Review Questions 1

Due: Jan. 31, Choose one of these questions to answer on no more than two typed pages double spaced, or one single spaced. Use citations from the book to make your case, whether quoting or paraphrasing. Ex: (Jaimes, p.3). Use your group to research the answers, but write the answers yourself. (People may use similar research, but should construct their answer individually.) At least one of these questions will be on the first test.

1. Why does it matter how many people were here before the European invasion? How did the various anthropologists decide on their numbers? Why did the authors choose 15 million?

2. Trace the general indigenous population of N. America up to the nadir. What and when was the lowpoint in the US? How many were left in NJ? What was the cause of the nadir? What is the current population of Native Americans (approx.) and why has it increased?

3. Compare the Doctrine of Discovery with Manifest Destiny. If all treaties are considered the law of the land by the Constitution, how has American history been influenced by these ideas? Relate it to how Supreme Court Justice John Marshall viewed Native land rights.

4. By what reason do Indians claim to be sovereign nations? By what reason is this disputed by the government? How is the UN helpful to indigenous peoples?

5. What agricultural advances came to Europeans from Indians? If most pre-Columbian Indians were farming rather than hunting and gathering, how would that affect the debate about land possession?