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African Americans were used as slaves, discriminated against because white people didnt treat them as equal. Native Americans because they were forced to move west in "the trail of tears" because that one white president was greedy and discriminated against them
__________________________________________________________ Most societies are built on a caste system in which the darker-skinned people in the race are on the bottom and the lighter-skinned people are at the top. The genocide committed against the Native Americans was based on the objective of stealing their country. __________________________________________________________ The answer is a gray area; or, a mix of contradictions. On one hand, some white Americans had great respect for Native Americans. Without the help of the native people, whites would never have survived in America. Yet, eventually, the desire for material gain outweighed their sense of cooperation, compassion and fairness. Since the Native Americans did not make good slaves (many European diseases were deadly to them in addition to the fact that they easily escaped because they were more familiar with the terrain) and did not believe in private ownership of land, they quickly outlived their usefulness to whites and actually stood in the way of capitalism. Thus, whites considered them to be a nuisance; to be exterminated entirely. On the other hand, the Africans were more valuable to whites because they could benefit from their slave labor. Yet, in order to rationalize the disgusting practice, they dehumanized the Africans by using rape, torture and maiming slaves to keep them submissive. In short, both groups were oppressed by whites for different reasons. The treatment is analogous to a long and painful death (African Americans) or a short one (Native Americans).
The English colonist were successful at enslaving Native Americans for a number of reasons. Firstly the English had superior military technology such as guns and cannons. This gave them an advantage in any conflict with the Native Americans who had limited access to firearms. Secondly the English also had access to diseases that the Native Americans had not yet been exposed to such as smallpox which decimated their population. Finally the English had access to a vast network of trading and military alliances which allowed them to outmaneuver the Native Americans in any conflict. The English colonist were therefore able to take advantage of these factors to gain control over the Native Americans and enslave them. This involved a combination of military force disease and political maneuvering to gain control of Native American lands resources and labor. The English were then able to use the Native Americans as a source of free labor as well as a source of resources to support the growing English colonies.