Author

Notes 1. John Winthrop made his famous sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity,” while on a ship to America in which he said the famous line, “wee must consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill . . .” 2. This trend started much earlier. Colony officials …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers – 13: Notes and Bibliography Read More »

The Table summarizes how the Myth evolved in each stage of American history. It shows how the “us” was defined and evolved over time— from Puritans to Englishmen to Christians to White, and so forth. The Frontier was both a geographical location in any given period and also a set …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers – 12: Evolution of Myth Read More »

In each instance ( encounters with the Internal Frontier as well as External Frontier) there was extensive literature developed and disseminated about the atrocities committed by the “savage” cultures. More generally, the literature showed them to have frontier-like attributes of chaos, lack of morality, lack of aesthetics, and certainly the …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers – 11: Atrocity Literature as a Genre Read More »

The three ideas—aesthetics, morality and truth—have been inter-linked in Western thought. One finds numerous instances where a judgment about one is superimposed to implicate another aspect of that culture. That this was an “enlightened” view held by some of the greatest liberal thinkers of the West is illustrated by Kant’s …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers – 10: Kantian Euro-centrism Read More »

American attitudes toward the Native Americans were complex. Internal conflicts among influential Americans remained and pro-native voices definitely existed throughout this long saga. BUT NATIVE AMERICANS WERE NEVER IN CONTROL OVER THE DISCOURSE CONCERNING THEM, AND BOTH SIDES TO THESE DEBATES WERE WHITES. Whites for one plan would argue against …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers – 9 :The Failure of Discourse Read More »

Even as the Native Americans were being killed, relocated, and systematically subjected to conditions of genocide, there was considerable interest in governmental and private circles for documenting and preserving important aspects of the culture in museums and books. This was sometimes fired by the quest for knowledge or reputation via authorship. …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers – 8: Phase IV – Academic Research and the Museumizing of Indian Culture Read More »

Once the “merciless savage” had been uprooted to a contained area away from his land, laws and customs, he could then be “managed” and raised as a child. His savage religion could be replaced with superior Christianity. This was the culmination of an Enlightenment idea that saw non-Whites as racial …

American Exceptionalism and the Myth of the Frontiers 7: Phase III – Indians as Children “Protected” in Reservations Read More »

The greatest episodes of ethnic cleansing and genocide of Native Americans occurred in the period following independence that was dominated by Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. Before Andrew Jackson’s presidency (and the massive “removal,” i.e., ethnic cleansing…