Read the Essay below. Be able to answer and expound on the following questions.
(1) When the whites first arrived in the new world, how did the
Native Americans act toward them?
(2) When white people arrived in the new world, were they more
civilized that the native inhabitants of the new world? Explain.
(3) What put the early inhabitants of the new world at a disadvantage
when it came time to defend themselves against white people?
(4) Did the "way of life" of the Native Americans and
white people have anything to do with the inability of the Native
Americans to defend themselves against white people?
Class #1 Essay [Audio Version]
When white people first began to settle on a regular basis
on land that was "home" to the earlier inhabitants of
the new world, the response of the earlier inhabitants was a casual
one. Native Americans, so-called Indians and Caribs, had a philosophy
on life that was very humane, so they tended to share what they had
with each other and with foreigners as well.
The ability of the early inhabitants of the new world to resist
white people was dictated by the conditions under which they had
developed and lived. These conditions did not prepare the so-called
Indians and Caribs to effectively deal with a people as cruel
and inhumane as white people. The early inhabitants of the new
world did not feel the need to compete with each other or attempt
to dominate each other to the extent white people did. The early
inhabitants of the new world did not develop the dog-eat-dog attitude
toward each other that white people had developed. Whereas white
people's institutions sprang from a generally chaotic and insecure
condition, the Native Americans' institutions sprang from a state
of living that was relatively calm and peaceful. Whereas white
people took a deadly and calculated approach to every aspect of
life, the Native Americans took a casual and humanistic approach.
The white people, those who were insecure, greedy, warlike and
uncultured, developed tools and weapons which were designed to
make it easier for them to attack others and defend themselves
against others. The Native Americans, on the other hand, developed
tools and weapons that were geared toward providing them with
basic survival needs more than anything else. The early inhabitants
of the new world were not obsessed with dominating or destroying
another group of people and did not expect another group of people
to be obsessed with dominating or destroying them. As a result,
when the way-of-life of Native Americans was challenged and attacked
by white people, by the white way of life, the chances that Native
Americans could successfully defend themselves were slim.
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