S. government. For a nation that was founded on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of property, or happiness, the United States was unjustified in their cruel treatment of American Indian people. The European colonization of the Americas in the seventeenth century led to social, political, and economic domination over tribal people based on "otherness", and the systematic genocide of American Indians. .
The Euro-American perception of American Indians changed at different points in American history. For the most part, views of Natives were merely misconceptions and stereotypes: they were seen as foreign. This is where the idea of, "otherness," comes into play, from the moment Westerners stepped onto the, "New World," they became the dominant political group because they were more technologically advanced than the American Indians. Upon seeing the natives' way of life and culture, Westerners viewed them as savages and barbarians, the, "others," (Staszak). Indians were depicted as dirty and sinful, they were not viewed as real people. According to Baxter, when the bodies of Indians were designated as sinful and dirty it became a sin just to be Indian, which quickly became the stereotype to colonizers. Stereotypes are the ideas about a particular group that serve to characterize all the individuals within that group. It is said that certain ideas within stereotypes are usually self-serving, "they promote the interests of the group that holds them, and they form the reality upon which that group acts," (Dippie). In other words, white people viewed American Indians as uncivilized savages because it was convenient for them; it made them feel superior. The Westerners were the dominant group during colonization, and by denouncing the natives as the others, the savages, they thought they could dominate or exterminate them, (Anderson).