goal of early Americans was to expand out West. Early settlers believed the West housed new opportunities, gold, land, and most of all freedom. However with the expansion came controversy. Native Americans, the people that lived in America before European settlement, were pushed and forced out of their homelands. Little by little Native Americans endured not only racism and ridicule, but also involuntary migrations to new and less fertile areas. Because of the difference in political and social arrangement of Native Americans to American ones, the white settlers went under the assumption that Native Americans were not capable of possessing land. However they were seen as spiritual and in harmony with nature. That is why in literature, Native Americans often became romantic heroes in one light and negative stereotypes in the other. In the 19th century, the literature of the time represented Native Americans based off of perceived racial stereotypes,...
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