The ideologies Essay Example for Free

The ideologies Essay The ideologies that dominated the westward expansion of the United States may have been embedded in the idea of â€Å"whiteness†. As an idea, whiteness was originally conceived in Europe as one of the major tools employed in the conquest of the third world countries an objective that was achieved via colonialism and slavery. The whiteness ideology has no biological basis and is a purely a social construction. Whiteness helped to create solidarity among the Europeans with the belief that whites are the superior race. Whiteness is also the ideology underlying racism, particularly when it is viewed from the perspective of the â€Å"white mans burden to colonise the savage†. Despite being flawed with prejudices and ideological errors, whiteness is still upheld as an infallible ideology by its supporters. It therefore forms an essential part of the methods adopted in the domination of other races. The westward expansion of the United States may have largely been informed by this idea of white supremacy . The oppression of native Americans and other minority groups is evident in American history whereby the whites utilised the whiteness ideology as effective forms of social control. Chaos, disorder and savagery are seen by whiteness ideologists as the very opposite of civilisation which the ideology-in their own perspective -stands for. In the Antebellum era the resulting violence, racism, prejudice, discrimination and oppression of the peoples of non-European descent were seen as justifiable by reason of the white supremacy ideology. Native Americans, original owners of much of the west were never considered as equals of their counterparts of European descent. Long before the arrival of the Europeans, the Indians were already settled in North America, this fact did very little to prevent their evacuation from their ancestral lands by the Europeans who were armed with the whiteness ideology and possessed the lands for themselves. The belief that it was expedient for the colonist, who were of European descent to civilise their â€Å"savage’ neighbours considering their â€Å"more intelligent make-up† lent a very strong helping hand to this cause. A replay of the colonisation of African territories was witnessed as the expansion continued, climaxing with the â€Å"Indian removal Act† which resulted in the resettling of Indians on reservations. Another ideology that may have informed Americas drive westward was the need for national security. The allegiance of most Indians to the British was an uncomfortable position for America who was still locked in a dispute with the British following the American Revolutionary Wars. Leaving the western lands unattended would probably have amounted to a weak point in the strategic defence of the United States. The Indian removal act as passed by congress in 1830 was one very important strategy adopted by the US government in its westward expansion . This policy empowered the President to sign relocation treaties with the Native American tribes. These relocations were almost always forcibly enforced as the natives were reluctant to move. Subsequent upon this policy native Americans were relocated to settlements . An assimilation policy was beginning to gain ground as against settlements in reservations with the sole aim of separating the natives from their traditional way of life in order to inculcate them into American cultural way of life. Furthermore some states, as a ploy to deny the scattered Indian resistance of support from Whites Sympathetic to their cause, banned non-Indian settlements on Indian lands. Bison was the major source of food for the Indians of the plains and as a strategy to quit them and take takeover their lands, people were encouraged by then President Jackson to hunt and kill as many Bison as possible so that being starved of food the Indians would move out on their own accord. America’s interest in New Mexico and Upper California led to a war with Mexico on a very flimsy excuse and America’s policy towards the native Indians and Mexico has continually evolved. At the moment assimilation as a policy is preferred over reservation following the Indian citizenship act of 1924. Many Native Indian tribes today have been assimilated into mainstream American culture and are at the granted federal recognition that entails their right to self government, sovereignty and self determination thereby sharing some privileges with the states with limitations however on issues bordering on foreign relations, external aggression and on the ability to mint and print currency. Heart diseases, alcoholism, diabetes etc are some modern physical health problems being suffered by Native Americans whose remote cause may have been the numerous ordeals they have been through over the years. On the whole the westward expansion of the United States has helped in largely defining core American values and civilization. Works Cited 1. For the Common Defence: A Military History of the United States of America (1994). Simon Schuster. ISBN:0-0292-1597-8.