Throughout our study of the Revolutionary War we have seen the idea, "It's the principle of the matter" put into effect. The colonists, although opposed against British taxes, were more opposed to what the taxes symbolized. With each new act the colonists could see Parliament's control over them which, to the colonists, was unacceptable. So they fought a war and founded a new country, and a new system of government, on the basis that, "All men are created equal", a principle that is far from true. When looking at the hypocrisy of this statement the inclination is to immediately travel to the south, where slavery was a way of life, the pinnacle of the delicate precipice that the south's economy stood upon. In no way am I discrediting the slaves' struggles and the horrid practice that was the slave trade, however, I do feel that it is important to shift focus to another group that was wronged by the Americas, the Native Americans.
Before going into the wrongdoings of the Americans, I would like to review 3 of the complaints that the colonists had against Britain prior to the war. The first was the colonists' representation in Parliament. The colonists complained that they did not have a say in what happened to them, because there was no colonist representative in Parliament. Parliament countered that because they wanted what was best for the British Empire as a whole, that America would benefit. This is what Britain called virtual representation, and to the colonists, it was not fair. The second large grievance was the colonist's ability to rule their own provinces. When the Townshend Acts were passed the colonists were outraged because the governors, who used to be under the thumb of the colonial assemblies because they voted on their salaries, would now be paid by Britain, which would lead the governess to listening to the crown instead of to the colonial assemblies. The colonists believed that they had the right to rule themselves, tax themselves, and generally do their own thing, and that is was ludicrous for Britain to suggest anything else. Finally, the Coercive Acts were followed by the Quebec Acts. Although the Quebec Acts had to do with French provinces it also granted political rights to members of the Roman Catholic church, as well as recognize the roman catholic church from a legal standpoint in the new province. Although this does not seem like a problem, the paranoid Americans were sure that the Crown was merely trying to get them all under the rule of the Pope.
Now we return to the new American government, the government of "equal men", unless, you weren't a white landowning male of an appropriate age, then this did not apply to you. Under this unfortunate category fell the Native Americans, a people who lived in America before the European countries even knew it existed. However, after all of Colonists' grievances with England the Americans didn't seem to think it was wrong to do that same to the Native Americans. Although the Native Americans lived in America they had no representation in America's government. This seems very similar to the colonies' representation in the British Parliament, however, the Native Americans did not even receive the benefit, if it can be called a benefit, of virtual representation. The native Americans lived in a nation inside of a nation. The constitution had not addressed who had sovereignty over what. Although the American government sometimes agreed with the idea that the Native Americans had sovereignty over their own land, because it was not not the Constitution it lead to the Native Americans being manipulated by the Americans (as shown in the depiction of Manifest Destiny which appears above). The American would soon begin to push Christianity on the Native Americans, a much more drastic approach than that of Britain's so called, "Papal takeover". In Major Problems in American History, on page 191 a Native American, Chief Red Jacket, exclaims what America has taken from them. He said, "You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us". Although this speech is about 20 years after the ratification of the constitution, 20 years is not a lot when it comes to the ripple affect of history.
It is strange to think about America taking away others' rights when they are so pompous about their own. The situation of the Native Americans is different from that of the of the African Americans, for not everyone considered them inferior, in fact, George Washington believed that it was not the Native Americans who were inferior, just their way of life. Like in when you developer film, it seems the actual intentions of the Americans blacken as more and more light is shed upon them. Just like in a Saturday Night Live skit featuring Tina Fay as Sarah Palin and Amy Pohler as Hillary Clinton , Hillary states, " I didn't want a woman to be president, I wanted to be president and I just happen to be a woman" (this part starts at 3:21 but you can watch the whole thing, it's funny). The colonies cry of freedom and equality for all seems like a cover up for their own selfish desire to be free of some taxes, for how can a country who claims they only want equality treat the vast majority of the people living in it like trash.
