Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Chief Seattle

Good Essays
490 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Chief Seattle
Chief Seattle’s inspirational oration delivered to Governor Isaac Stevens in 1864 is an attempt to manipulate the whites to fairly deal with the Native Americans in regards with their land, despite their inferior status. Although the Indians were separated from their motherland, their spirits are everlasting. Chief Seattle accomplished his purpose through countless rhetorical devices, most notably through establishing his authority, rhetorical questions, and similes. Chief Seattle begins his speech in a welcoming matter, pleasing the governor and the white’s pride while recognizing their superior status through generating a good reputation. He refers to the governor and president as “The great, and I presume- good White chief…” throughout the piece, hoping the governor will look favorably on his subordination despite the mocking that is hidden in his words. Though the decision is firm for the Natives to be swept off their land, Seattle still praises the white chief. He takes responsibility for the dilemma of the Natives, another strategy that makes him more reputable and commendable to the governor, although he does not necessarily believe that his people are truly at fault. By accomplishing such an act, Seattle gains the respect of the governor, which will in the future help him with his purpose. In yet another attempt to get or remain on the governor’s “good side,” Seattle says that “When our young mean grow angry…it denotes that their hearts are black…” blaming them and not the whites for the warfare and distrust that characterizes the Native American-American relationship. Through establishing his credibility, the chief is able to persuade the governor to treat the tribal people well. Basically, the audience receives a diplomatic but alarming warning by Chief Seattle about the white people taking over their motherland. In order to further convince the governor and the citizens, Seattle employs rhetorical questions as an attempt to make the reader wonder and empathize. With a question like “How then can we be brothers?” Seattle suggests that the two races cannot interact through a fault of their own. Instead of blaming the whites, he implies that they are just and kind and that the peoples’ lack of friendship is just the way it’s supposed to be. Through stating that question, Seattle conceals the anger he has within himself in order for the whites to become lenient with the Natives regarding their homeland. It compels the audience to empathize his reasoning, a step closer to his purpose. In addition, he states, “…he will protect us. But can that ever be?” addressing specifically to governor Isaac. The affect of this rhetorical question is significant in making the governor consider the decision twice before buying the Native land and pushing them off to the reservations. It brings up what is right and his morals in regards to this injustice. The overall influence of the rhetorical questions puts the governor on the spot, ultimately giving the audience a compassionate view.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Cronon notifies the reader that the earliest sources of information from the settlers are restricted to the coastline of the Northeast. This chapter also starts the narrative of the Native American and European Settler relationship. The early settlers were confused at the fact the Native Americans had so many natural resources surrounding them, but they still lived as if they were in poverty. This would only be the commencement of a difficult relationship between the Native Americans and the Settlers.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I chose to summarize the speech of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh’s address to General William Henry Harrison. Chief Tecumseh starts his speech by addressing what type of person he is and who he has made himself to by. He is speaking to General Harrison about the division, loss, and sale or Indian lands. He believes the land is provided for everyone not for division among men. He warns of the trouble to be foreseen if village chiefs are continued to be destroyed and the war it will create between the different tribes and the unknown consequences for white people. If boundaries are crossed and the land is not given back it will produce great trouble between the Indians and white people. He asks for pity to be taken upon the red people and explains…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The documentary “Indians, Outlaws and Angie Debo” shows Angie Debo as a 98-year old lady, reflecting on her experiences in life. In the documentary she talks about Oklahoma´s history of depriving its five Native American tribes of their land and resources in the 1930s from the perspective of the displaced. Native Americans during this time were seen more than ever as a bounded group by the European Anglo-Americans [in the following analysis, the dominant European Anglo-American group is referred to as whites to simplify the reading]. In comparison to whites who felt superior and avowed to themselves the power to dominate the inferior race, the Native Americans were ascribed a strongly subordinated position in society and were treated in a discriminatory way by the whites.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. What did Captain Clark’s loud order of “all hands up and at their oars” cause the Indians to do? My peremptory order to the men, and the Bustle of their getting to their oars, Alarmed the chiefs, together with the appearance of the men on shore as the boat turned.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs. Mary Rowlandson in the excerpt, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, asserts that Native Americans are barbarous savages; only the grace of God guided the author to survival. Rowlandson supports her claim by illustrating the bloody attacks the Natives led against the colonists and the deaths of her closest family members and friends. The author’s purpose is to expose the cruelties of the Native Americans in order to persuade all educated colonists that Native Americans are cruel, not friendly, and cannot be cooperated with. Therefore, the author writes in a grieving and anguished tone for all educated white colonists with mixed knowledge and perspectives on the trustworthiness of Native Americans.…

    • 111 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oration of Chief Seattle

    • 652 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Respect is shown to the Governor and the whites at the beginning by Chief Seattle because he approaches them in a friendly manner which shows he understands white’s superior status. The choice of diction really helps persuade the governor especially when he refers to him as “the great, and 'the good white chief” throughout the text. Chief Seattle's goal here is to make the governor support his oration despite the underlying mocking of the whites and their intelligence. When the Chief takes full responsibility on the plight of his people this causes him to gain respect and admirability of the Governor even though most likely he felt quite opposite of this the Chief knew his goal was to persuade the Governor and thats exactly what he was doing. Another way he tried to gain the Governor’s support was when he blames his own Native soldiers during the warfare between them and the whites saying their “hearts are black” to show that he knows that his people are wrong. Chief Seattle knows exactly what he is doing with every word he attempts to tell the Americans what they want to hear this shows how easily it was to influence the whites and despite the fact the Natives were “inferior” they were very underestimated by the whites.another method used by the chief was to increase his credibility when he uses a simile saying “my words are like stars that never change,”(line3) this shows the Governor that he is willing to cooperate with the whites. Throughout…

    • 652 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chief Seattle, in his oration to Governor Isaac I. Stevens, mourns the loss of his people but does not resign himself and his people to a hopeless fate. Seattle opens his oration with a tone of respect, recognizing the President of the United States as a “chief” of the white people, just as Seattle is the chief of his people. Seattle’s oration does not drift into a despairing tone however. It gradually shifts from a dismal and gloomy outlook for his people to an admonition towards the President and American citizens, leaving the oration off on a foreboding note. Thus, Chief Seattle embodies his views of the situation at hand and leaves a lasting impact on the audience through his shift in tone, his allusions to the formation of the country, and the admonition he gives at the end of his oration.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first and only published account of Chief Seattle's Oration was written in the "Seattle Sunday Star" on October 27th, 1887. The author of the article, Doctor Henry Smith, was said to have been a witness at the speech and served as a translator for Chief Seattle; however, no official document of this account exists in any historical archive. Chief Seattle's speech has been widely cited in numerous books and documents, but every citation leads back to Doctor Smith's article. Therefore, the only proof available that this speech ever occurred is the newspaper article dating back to 1887 from this one source.…

    • 543 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Choctaw Indians of Alabama are a band of Indians that managed to remain behind in the outer regions of north Mobile and south Washington counties after their tribal lands were given up to the United States in 1830. Beginning in 1830, the most significant period of their removal from their homelands, the majority of the Choctaw tribe was forced along the Trail of Tears settling on reservation lands in Mississippi and Oklahoma. A small group of about 45 families avoided removal by settling and hiding out in the woods surrounding the small communities of Citronelle, Mt. Vernon, and McIntosh. “There were four major families: the Reed, Weaver, Byrd, and Rivers families. The next largest are the Snow, Johnston, Taylor, Orso, Chestang, and Fields families. Other family names that appear often within the group are Evans, Davis, Cole, Frazier, Smith, Lofton, Hopkins, and Sullivan” (Matte, Greenbaum and Brown, Origins of the MOWA Band of Choctaws). Over time, other Indians in the area that were without tribal communities of their own joined the Choctaw Indians of Alabama. Today, the Choctaw Indians of Alabama are known as the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians. This tribe took on the name of MOWA in the 1970’s when they began to seek government recognition to identify the Indians in Mobile and Washington Counties who are descended from several Indian Tribes: Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Mescalero, and Apache. Over time the tribal members have intermarried or partnered with nearly 30 different tribes nationally. The name MOWA is an acronym which combines the first syllables of Mobile and Washington counties; the two counties where the tribal reservation straddles both counties. The name “MOWA” does have a distinctive ring to it; but the name does not have deep roots in Indian linguistics. It was taken on because it was similar to…

    • 2130 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the poem "On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City" by Sherman Alexie, the speaker is portrayed as a Native American Indian whose apparent wish is to retake and make known his ownership of Indian land, which was stolen by white people. However, his sympathy towards his rivals seems to keep him from accomplishing these goals.…

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Sweat Lodge

    • 2588 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Francis, Lee. Native Time: A Historical Timeline of Native America. 1996. Saint Martin 's Griffin Press: New York City.…

    • 2588 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Manifest Destiny

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages

    American territorial expansion was rejected by many groups of people for various reasons and Native Americans were no different. Native Americans resisted American territorial expansion in several ways. The following essay will not only consist of reasons for Native American resistance but also provide proof from several primary sources. These sources include Tecumseh’s Appeal to the Osages, where Tecumseh tries to unite dozens of Indian tribes against the United States expansion efforts, Black Hawk’s Encroachment by White Settlers, where Black Hawk, a Sac Indian war chief, conveys his life story to try and justify his actions in the Black Hawk war against the American settlers, and an Encounter between Omaha Hunters and White Squatters in Iowa, where a hostile encounter between Omaha Hunters and White Squatters was the result of dramatically different conceptions of landownership amongst them.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    American Indian Movement

    • 3085 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Native Americans have felt distress from societal and governmental interactions for hundreds of years. American Indian protests against these pressures date back to the colonial period. Broken treaties, removal policies, acculturation, and assimilation have scarred the indigenous societies of the United States. These policies and the continued oppression of the native communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension. Governmental pressure for assimilation and their apparent aim to destroy cultures, communities, and identities through policies gave the native people a reason to fight. The unanticipated consequence was the subsequent creation of a pan-American Indian identity of the 1960s. These factors combined with poverty, racism, and prolonged discrimination fueled a resentment that had been present in Indian communities for many years. In 1968, the formation of the American Indian Movement took place to tackle the situation and position of Native Americans in society. This movement gave way to a series of radical protests, which were designed to draw awareness to the concerns of American Indians and to compel the federal government to act on their behalf. The movement's major events were the occupation of Alcatraz, Mount Rushmore, The Trail of Broken Treaties, and Wounded Knee II. These AIM efforts in the 1960s and 1970s era of protest contained many sociological theories that helped and hindered the Native Americans success. The Governments continued repression of the Native Americans assisted in the more radicalized approach of the American Indian Movement. Radical tactics combined with media attention stained the AIM and their effectiveness. Native militancy became a repertoire of action along with adopted strategies from the Civil Rights Movement. In this essay, I will explain the formation of AIM and their major events, while revealing that this identity based social movement's…

    • 3085 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thesis: Modern Native American traditions reflect the history of struggle, strife and triumph they experienced in history.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chief Seattle’s diction reflects his sorrow and passion in regards to selling the land. The purpose of the speech was to persuade the “The Great Chief of Washington” on how important the land was to his people. With vivid description, history and memories he was able to contract the difference between the Indians love of the land and the white man ignorance of the land by saying, “The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father’s grave behind, and he does not care.” These words illustrated the great respect and the different morals toward each family. He condemns the white man for moving away from their land which displays the disrespect they have for their dead.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays