He considered them equal, but at the same time “culturally retarded.” This essentially means that they could become like the white men if they were taken out of their savage, uncivilized state. They just needed to understand how to work within American culture. This is where we can see the difference between acculturation and assimilation. In this case, acculturation occurs when individual cultures can exist within American culture. A man can be a proud American while still being proud of his ethnicity and culture of origin. It is as if a culture is adapting in a way that allows it to survive alongside American ideals by incorporating some of them. This is what John Ross fought for when he later challenged President Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 in court. Ross, himself, is a wonderful example of what the Indian Removal Act looks like. acculturation. Being a Cherokee chief and a lawyer, he is a mix of Native American and British culture. However, what Jefferson actually advocated was assimilation which would now influence the view of the Indians. This is where a culture is replaced, completely transforming into American culture. To see how this works, just look at White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP). This is also how the term describing “melting pot” actually works. It's as if all ethnic groups entered the pot and the one produced was American. An idea like this can be associated with that of "killing