Chief Joseph's Speech Thesis

The Source Analyzed is the speech Chief Joseph gave to Americans to explain why he fought and to give American a chance to determine if Indians are men or just savages. This speech was meant to give Americans, at that time, the opportunity to see things from the point of view of the Native Americans. He begins the speech by giving a list of laws his people were taught, these law included: treating all men equal, never to break a bargain first, to never lie. He even talks about the Great Spirit, seeing and hearing all and he gives every man a spirit home according to their behavior in life; good men get good homes and bad men get bad ones. This belief is very similar to the idea of heaven and hell for Americans. However, these laws are not just brought up for the fun of it, he talks about them because these are all things that relate to how the Americans behaved towards the Native Americans. Many treaties with …show more content…
By saying Natives were savages they justified to themselves a reason to take their land, making a corrupted and unjust cause into a righteous one in their eyes. The best excuse they had was Manifest Destiny an idea that westward expansion was inevitable and it was written by God that they would span from sea to sea. During the time period Americans did as they pleased constantly advancing technology and looking for more resources to support this advance or growth. The American mindset was built off the idea of freedom, at least for men, after becoming their own country they could do what they wanted. This ideology caused conflict with many people like the Native Americans, but no matter what the cause there was always a way to cover up the bad, in this case it was Manifest Destiny and with slaves rights it was a matter of