How did the English defeat everyone they came into contact with? How were they able to steal land without any consequences? The English not only felt they were the superior race, but they often had the law on their side due to them being white and of the English race. Many of the white men that had powerful authority had the mindset that all English men had, they deserve it all. In A Different Mirror written by Ronald Takaki, he explains how the English were able to acquire all they land and how they used force by any means to push out the other races.
He also describes the living conditions of certain aces when they are in America. Ronal Takaki opens our eyes to a different view of one of our early presidents. Andrew Jackson was for removing the Indians, “He supported the efforts of Mississippi and Georgia to abolish Indian tribal units and allow white settlers to take cultivated Indian lands” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 81). He believed that the deaths of Indians meant that America was advancing civilization. Andrew did not feel guilty about what he stood for. Although they were laws that protected the Indians and their land, he did not obey them.
Instead, he would ignore them, “Supreme Court ruled that states could not legally xtend their jurisdiction into Indian territory, Jackson simply refused to enforce the Court’s decision” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 81). This made it difficult when the Indians went to defend themselves in attempting to keep what was theirs. Jackson also played a big role in the forceful removal of the Cherokee Indians. He had commissioner J. F. Schermerhorn negotiate a treaty to remove the Cherokee, but the treaty was not a true treaty. Schermerhorn did not have the authority to make the treaty legal.
None of the Cherokee were present during this negotiation and felt they had a right to stay on their land. During heir march west of Mississippi many of them died, “More than four thousand Cherokee- nearly one-forth of this exiled Indian nation-died on what they have bitterly remembered as the Trail of Tears” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 91) Thomas Jefferson was another authority figure whose main focus was to civilize the Indians and turn them into farmers rather than hunters. The English did not understand the Indians and their lifestyle.
They judged them as being barbaric and savage but were mistakenly wrong, “Before contact with the strangers from Europe, the Choctaws practiced communalism” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 83). The Choctaws were forced o raise animals such as cattle and pigs in a farm setting. They were not longer able to go out and hunt their meals as they had for many years. Along with farming, they were also cultivating cotton fields. After treaties were made and it became legal for the English to take land they pleased, many of the Choctaw Indians moved unwillingly west of the Mississippi River.
African Americans had it rough starting in the early eighteen hundred. Not all blacks were slaves during this time. The ones who lived in the North were free but still faced many racial images from others, “These stereotypes contributed to the onditions of racial degradation and poverty, which in turn, reinforced prejudice” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 100). Blacks were thought of as dumb, criminals, lazy, immature, unfit and indolent. Many were denied privileges the whites had but then were thought of as less than.
Because African Americans were viewed as criminals and thought to be involved in robberies and assaults against whites, some states too extra extreme precautions, “Ohio and Indiana required entering blacks to post $500 bond as a guarantee against becoming a public charge and as a pledge of good behavior” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 101). Although these blacks were free in the North, they were still unable to have interracial relationships. Many didn’t want migrants coming to their country and trying to marry the young white ladies. Life in the South was different for African Americans.
Some were free but many were not. They were slaves to white masters and worked day in and day. Some slaves had a special name from the white people, “To many white southerners, slaves were childlike, irresponsible, lazy, affectionate, and happy. Altogether these alleged qualities represented a type of personality- the ‘Sambo” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 104). Masters of the slaves in the south had 2 approaches on how to make their slaves do as they are told. Some masters felt that gaining a relationship with their slaves would ensure that they would always cooperate and not rebel.
Their mindset was if they liked their master, they would not harm them or act out. Other masters felt that they had to install fear into their slaves. If they were afraid of their masters, then they wouldn’t dare disobey for the fear of getting punished. It was the “let them know who’s boss” approach. Fredrick Douglas was the son of his master, Thomas Auld. He id not know what it meant to be a slave until his master sent him off to his brother, Hugh Auld, who would now be his master.
He was lucky enough to be sent to a home where the mistress had never owned slaves before. She thought of Fredrick as her own child. She cared for him, taught him how to read and felt proud to be helping him. That was until Hugh found out and sent Fredrick to be “broken”. This meant he was to be beaten and over worked until he turned into an obedient slave. Being sent to the slave breaker helped Fredrick find the man he was meant to be. As he got older he became free and ent back to visit his father.
Not holding any hatred or bitterness towards him he explained, “He was to me no longer a slave holder either in fact or in spriti, and I regarded him as I did myself, a victim of the circumstances of birth, education, and custom” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 117). The Irish were being pushed out of their own homeland by the English. The English colonizers had confiscated the land and made it into their own. The Irish were made to rent and/or lease land from their new tenants, the English. They started a beef production with the British, leaving most of the Irish hungry.
With what the English were shipping out they could have fed all the people who were starving. Instead the Irish were forced to live off potatoes and buttermilk. Around the time of 1815, the Irish decided to emigrate to the Land of Promise, America. Upon first arriving and working in America, the men were though of “men who were made to work”. The Irish were often hired to do hazardous, “The Irish became disposable workers. Indeed the Irish had high accident rates, for they were frequently assigned to hazardous jobs” (Takaki, 2008. Pg. 138).
It wasn’t long after arriving to America that they too began to turn on the African Americans. Irish fought the Africans for many jobs. The Irish felt, even though they had just arrived, deserved he jobs because they were white. This made them feel more intitled. Irish women found job more easily then the men. They found work as maids, in factories and seamstress. Maids got paid more but was more restricted. Factories and seamstress made little money but still had freedom to their lives. The Irish became citizens easily because they were able to speak the language. Most of the generation after the Irish emigrants became well educated and were able to get well respected jobs.
