From "A More Perfect Union", a regularly occurring column in the North Georgia News, Blairsville, Georgia, by Brett Chatham. Used with the author's permission.
Facebook Brett Chatham: Newspaper Column #29 (8/12/09):
Sure, you can trust the government. Just ask a Native American.
I saw this on a bumper sticker a while back and thought it very appropriate for this week. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution gives Congress the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” We’ve already discussed the first two areas in previous columns; now let’s focus on the U.S. government’s relationship with its native population.
Contrary to popular belief, Puritans and other colonists didn’t terrorize the East Coast American Indians by stealing their land, killing their children, and raping their women. In fact, many Indian tribes understood the value of property and commerce; and they willingly traded land and food with the early colonists in exchange for useful items like metal tools and clothing. Both parties benefited from the transactions. Of course, some colonists treated the Indians
cruelly, but most knew that the unfamiliar territory would be much more cruel to them without the help of natives. But don’t forget we’re talking about a time before political power in America was consolidated into a centralized state. The worst atrocities the Indians suffered (the Trail of Tears, the Wounded Knee Massacre, among others) were at the hands of the federal government. There isn’t room to even begin discussing the broken treaties and federal intervention in territory/reservation affairs.
I'm not trying to provoke controversy or to exploit any one's collective guilt. It's sad that these things happened, but no one alive today bears any personal responsibility for the deaths of Indians over a century ago. This column is not some bleeding-heart rant about "the sins of the nation." Besides, it's Americans that have made this country great, not their government, regardless of all the Lincolnian rhetoric about "of, by, and for the people."
Speaking of Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, few people know that t
he Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles sided with the Confederacy during the poorly-labeled Civil War. The Five Civilized Tribes (as they were called) didn't fight to keep slavery and destroy the Union. They fought because they remembered what the government in Washington had done to displace their relatives, and they recognized the North's attempt to displace the South's political influence. The Civil War, like the Indian Removal, was not about race; it was about power. Oh...and subsidized railroad land.
By the way, I'm not excusing the actions of anyone who violate the natural rights of any human being in any way. That's why I pick on governments. Private individuals, in spite of our diverse and plentiful flaws, are not capable of abusing natural rights on the same scale as people empowered by the state.
Although Native Americans currently make up less than 1% of the population, they are not the smallest minority. The individual is. And his are the only rights that truly matter.
Facebook Brett Chatham: Newspaper Column #29 (8/12/09):
Sure, you can trust the government. Just ask a Native American.
I saw this on a bumper sticker a while back and thought it very appropriate for this week. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution gives Congress the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” We’ve already discussed the first two areas in previous columns; now let’s focus on the U.S. government’s relationship with its native population.
Contrary to popular belief, Puritans and other colonists didn’t terrorize the East Coast American Indians by stealing their land, killing their children, and raping their women. In fact, many Indian tribes understood the value of property and commerce; and they willingly traded land and food with the early colonists in exchange for useful items like metal tools and clothing. Both parties benefited from the transactions. Of course, some colonists treated the Indians
cruelly, but most knew that the unfamiliar territory would be much more cruel to them without the help of natives. But don’t forget we’re talking about a time before political power in America was consolidated into a centralized state. The worst atrocities the Indians suffered (the Trail of Tears, the Wounded Knee Massacre, among others) were at the hands of the federal government. There isn’t room to even begin discussing the broken treaties and federal intervention in territory/reservation affairs.I'm not trying to provoke controversy or to exploit any one's collective guilt. It's sad that these things happened, but no one alive today bears any personal responsibility for the deaths of Indians over a century ago. This column is not some bleeding-heart rant about "the sins of the nation." Besides, it's Americans that have made this country great, not their government, regardless of all the Lincolnian rhetoric about "of, by, and for the people."
Speaking of Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, few people know that t
he Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles sided with the Confederacy during the poorly-labeled Civil War. The Five Civilized Tribes (as they were called) didn't fight to keep slavery and destroy the Union. They fought because they remembered what the government in Washington had done to displace their relatives, and they recognized the North's attempt to displace the South's political influence. The Civil War, like the Indian Removal, was not about race; it was about power. Oh...and subsidized railroad land.By the way, I'm not excusing the actions of anyone who violate the natural rights of any human being in any way. That's why I pick on governments. Private individuals, in spite of our diverse and plentiful flaws, are not capable of abusing natural rights on the same scale as people empowered by the state.
Although Native Americans currently make up less than 1% of the population, they are not the smallest minority. The individual is. And his are the only rights that truly matter.
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Thank you for this article. So much of our history is either forgotten or twisted around.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome; stay tuned, there's more to come.
ReplyDelete