militaryhistory

Over the last few decades, there has been and overt effort to rewrite American history. Revisionists have made an effort to make the settlement of the north american continent by europeans a crime equal to the holocast against the jews. In one recent news story, a native american mother stated; “that having their school children wearing pilgrim hats and indian bonnents is the same as having them wear Nazi uniforms and jews wearing striped suits”. This position is not only  just a popular myth, but sadly misinformed. And when people make such statements, they reveal their own ignorance and lack of education. Most americans have never studied history in any form and take their information from media outlets and the opinions of other talking heads who fail to do complete primary sourceresearch to locate correct information. The truth about american settlement is not as simple as saying that whites were bad, and everyone alse was their victim. These uneducated blanket statements are in themselves racist in nature and fail to reveal the real truth.

The truth lies in the real research, and tells us that, yes in fact there was warfare between whites and native americans. However, long before whites arrived on the continent, there was ongoing warfare between native american tribes and very few examples of true cooperation between indigenous peoples. The biggest examples are the loose confederations of tribes such as the Illini confederation, which is a good example of daily living cooperation between tribes, Techumse’s Confederation which was a militaristic cooperation and the later cooperation of plains indians during th late 19th century. In a book (The Hunting Pioneers 172-1840 by Robert John Holden) the author Robert John Holden tells us that no matter what the circumstances, the lives of native americans were going to change.  Holdens book explains that the downfall of the native american was partly his own fault as well as that of white settlement. He gives us three primary reasons. The first is the fact that native americans never had a united front to stop or slow settlement, the second is their dependence upon trade goods. Native americans came to desire trade goods such has axes, metals pots and pans and firearms and lastly their own willingness to sign treaties for trade in goods and money.

What is not mentioned in popular history is the fact that a majority of land was not taken from the native american by conquest. It was however obtained through treaty (as mentioned by Holden) and payment to native americans. A good example of this concerns the Ojibway (Chippewa) people who live in northern Wisconsin. The Ojibway had settled in what is now the Apostle Islands area on Lake Superior. The Ojibway had fled there because they had been victimized by other tribes in tribal warfare and wished to live in peace. As white settlement began to spread into that area, various treaties were signed by the Ojibway in which they were literally given milions of dollars in monetary payments, as well as annuities in the form of goods and supplies. The Ojibway in northern Wisconsin take pride in this fact and live today in harmony with their white neighbors. They have also successfully maintained their tribal rights to fish and hunt and live as they wish. This they accomplished by utilizing the US court systems, and like any american citizen gained their rights by doing so. The only exception to this was the fact that they were not allowed to practice their religion for approximately ninety years. This too has turned around as better relations are fostered. This is the type of success story which should be presented as a good example, rather than continually beating the war drum of discontent.

The truth about Thanksgiving is that it is a celebration of success not of conquest. It is a reminder that we all need to be thankful for everyday that we all see the sun rise. It is a celebration of the fact that we can find common ground with anyone of any race, creed, color or religion.  It is a success story, not a story of failure and certainly not a story of crimes against humanity.

-Happy Thanksgiving

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