Why did the "White Man" Come to the North America? Did the Indians Welcome him?

Question

You say that we came as legal ones.....if you want to consider the atrocities committed to the North American Indians as our coming here legal do so......The Indian did not have the concept of owning land.......The saw land as on loan by mother nature. Mother nature owned the land they did not. So when the White Man came requesting to buy land the Indian so much wanted to share all of the bounty of the land with the white man......The white man tricked the Indians into entering into written contracts of land purchase.......lands of hundreds of acres purchased with little in exchange.....was not money.......Beaver pelts, deer antlers....beads...etc were the purchasing items. The Indians not understanding the concept of a man owning land......assumed that they were giving the white man the same rights as they had to hunt fish and camp .... The white man saw the Indian as stupid and dumb and fraudulently acquired his lands..... so don't say we came here as legal.... we came as thieves.

Answer 1

I guess part of your question should qualify what is "white"? Sure, the Anglo-Saxon may be an obvious example, but what of the Spanish, Italians, etc.? Also, the natives in those Eastern U.S. areas, thought they were getting a better deal, or "tricking" the Europeans, because, as you've stated, they felt NO man could own the land; the land owned them. In a sense, that has some truth to it, for if you pollute, destroy, etc. the land, what's left for it to "give in return?" As another poster stated, what's done is done. That doesn't make those actions right or excusable. A lot of treaties were broken, as well as atrocities committed. It's ridiculous to try to hold people today accountable for past mistakes committed by others. We live, more or less, in a pluralistic society today. The surviving tribes should be granted the same rights and privileges as all Americans. Hold ancient grudges will accomplish nothing, but accepting the commonality of all Americans as equal is a good start.

Answer 2

So, the settlers that came to the north American continent did the Indians wrong!!! What do you propose to do about it? Do you think that justifies doing wrong to the ones here today? Yes, I think it was the Spaniards that taught the Indians scalping. Should the descendants of the Spaniards be scalped today? History is full of illegal and evil atrocities committed upon humanity. This does not justify, in any way, what was done to the Indian. If you want everyone that is a descendant of the early settlers in north America to apologize, I'll start the ball rolling. To all American Indians, I apologize, even though I was not here and had nothing to do with it. How does that grab you?

Answer 3

The history of the world is the history of conquest, and the movement of peoples and ideas.

The Indians have no claim on the land. The only claims on land are the ones you can enforce by arms. The Indians had no more claim to the continent than anybody else. And they were quickly dispatched out of the way, an impediment to the progress of a materially, technologically, militarily and organizationally superior Western Civilization.

Regardless of how the Indians were treated, they fell under the onslaught of a superior culture. Their tribalism was no match against the power of the European nation-states.

It's not their land because they had no concept of ownership, sovereignty, national borders, nation-states, etc. But to whine about it now is horribly childish. They need to get over it.

Answer 4

Calling them "white men" is a bit silly, considering Columbus was financed by "brown men" (Spain).

And it's handy to say "North America", to try to pretend it was only white Europeans doing the damage, but look at the atrocities committed by "the brown men" in Central and South America!
The Spanish had more slavery, for a longer period of time. (All those black people in S. America and Haiti, etc., didn't just spontaneously generate you know!)
They INTENTIONALLY (not accidentally) tried to wipe out entire Indian tribes like the Incan & Mayans & Aztecs, and mostly succeeded.

Current day hispanics are mostly descendents of these people, yet only whites are blamed for what happened to Indians in all the history books.
Either get over it, or start blaming EVERYONE who did it.

Answer 5

Another assumption that we all came and conquered the american/indians. Forget about the 90% of us that came after all that and had to go through the legal process because a majority of the states were already established.
--Most people came here because of religeous freedom, then even some of them were still persecuted for religeon.
--Some people were brought here by force, or were traded by their own people and country to the whites.
--Some people wanted to be able to own property, land, and business and they did not have that freedom in their country.
--Some people came after most of their families had came.
--Some people come and want a free ride and benefits and not have to go through the process that all the rest of the people had to do before them. They want to work here and send the money back home so they can go back and not have to work for several years.
--Some people really desire to be here and go through the process like they are supposed to.

Answer 6

We came seeking freedom. There was a clash of cultures because the Europeans saw the Indians possessed no deeds or fenced in property to claim the land.

Right or wrong it can't be undone. You could always give your home to a native American if it makes you feel better.

Answer 7

That is your opinion, I don't share it. What use did Indians have of money? Most of the trade back then was for goods. Indians were not thought of as dumb or stupid, they were thought of as savages. Grow up.

Answer 8

You are so angry. Really, the only reason the pilgrims set sail for the the US was that the pubs were closed in England on sunday. They just wanted some beer.

Answer 9

Yawn, your argument is tired and stupid. Doesn't make any sense bitchin' about something that happened before any of us were born. The problem we have now is very relevant. Your argument is pointless. You still come off as stupid, you're not asking any real questions moron.

Answer 10

quit whining , the indians get plenty of benefits from their situation of " selling " land that they never owned