His American Dream, according to his speech, was to live peacefully with the white man on the same land, but his dream did not succeed. Instead, the white men forcefully removed Indians from their ancestral lands, penning them up on tiny spaces of land. Chief Joseph expresses, “I see men of my own race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals” (131). Recognizing the casualties him and his people face, Chief Joseph realizes that the white men have stripped the Nez Perce from the opportunity to succeed in America. “Let me be a free man- free to… work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself” (Chief Joseph 132). He spoke this speech to white men in Washington in an effort to persuade them of his American Dream, a life where every man is given an “equal chance to live and grow” (131), and every man is free to follow his own beliefs. Chief Joseph sees his American Dream and the promise of all men to live together, but it only ends in tragedy and the removal of Indians from their native
His American Dream, according to his speech, was to live peacefully with the white man on the same land, but his dream did not succeed. Instead, the white men forcefully removed Indians from their ancestral lands, penning them up on tiny spaces of land. Chief Joseph expresses, “I see men of my own race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals” (131). Recognizing the casualties him and his people face, Chief Joseph realizes that the white men have stripped the Nez Perce from the opportunity to succeed in America. “Let me be a free man- free to… work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself” (Chief Joseph 132). He spoke this speech to white men in Washington in an effort to persuade them of his American Dream, a life where every man is given an “equal chance to live and grow” (131), and every man is free to follow his own beliefs. Chief Joseph sees his American Dream and the promise of all men to live together, but it only ends in tragedy and the removal of Indians from their native