best bet is to read a book titled "Lies my teacher told me" by James W. Loewen.
2006-06-12 16:09:55 · answer #8 · answered by aventureros 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They used religion to justify murder theft and rape. They spoke about natives as savages, well the history books shows us that the only savages were the Europeans.
2006-06-12 16:26:06 · answer #9 · answered by Erik 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With lies.
I'm glad that there are people who see how wrong the European settlers were.
2006-06-12 17:00:38 · answer #10 · answered by Deerrunner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋