Chief seattle letter to president. My English Stuff: Letter from Indian Chief Seattle to the President of the United States (1855) 2023-01-05
Chief seattle letter to president
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Chief Seattle was a Native American leader and the chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, who lived in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. In 1854, Chief Seattle wrote a letter to President Franklin Pierce in response to a proposal by the United States government to purchase tribal lands in the region.
In his letter, Chief Seattle expressed his deep love for his land and his concern for the well-being of his people. He emphasized that the land was not just a commodity to be bought and sold, but rather a sacred place that was essential to the spiritual and cultural identity of the Native American tribes.
Chief Seattle argued that the land had been inhabited by his ancestors for countless generations and that they had a right to continue living on it. He pointed out that the land had provided for all of their needs, including food, shelter, and medicine, and that it was integral to their way of life.
Despite this, Chief Seattle also recognized that the United States government had the power to take the land from his people. He argued, however, that it was not just or fair for the government to do so without considering the impact on the Native American tribes. Chief Seattle pleaded with President Pierce to consider the value of the land to his people and to treat them with kindness and respect.
In conclusion, Chief Seattle's letter to President Franklin Pierce was a powerful and eloquent expression of the Native American perspective on the issue of land ownership and the importance of preserving their cultural heritage. It is a poignant reminder of the complex history of relations between indigenous peoples and the United States government, and the ongoing struggle to protect the rights and interests of Native American communities.
Analysis Of Chief Seattle's Letter To President Pierce
The to-do lists and sales hype? Today is fair, tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. Document F Therefore he said we have the right to move them, because they are going to pollute our society. This earth is precious to us. Hold in your memory the way the land is as you take it. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the redman. Stevens; to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; to the office of the Secretary of the Interior and finally to the President's desk—quite a paper trail for the letter to have left not a trace.
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My English Stuff: Letter from Indian Chief Seattle to the President of the United States (1855)
All are holy in the memory and experience of my people. We will decide in our time. We know the sap that courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive. The sparkling water that runs in the rivers and streams is not only water; it is the blood of our ancestors. Chief Seattle begins his speech Free Rhetorical question Question Hawaii Chief Seattle 1.
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Chief Seattle's speech
What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? In 1931, Roberta Frye Watt reprinted Bagley's version in her memoir, Four Wagons West. Despite the efforts of Chief Seattle and other Native American leaders, the treaty was implemented and many Native Americans were forced to leave their ancestral lands and move to reservations. But perhaps it is because the redman is a savage and does not understand. So if we sell you our land you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where a man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers. The rivers carry our canoes and feed our children. The Many Speeches of Chief Seattle Seathl : The Manipulation of the Record on Behalf of Religious Political and Environmental Causes.
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Chief Seattle's Letter to the American President, 1852
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. One thing we know - our God is the same. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family. Care for it as we have cared for it. The idea is strange to us. How can you buy or sell the sky — the warmth of the land? What Chief Seattle says you can count on as truly as our white brothers can count on the return of the seasons.
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Letter to President Pierce, 1855 Chief Seattle (1).docx
The land would be sold in order to build establishments that would provide care for the mentally disabled. There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory. How can you buy them from us? We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. Care for it, as we have cared for it. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children's children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone.
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CHIEF SEATTLE: 1855
The frantic rush and stress? If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? When men spit on the ground they spit on themselves. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. He is the Body of man, and his compassion is equal for the redman and the white. The city of Seattle, Washington, bears his name. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all. The White Man will never be alone.
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Chief Seattle’s Letter In Response To The President Of The United States
How then can we become brothers? If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers. What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. For all things share the same breath —the beasts, the trees, and the man. Visitors often leave gifts next to his grave. He leaves his father's graves and his children's birthright is forgotten.
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Chief Seattle’s Letter to the President
Similarly, Indian Reservations remind Americans of our past and our progression to the future of the country. Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. Would that this stimulus had not come at the expense of more distancing and romanticizing the Native American, he adds. It is also precious to you. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart.
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Letter to president pierce by chief seattle Free Essays
One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony and man all belong to the same family. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. As the white population grew, they required more land and attempted to take the land from the Indians. However, this can be survived by the safeguarding of personality. No place to listen to the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings.
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