As many of us know by now, living in the United States of America and committing a crime is something that is looked down upon. Crimes can range from many things; whether it's stealing something that isn't yours or killing someone you may or may not know. Crime is taken seriously. For Native Americans, "crime" was viewed in a different way. From my knowledge that I have gained in this course and from readings, Native Americans believe that if you kill someone, for example, it is acceptable to take someone from that person who committed the crime of the tribe. Or even to "repay", compensate for what that tribe may have lost. It's a very different perspective on things than many of us have learned and followed today, but Native Americans believed this was a way to solve things, which has been solved time and time again. The Major Crimes Act of 1885 changed that, and it still exists today. In 1881, a Native American named Crow Dog, who was a traditional medicine man, believed that Native Americans should return to their old ways of living and doing things, and if that happened, everything would end up being okay. A Native American named Spotted Tail had a different take on things. Spotted Tail believed, to put it succinctly, "if you can't beat them, join them." This means that he was willing to convert to the "American way of life" and abandon his Native American background and culture. Due to this strong disagreement between the two men, Crow Dog intervened. Crow Dog killed Spotted Tail. Due to Crow Dog's actions and Native American beliefs, Crow Dog covered up the dead. This means that Crow Dog paid Spotted Tail's family money. Because Crow Dog did this, it was set... in the middle of the card... the law made this crime of murder different, getting Kagama convicted of murder. The result was hanging. The Major Crimes Act is still used today for reservations, but now includes fifteen crimes instead of just seven. This affects Native American culture and is a great example of how Native Americans were "Americanized" and forced into the way of life because another group of people didn't like the way they lived or did things. The way the Native Americans did anything wasn't good enough, and the Major Crimes Act shows that this is how the Americans gained power over the Natives. Today this is linked to the FBI. The fact that I talked about how things were handled before the act, and then after the act, makes me understand how much "power" the Americans had and how the Native Americans had no opinions, words or excuses for how they wanted to live their life and how to do things.