Americans have many ideas of freedom, which were often conflicting. The roots of these conflicting ideas were often racially based and hindered our growth as a country. Although much of the focus in U.S. history has been placed on the competing ideas of white American freedom and African American freedom, another major conflict was between whites and Native Americans. White Americans believed that freedom was the right to property, economic autonomy, and the right to participate in democratic elections. White Americans also believed that these freedoms were only granted to natural-born White Americans. Native Americans had a very different vision of freedom, which included the choice to remain nomadic, self-government, and the right to keep one's native culture alive. These disagreements led to many extreme conflicts and fights, which helped shape future relations between white Americans and Native Americans. The first point of conflicting ideas about freedom was that native tribes remained slightly nomadic when hunting. This conflict was highlighted in Carl Sweeny's “Taking the New Way” selection on page 127. In the selection, Carl talks about how his tribe's traditions changed when he was forced to hunt on the reservation and how he maintained lifestyles different from those of whites. Whites often used these differences to reinforce the idea that Native Americans were inferior. Carl mentions in the selection that the whites disapproved of the natives pulling their students out of school during the winter. It would have been common for Whites to attribute this to Natives being “lazy” (Sweeny, p.127), instead of recognizing it as a cultural difference. White Americans did not want to accept that Native ... middle of paper ... many obstacles and problems for Native people, including poverty, alcoholism, and poor educational outcomes. With better acceptance of Native culture and help from America as a whole, Native Americans' idea of ​​freedom to self-govern, roam freely, and preserve Native culture can be more aligned with that of American freedom. Works Cited: All selections used from Our Hearts Fell to the Ground, edited by Colin G. Calloway. Individual Selections:-On Taking “the New Road”. Carl Sweeny. Page 127.—Learning the Ways of the White Man. Carl Sweeny. Page 160 and 163.-Attending the White Man's schools. Colin G. Calloway. Page 168-169.-Killing the dream. Colin G. Calloway. Page 196. Website Quote:-New evidence places humans in North America 50,000 years ago. ScienceDaily. 2004. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041118104010.htm