Extermination Of A Culture

The "Extermination" of a Culture

"A well-worn formula tells us that when two races come together the fate of the weaker is summed up as extermination." The White American settlers desire to assimilate the Indian people ultimately resulted in the extermination of the American Indian culture. In his article, The Assimilation of the American Indian, Fayette McKenzie supported his statement through the discussion of "blood mixture" to portray his argument of the White mans extermination of the American Indian rather than assimilation.

McKenzie stated his point of extermination when he talked about the object of the missionaries. Instead of gradually assimilating the Indians to believe in their religious practices, the missionary's efforts achieved an extermination of Indian rituals and beliefs. The Indians were forced to follow the white man's religion without an understanding of the spiritual aspect. McKenzie's example of Zeisberger clearly shows this argument. Zeisberger states in his diary that the greatest joy is to preach the Gospel although it is learned that Zeisberger lived a life full of sorrow. Because the efforts of a new religion were imposed on Zeisberger, rather than taught to him, he could not grasp its meaning, therefore this new religion became meaningless to him.

McKenzie further explains the extermination of the American Indian through the "peace policy" and the Dawes Act. By 1866 our government had spent millions of dollars on killing off the Indians. Instead of stating the wrongs of war, a "peace policy" was created. Peace might have stopped Indian wars but, as McKenzie said, "Became an object in itself rather than the instrument of progress." Following this policy was yet another action named the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act terminated the tribal land and replaced it with land plots. Each Indian family was forced to give up their homeland and replace it with individual plots of land. Just as McKenzie states