History Chat - February 4, 2021

Link to Video

Summary : How indigenous history factors into the Civil war and therefore Reconstruction

Timestamp 3:48: When people think of the Civil war they often think about where the big battles were, which was the East. In reality, after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the war was in many ways  fought over the structure of  the West.

Timestamp 5:53: Americans are trying to impose a structure of law in the Lands west of the Mississippi which previously had a long history of Spanish Colonization. This is happening while the Southwest lands are being integrated into the United States. Incidentally, there is not a lot of settlement in the Northwest portion of the Louisiana purchase, beyond primarily fur trappers.

Timestamp 9:41: The intention of expanding Slavery into the west is expressed, as at the time  property included slaves. This is met with opposition to try to avoid a repeat of the few Elite slave owners reaping the benefits from the many.

Timestamp 12:34: The United States government worked as quickly as possible to assimilate all the new Western states into the government as possible to avoid the Confederate mindset to spread into the West. The lands that are being integrated are lands that have already been established by indigenous peoples.

Timestamp 13:09: Many people rush to California in the midst of the gold rush, which leads to the creation of the state at rapid speed. During the creation of this state, laws are created that single out people by race. The people who are singled out include people who already have limited rights, which includes Chinese, Mexicans, and Native Americans.

Timestamp 16:27: The West becomes a dream of sorts and is envisioned as a pinnacle to contribute to the American economy while still having a quality of life with contributions to family.

Timestamp 19:47: A Lieutenant Basco chooses to befriend  the Apache to “capture” them. This sparks the Apache war,  which is when the Apache partner with a Native American from another Tribe named Geranimo.

Timestamp 24:27 The Erie canal opens in 1825, Which causes the population of the Northwest to explode as the preferred mode of transportation at the time was by water.

Timestamp 27:30: The Dakota tribe is forced by the United States government to forfeit large amounts of their native lands to only be given a sliver of land with access to food and supplies. The United States government doesn't hold up their end of the bargain as they are in the middle of the Civil war, which causes the Dakota’s to disregard their deal made with the Government so they can have food back. This leads to many people who had settled the Dakota lands to be slaughtered. The indigenous people are held to Trial for their actions by the US government, which was a mockery of the Justice system as the  trials lasted mere minutes and the names were wrong. Many Dakota’s were executed on the grounds of going against the United States government.

Timestamp 37:56: By 1862 the Indigenous people are viewed as Savage enough to be treated differently. This leads to the largest mass execution in American history. IN effort to get into the West the Confederates and Union both  launched a campaign to get into the Southwest so they would get access to ports and California. The Apache and Navajo during the “settling” take advantage by raiding the lands of the Settlers. This presents the need for Fort Summner to be created, as well as a nearby Native American Reservation. He claims he will stop the Apache wars, and did that by killing all of the Apache he could find.

Timestamp 45:31: After it becomes acceptable by the US government to Slaughter the Indigenous people who were against the United States Government,  Navajo are dehumanized by being marched to the equivalent of an internment camp under the guise of being Hostile Enemies of the Government.

Timestamp 50:50: The end of the Civil war marks the end of the war between the United States Government and the Confederacy, Not the end of the war between the United States government and the indigenous people.

Timestamp 56:43: In an effort to accommodate the Union Pacific railroad, the United States Government gives a similar thing that they did with the Dakota’s by offering them food, decreased land, and annuities. They do this by creating Reservations primarily in South Dakota and Oklahoma, which frees up the states in between for the Union Pacific Railroad.

Timestamp 59:24:Indians don’t have a civil identity at this time, even after the 14th Amendment, which leads to them having no voice or representation to advocate for them. This leads to the 14th amendment in the East making people equal and allowing people to more inclusively participate in government, whereas in the West  it's dividing people.

[From wikipedia] Richardson’s first book, The Greatest Nation of the Earth (1997), stemmed from her dissertation at Harvard University. Inspired by Eric Foner’s work on pre-Civil War Republican ideology, Richardson analyzed Republican economic policies during the war. She contended that their efforts to create an activist Federal Government during the Civil War marked a continuation of Republican free labor ideology. These policies, such as war bonds and greenbacks or the Land Grant College Act and the Homestead Act, revolutionized the role of the Federal Government in the U.S. economy. At the same time, these actions laid the groundwork for the Republican Party’s shift to Big Business after the Civil War.

In this 2001 book, Richardson "focused on the “Northern abandonment of Reconstruction.” Building on the earlier work of C. Vann Woodward, she argued that a more complete understanding of the period required appreciation of class, not only race. As Reconstruction continued into the 1870s and especially the 1880s, Republicans began to view African Americans in the South more from a class perspective and less from the perspective of race that had driven their earlier humanitarianism. In the midst of the labor struggles of the Gilded Age, Republicans came to compare “the demands of the ex-slaves for land, social services, and civil rights” to the demands of white laborers in the North. This ideological shift was the key to Republican abandonment of Reconstruction, as they chose the protection of their economic and business interests over their desire for racial equality." [From wikipedia]

In this 2007 book, "Richardson presented Reconstruction as a national event that impacted all Americans, not just those in the South. She incorporated the West into the discussion of Reconstruction as no predecessor had. Between 1865 and 1900, Americans re-imagined the role of the federal government, calling upon it to promote the well-being of its citizens. However, racism, sexism, and greed divided Americans, and the same people who increasingly benefited from government intervention—white, middle-class Americans—actively excluded African-Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, and organized laborers from the newfound bounties of their reconstructed nation." [from wikipedia]

In this book, published in 2010, Richardson "focused on the U.S. Army’s slaughter of Native Americans in South Dakota in 1890. She argued that party politics and opportunism led to Wounded Knee. After a bruising midterm election, President Benjamin Harrison needed to shore up his support. To do so, he turned to The Dakotas, where he replaced seasoned Indian agents with unqualified political allies, who incorrectly assumed that the Ghost Dance Movement presaged war. The Army responded by sending one third of its force in order to avoid spending cuts from Congress. After the event, Republicans tried to paint the massacre as a heroic battle to stifle the resurgent Democrats." [wikipedia]

In this 2014 book, Richardson "extended her study of the Republican Party into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This book studied the entire life of the GOP, from its inception in the 1850s through the presidency of George W. Bush. The party’s founders united against the “slave power,” a small group of wealthy white men who controlled all three branches of government. These Republicans articulated a new vision of an America in which all hardworking men could rise. But after the Civil War, Republicans began to emulate what they originally opposed. They tied themselves to powerful bankers and industrialists, sacrificing the well-being of ordinary Americans. A similar process took place after World War II, when Republicans sought to dismantle successful New Deal policies and prop up the wealthy. However, in both cases, reformers within the party were able to return the GOP to its founding vision of equality of opportunity, first Theodore Roosevelt during the Progressive Era, and then Dwight D. Eisenhower, who enforced integration and maintained the New Deal. The Nixon and Reagan administrations have represented yet another fall from the GOP’s founding purpose. It's ironic, Richardson points out, that Republicans treated Barack Obama with an unprecedented level of disrespect, as Obama's rise from humble beginnings to the highest office in the nation embodied the vision of the original Republicans." [wikipedia]

In her most recent publication, Richardson argues "that America was founded with contradicting ideals, with the ideas of liberty, equality, and opportunity on one hand, and slavery and hierarchy on the other. United States victory in the American Civil War should have settled that tension forever, but at the same time that the Civil War was fought, Americans also started moving into the West. In the West, Americans found and expanded upon deep racial hierarchies, meaning that hierarchical values survived in American politics and culture despite the crushing defeat of the pro-slavery Confederacy. Those traditions--a rejection of democracy, an embrace of entrenched wealth, the marginalization of women and people of color--have found a home in modern conservative politics, leaving the tremendous promise of America unfulfilled." [wikipedia]