Recent orders
Removal Of the Indians from Their Native Land
Student’s name
Instructor
Course
Date
Removal Of the Indians from Their Native Land
The removal of the Indians from their original homes was received differently by different people in the United States of America. The Indians suffered a lot in the process and even some died as they were being removed from their original homes. The founding fathers of the nation had come up with a proposition that the Indians had to be civilized since they were not civilized and once, they were civilized then they could be accepted by the whites into the states as long as they were to continue behaving like white men. This had begun but the presidency of Jackson came before it could be finished (Wallace et al, 15). This paper discusses the reasons why president Jackson felt that it was important for the Indians to be removed from the mainland states and be taken to the states which were not established or sovereign as well as the process of removal with its good intentions and the negative experiences that happened.
When the whites settled in the United States as colonists, they did not recognize the Indians as any good or civilized people. They just thought they were indigenous people who could not be civilized and therefore their life was not spent trying to civilize people who were not civilized according to them. When the colonists rejected the stamp act and got into the American revolution war, they were fighting for the American land to be theirs (Remini,1829). Therefore, they did not consider the Indians as any important and they were faced with total feeling of control. Once independence was obtained and the articles of confederation as well as the constitution declared official and the nation established there remained one problem and that was Indians.
Even though the whites from England had found Indians in the place they never cared for them and always saw them as a destruction to the country which was new and ready for new beginnings (Act, 151). The men of wisdom as stated in the paper like Washington declared that the Indian problem had to be dealt with later and that they were supposed to be civilized and later assumed into the union and white men’s culture and kind of life. President Jackson however saw the process getting too slow and Indians being hurt by the whites as because of this he decided to go on with the process of removal which his predecessors were unable to do. He did this and while so many people did not say anything loudly, they agonized with the Indians and believed that if it was the only thing that could be done for the security of the nation then it was worth it.
One of the reasons as to why the Indians had to be removed is because the whites around them viewed them as weak. Because of this the whites felt in danger of anything happening around and the Indians being unable to protect themselves letting the whites be harmed. Therefore, they treated the Indians badly for them to get away and leave the whites on their own so that they could develop a way to deal with security issues which may arise without having to worry about the Indians.
Secondly, the fact that whites viewed the Indians as uncivilized made the whites wish that they were not close to the Indians. This desire to be so far away from Indians created hate and the whites mocked Indians as most of them did not want to be civilized and change their culture as the whites wanted. They were discriminated against and they were told how they are not worthy of so many things. These are some of the sufferings Indians endured just because they were not whites and they did not follow the culture of the whites.
President Jackson therefore seeing all this suffering and trying to protect Indians removed them from their original homes and drove them away to the places where they could stay safely without having to worry about the whites threatening them or mistreating them. However, this was not the only desire of the president as new land was gained as the Indians were taken away from the whites and this was part of the plan to gain more land for the union.
President Jackson also made the shifting and removal as smooth as possible even though he was faced by issues of graft, theft and corruption. When he realized that the Indians were suffering too much especially the Cherokees, he changed the people who were supposed to guide the Indians to their new lands and the whole process was handled by military (Remini,1827). This serves to show that even though the president is criticized for doing what was inhuman and making the Indians leave the homes they had buried their ancestors which was very special to them, he was human and wanted the best for them as he provided all means to approve and make sure they travelled safely and well as providing everything they needed for a whole year as they settled in their new homes.
The president also wanted to protect the Indians from the state governments formed by the whites and which could really be a bother to the Indians if they were left in their original lands. They could be a big bother to the Indians in that the whites could have taxed them very much and the natives could not take it in. the other reason was for the safety of the nation because the lands they occupied were too precious and if they were to be left in the lands and any enemy attacked that would have been a window for the enemy to enter into united states which would not be allowed.
Therefore, it is true that president Jackson did what had to be done and removed the Indians from their native land to other places even though a lot of people were against this as they saw it as mistreatment and lack of recognition of the rights of the Indians as the native owners of the land they were (Wallace et al, 12). It is indeed possible to view it as cruelty since the whites found Indians in the places, they were removing them from. This is because the Indians were the original owners of such lands and removing them is like going to destroy the house of someone and take them somewhere else, they do not have any emotional connection with (Remini,1824). However, viewed from the positive side, if a wise person does that and knows that the security of the house is not okay, then it is no longer cruelty but concern and care which is exactly what president Jackson had for the Indians as he tried to arrange the country in the manner in which it was needed for economic prosperity and security of the United States.
Works Cited
Act, Indian Removal. “Indian Removal Act (1830).” Behind Barbed Wire: An Encyclopedia of Concentration and Prisoner-of-War Camps (2018): 151.
Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson: The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832. Vol. 2. JHU Press, 1998.
Wallace, Anthony, and Eric Foner. The long, bitter trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians. Macmillan, 1993.
Religion And Spirituality in The West
Student’s name
Instructor
Course
Date
Religion And Spirituality in The West
In the current world religion and spirituality has been confused by a lot of people. Most of the people who are religious state that they are spiritual as well. Other people have completely or partially left religion and they claim to be spiritual. This is a challenging concept to grasp and many people try to understand these phenomena from different perspectives. However, taking from the history of religion, it is clear that religion and spirituality go hand in hand. Even though the two are separate they share some aspects and in fact in the history of Christianity and especially in the catholic church like in the Middle Ages it was not possible to state that a person is religious and not spiritual. This paper discusses the viewpoint of different people about the notion of religion and spirituality as well as the reasons as to why the west is withdrawing from religion and fixing themselves onto spirituality.
From time immemorial people have practiced based kind of life and it turns out to be very fulfilling to know and feel that there is a god who knows everything and who created human beings. However, at the same time the methods and ways in which different people worship that god have come into conflict as different groups and sects claim that there is a superior god to another one or they claim that the manner of worshipping which is done by some people is not the right manner and that some others are the ones doing the right thing (Worthington et al ,210). These have been an issue of societal concern for a long time and in the history of religion there has been these challenges. This paper will discuss Christian religion and how there has been a change in terms of worship and he manner in which different sects interpret religion and spirituality.
Before the coming of Jesus as indicated in the holy bible, Judaism was the main religion and it could conquer other lands, assimilate them into Judaism or leave them. However, most of the times it was not easy for assimilation to occur since for a person to becomes a jaw they had to be circumcised. This was a religion and there was almost nothing related to spirituality. According to psychology today spirituality is a personal journey to inner terrain of their soul. This means that if a person has a personal relationship with God that means it is spirituality but not religion. Religion is defined as a set of religious practices which bring people together for worship and other religious practices and a religious has more than just the purpose of worshipping God. Therefore, religion is different from each other even though a person can experience both. When a person experiences spirituality, they tend to firmly believe that they have a direct relationship with God.
Religion on the other hand is a place to belong and have communion with the people of God. It is also a place whereby people exchange ideas about their faith and talk about the importance of having the various religious exercises they usually have. Religious institutions can also be places whereby spirituality is mentored and a person gets to understand themselves better as well as gets to connect with their god.
During the Middle Ages almost every person was worshipping God under one big religious umbrella; the catholic church. However, during the age of enlightenment, it was very difficult to continue with this and most people deflected from the church and began going into the secular world. At this point when the age of enlightened came up and there was a lot of writing, literature, art and science people got away from the church and even though not entirely the church was no longer seen as the central part of every day life. It was also during this period when martin Luther king came up with the 99 thesis and the catholic church was divided into protestants and the catholic church. This was the first instance of spirituality being followed by a group of people. The followers of martin Luther claimed to be more spiritual than Catholics who were just practicing religion and were not spiritual. That trend continued and in the current world, a lot of people are leaving aside religious practices and they are beginning personal journeys with God since they feel that religion to a certain extent hinders their relationship with God.
The issue of spirituality began in Europe and it has found its way to the United States and basically all the west is highly affected by the aspect of religion versus spirituality conflict. In Europe religion fell firs then spirituality came up. This is what happens most of the times in most places as religion falls first then spirituality rises and at times like it is the case in Europe even spirituality begins to die off and a lot of people become atheists or just dormant. Therefore, in the west generally spirituality is more widespread than religion since religion is not taken serios. Some of the reasons as to why spirituality is on the rise and religion is not rising at the same rate is that.
Firstly, some religions are associated with devil worship or idol worship. Most of the protestant pastors and churches categorize the catholic church as a church will worships idols. However, when some members think about it they realize that they should love each other and not judge each other. Therefore, most of the people when they witness some incidences like these, they leave the church and go to search for God on their own since they believe that it is better to find god on their own without staying in a community of people who call themselves believers and they are hypocrites in real sense.
The other reason as to why spirituality is more widespread nowadays is the notion that a group gathering will never make one go to heaven but if a person spends time with their maker, it is possible that the relationship will be intimate and that the maker will show this person the correct thing to do away from the crowd (Worthington et al ,205). Therefore, the influence of crowds plays an important role in determining what is important to the person or not. Some people feel irritated via crowds while others like serenity.
The other reason at to why spirituality is on the rise while religion falls is the fact that Christian denominations and especially the catholic church has some priests who engage in child abuse practices. When a priest and a pastor get engaged into child abuse activity it means that the church where the people go and the religion can never get to impact those people to whom they have been preached to. Therefore, it becomes very difficult for people to trust not just the churches but also the ministers and for some parents to avoid things like these they never take their child to church again.
In conclusion, the many people who are experiencing spirituality within themselves is a sign that God is not a limited being and he loves his people. There is a very high likelihood such that the spirituality will continue to growth in the west while religion keeps diminishing.
Works Cited
Oman, Doug. “Defining religion and spirituality.” Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality 2 (2013): 23-47.
Worthington Jr, E. L., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and spirituality. Journal of clinical psychology, 67(2), 204-214.
Paradise Lost
Student’s name
Instructor
Course
Date
Paradise Lost
Paradise lost is an epic which was written by john Milton and it mainly talks about Christian faith and how man’s disobedience as well as Satan’s disobedience made God angry and he chased man from the Garden of Eden. It also talks of how Satan was the first to disobey God and how this has cost him an almost eternal fight with the almighty. It employs different themes and styles and the most important thing is that it has moral lessons for humanity and how we relate to God and the others around us (DuRocher, 100). Paradise lost is based on 17th century writer’s ideologies about Christianity and his view about Protestantism and Catholicism. Some of the themes covered in the epic are man’s disobedience to God, Satan’s disobedience to God, the hierarchical nature of the multiverse and man’s fall as partly fortunate. This paper therefore discusses about the importance of obedience to God as brought out in the paradise we lost.
God’s decrees are supposed to be obeyed and failure to obey them comes with consequences as Milton states. This is given in an example of the story of Adam and eve being thrown out of the garden and Satan who was a beautiful angel turning into serpent. This is a very important aspect of Gods rules brought out in book 1 of the epic. Milton states how Satan turns into serpents as well as the other angels whom he had disobeyed with. This comes after he has convinced eve to eat the forbidden fruit. This therefore states one of the reasons not to disobey God which is to avoid the consequences.
Milton discusses the issue of Gods people and how Jesus comes to save gods people. Even though God in the first times is seen as a God who does not forgive and who if a person does something against him like Adam and eve, they must suffer despite his mercy. In the first time case Milton brings out how the two went and asked for forgiveness, however they were not fully forgiven and only partially and then thrown out of the garden. There is a development of the nature of God as Christ comes to save his people. This means that the reasons for obeying God changes from fear of punishment up to the love of God and his decrees. When Christ comes according to Milton, people realize how loving and merciful he is and therefore change their hearts and begin a new kind of worship whereby their sins are forgiven. This for sure changes the way most people viewed God.
The other reason Milton portrays as of importance in obeying God is how powerful he is. When there is a conflict and there is a fight between Satan and Gods fraternity for 3 days, Satan is defeated very badly and all his desires and wishes are made like nothing. However he still continues to disobey God. This fight tells one thing that God is mighty and does not need our praise or anything; rather he is sufficient on himself. It is also a kind of warning that no one should try to fight against God or anything ordained by God since it has Gods spirit and will and therefore a person may face dire consequences if they try to do that.
Milton creates two ways of disobedience to God and these include the fact that Adam and eve follow their own way while Satan follows his own way with his followers. Adam and eve follow the path of obedience and repentance while Satan and his followers follow the route of disobedience and fight against God. This is a very problematic path as Satan is in constant fight with the almighty his creator and that is very bad. First it is a display of lack of respect since he was created by God but wants to overtake the almighty God. Secondly it is a display of greed, Satan wanted to be at the same level with God and since that was not allowed he went ahead to seek to build his own kingdom. This turns out negatively and even though he gets some people he is still miserable. This is totally against God and therefore anyone who follows it happens to learn how disobedience to God hurts their conscience since they are created in Gods image.
On the other hand Adam and Eve follow the path of repentance and love of God. When they were engaging in sexual activity before eating the forbidden fruit they never felt shame or guilt. However, when they eat the forbidden fruit they feel shame and guilt the next morning after engaging in sexual activity. This leads them to realize that they did wrong and they ask for forgiveness from God. God pardons them even though at this point in time it is an invisible God when they had been used to the Visible God, the loving father in the Garden of Eden. Their path leads them to punishment and later they are saved by Christ, this shows the mercy of God and as Milton puts it, one way leads to salvation while another way leads to damnation (McColley, 110). The two ways show the world through the epic how important it is to obey God because even though his mercy and forgiveness might seem delayed in the case of Adam and eve, it still happens through Christ.
Angel Raphael shows Adam the things that will happen if they disobey God and Adam is really scared. Eve does not listen because she is asleep and this can be said to be one of the reasons why she heeds to the temptation of the devil. Adam is also shown man’s future up to the point of the great flood and he is very scared about this as well. The things that he is shown are a way for him to be notified of the importance to obey God and what happens when he does not obey God. This is because God gets very upset when he is disobeyed but still at the same time he is a peaceful and loving God. Therefore Adam gets into the sin of eating the forbidden fruit very knowingly and he knew that he was going to die. However here we see the importance of love, he tells his wife that if she is going to die he would rather die with her and he eats the fruit knowingly and full aware of the consequences. This brings out the different variables which are in play when one wants to serve God and follow in his footsteps.
Satan disguises himself as a frog and tries to enter Gods kingdom from the pandemonium. Angel Gabriel realizes this and immediately bans him from paradise. After this God send golden scales of justice into the sky and this makes the devil scared (Richardson, 579). This means that Gods creation is of very high importance and that God cannot allow his people to be taken astray or to be deceived by anyone especially if it is one of the fallen angels who wanted to deceive Adam and eve into their evil plan.
Milton states that Adam says the sins they had done and were thrown away from the Garden of Eden were somehow good and helped them to experience the mercy of God. Therefore even though they experienced Gods punishment the same way they were going to experience Gods mercy when what Adam saw was fulfilled. He was shown the vision of the redemption and he referred to their fallen nature as “happy fault.”
Milton uses light and dark to describe the situation in heaven and in that particular period of time. For example angels are described as being made of light while Satan is described as a shadowy figure that does not come to light. This in relation to the importance of obeying God is that failure to obey God makes one go into the shadowy kind of life and there is no freedom there since the people keep on hiding from the almighty. There is also the mention of heaven and hell, good and evil. These show the good side versus the negative side and therefore through this we can see that no one would like to be associated with the dark and its many negative forces which corrupt the minds of people like eve who ate the forbidden fruit first.
Works Cited
DuRocher, Richard J. “The Wounded Earth in” Paradise Lost”.” Studies in Philology 93.1 (1996): 93-115.
Fish, Stanley Eugene. Surprised by sin: The reader in Paradise Lost. Harvard University Press, 1998.
Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer. Paradise lost and the rhetoric of literary forms. Princeton University Press, 2014.
MacCaffrey, Isabel Gamble. Paradise lost as “myth”. Harvard University Press, 2013.
McColley, Diane Kelsey. “Free Will and Obedience in the Separation Scene of Paradise Lost.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 (1972): 103-120.
Milton, John. Paradise lost. ARC, Amsterdam University Press, 2018.
Quint, David. Inside Paradise Lost. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Walum, Laurel Richardson. “The art of domination: An analysis of power in Paradise Lost.” Social Forces 53.4 (1975): 573-580.