The Native American Question

According to the saying history is written by thewinners. This is also the case of American history.The history of America was written in the spirit thateverything can be explained; the American point ofview as justifying every deed and action is not onlya few decades old it goes back to the time of thePuritans.By the advent of the late 18th and early 19thcentury the early images and perceptions of theSpanish French and English about the NativeAmericans affected every aspect of life science andsociety. The concepts became regarded as facts andthe whole picture of the Natives as Indians turnedinto central themes in understanding the indigenouspeople of North America.With the idea of Herbert Spencer - further developedby Charles Darwin - of what was to become known asSocial Darwinism the Native Americans were labeledas unfit and their downfall was explained as aresult of their unwillingness to adapt to the new ways. Self-determination was the main goal to be achievedby the revitalized Natives. In a way the nationalhistoric memory was reshaped and the Natives broughtinto foreground the real present day identity of theNative Americans.