The history of empire

If there is one common thread that weaves through American history, it is the thread of empire. Despite our proclaimed adherence to democratic values, the historical truth is that since the very beginnings of this country, American leaders have seen nothing wrong in conquering the land and resources of other people, even if such conquests led to tremendous suffering and death.

When the first European colonizers disembarked in the 17th and 18th centuries, they immediately initiated a cut-throat policy of war and betrayal against the native inhabitants of this land, even against cultures that had welcomed and aided them upon their arrival. In 1609, the chief of the Powhatan confederacy addressed this plea to the Jamestown colonists:

“Why will you take by force what you may have quietly by love? Why will you destroy us who supply you with food? What can you get by war? We can hide our provisions and fly into the woods; and then you must consequently famish by wronging your friends. What is the cause of your jealousy? You see us unarmed, and willing to supply your wants, if you will come in a friendly manner, and not with swords and guns, as to invade an enemy.”

The Powhatan were ultimately wiped out by English settlers.

This greed for more land and resources continued through the 19th century, as people began to eye the western American landmasses that had been colonized by Spain and bequeathed to Mexico.   “Manifest Destiny” was a code word for invasion and genocide.  In 1846, President James K. Polk sent American troops into Mexican territory; once they were predictably fired upon by Mexican forces, he claimed that Mexico had “shed American blood on American soil”, and war was formally declared.

Abraham Lincoln, who was then a member of Congress, voted against the war. In a speech in the House, he challenged the President to show him on a map where American troops had come under fire. He said, “And if, so answering, he can show that the soil was ours, where the first blood of the war was shed…then I am with him for his justification. In that case I, shall be most happy to reverse the vote I gave the other day…But if he can not, or will not do this — if on any pretense, or no pretense, he shall refuse or omit it, then I shall be fully convinced, of what I more than suspect already, that he is deeply conscious of being in the wrong that he feels the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven against him.”

Henry David Thoreau also opposed the war and refused to pay taxes. After running into the local tax collector, he spent a night in jail. He wrote an essay about the experience called Civil Disobedience. “Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison,” he observed.

As a result of the Mexican-American War, the United States took a little more than half of Mexico’s land.

Fast-foward to the present moment, where the United States now finds itself in the midst of a civil war in Iraq. Not content with control over the North American landmass, the United States government has, for the last 50 years, sought to extend its dominion over South American, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian peoples, employing its fierce military juggernaut whenever its interests have been threatened. From Jamestown to Jalalabad and Baghdad — the same lust for land and resources that motivated the first American conquerors continues to operate in modern American leaders, who see little wrong in taking things that do not belong to them.

Chief Joseph, chief of the Nez Perce tribe, gave this speech in Washington D.C. in 1879, two years after his tribe had been ordered onto a reservation:

I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. Too many misinterpretations have been made; too many misunderstandings have come up between the white men and the Indians. If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them the same laws. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect all rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the Great White Chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They cannot tell me.

I only ask of the Government to be treated as all other men are treated. If I cannot go to my own home, let me have a home in a country where my people will not die so fast. I would like to go to Bitter Root Valley.  There my people would be happy; where they are now they are dying.  Three have died since I left my camp to come to Washington.

When I think of our condition, my heart is heavy. I see men of my own race treated as outlaws and driven from country to country, or shot down like animals.

I know that my race must change. We cannot hold our own with the white men as we are. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. We ask that the same law shall work alike on all men. If an Indian breaks the law, punish him by the law. If a white man breaks the law, punish him also.

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, 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 talk, think and act for myself — and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.

Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other then we shall have no more wars.  We shall be all alike — brothers of one father and mother, with one sky above us and one country around us and one government for all.  Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers’ hands upon the face of the earth.  For this time the Indian race is waiting and praying.  I hope no more groans of wounded men and women will ever go to the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above, and that all people may be one people.”

The American government did not allow Chief Joseph or the Nez Perce to occupy their traditional lands but instead placed them in the Colville Indian Reservation. Chief Joseph died there, in 1904, still in exile; the doctor listed his cause of death as a broken heart.

People need to look past labels.  History speaks of terrorists, but the ones it mentions have all sat in positions of power.  These terrorists waged unjust wars against nations and cultures that had the ill-fortune of sitting on coveted land and resources.  And they continue to do so today, sending young men and women to their deaths in far off territories.

America was born from empire and became its own empire. Yet the simple reality is that empire and democracy are not synonymous. We can have one or the other, but not both. For too long, Americans have been content to choose empire, to sit back and be compliant subjects while their national leaders pillage and conquer. War will not end until every individual American decides for herself that empire is unjust and criminal, and that we have a duty to renounce it in favor of democratic values. It is only through such individual decisions that Americans can begin to put the brakes on the bloodshed committed in our name overseas, and the tyranny that now envelops our government.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 29th, 2006 at 5:29 pm and is filed under Alternative Living, Fear and Tyranny, Freedom and Democracy, Government Accountability, Structure and System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.