Sociology 4949: Outline--Summer, Day 6
II. Chapter 3 of Takaki: "The Giddy Multitude: the Hidden Origins of
Slavery"
A. Early days of Virginia colony: most workers were white indentured servants
(75% of colonists came as servants in the 17th century)
B. Slavery for black servants developed de facto by 1650; 1651 Virginia
Assembly made it de jure
1. Modeled after West Indies
2. Why Virginia and not Massachusetts Bay colony
a. Not a matter of beliefs: see letter from Emanuel Downing to John
Winthrop
b. Land and crops: small farms vs. large acreages of tobacco
3. Initially "Christians" vs "Heathens"... but then
explicitly based on race when some of the black slaves became Christians
4. Black population of Virginia at 25% by 1715; 40% by 1750
C. Why the shift from white servants to black slaves?
1. Less migration by indentured servants (changes in England?)
2. Increased longevity made the "investment" in slaves more
worthwhile
3. Fear of class revolt...suffrage restricted to landowners in 1670, exacerbated
by Bacon's Rebellion, which burned Jamestown to the ground... "Large
landlords could see that the social order would always be in danger so long
as they had to depend on white labor."
4. After the rebellion, Virginia Assembly repealed penalties on the white
servants who had joined the revolt, and made "black" and "slave"
synonymous.
a. Slaves denied freedom of movement and of assembly.
b. Slave owners could free slaves only if they had them transported
out of the colony.
c. Even poor whites given rights to abuse blacks physically with impunity...
Legislature prescribed 30 lashes to any slave who lifted his hand in opposition
to any christian.
D. Jefferson's vision of a republic of independent and virtuous yeoman farmers
1. By 1822 owned 267 slaves, whom he sometimes treated cruelly.
2. Couldn't really justify his practices. "The love of justice and
the love of country plead equally the cause of these people(slaves)."
Wrote of supporting the gradual abolition of slavery... but also very concerned
with his personal finances and the finances of the colony.
3. When freed, blacks would have to be removed from the colony... saw
them as
intellectually inferior and a threat to white racial purity.
4. Commenting on slave revolt in Santo Domingo (1793): "It is high
time we should foresee the bloody scenes which our children certainly, and
possibly ourselves (south of Potomac) have to wade through, and try to avert
them."
(Later note: Jefferson died in such debt that most of his slaves were
sold off, which meant the breakup of families on a large sclae. Those sold
included Sally Heming, who had mothered several of Jefferson's children.)
III. Ellis, Founding Brothers, "The Silence" -- why wasn't
the issue of race addressed in the constitution? How could the "founding
brothers" create a nation based on equal rights and fail to recognize that
1/5 of the nation could never be free?
IV. The racialization of American Indians
A. "Borders"--the Naturalization Act of 1792, providing that to
become a citizen required two years residence, proof of good character, and
that you be white.
B. Centrality of racialization to the export economy, which by 1840 was more
than 50% cotton, raised on Indian lands, cultivated and picked by African slaves
C. A. 1790: Indian Non-Intercourse Act
1. obligated the federal government to protect "a simple uninformed
people, ill-prepared to cope with the intelligence and greed of other races"
and to act "to forestall fraud" and to "prevent the improvident
or improper disposition of their lands
2. As further interpreted by the Supreme Court, "their relationship
to the U.S. resembles that of a ward to his guardian." "Trust relationship"
3. As further elaborated in 1802, federal law obligated U.S. Congress to
oversee all treaties... all transactions without such supervision "null
and void"
D. Andrew Jackson and Indian "Removal" (remember Blumer's emphasis
on public figures and events that define a group's position; Jackson a key figure
vis-a-vis American Indians)
1. "Heaven dooms to inevitable destruction the wretch who smiles at
the torture he inflicts and spares neither female innocence, declining age,
nor helpless infancy."
Jackson proceeds to lead a force at the Battle of Horse Shoe Bend that surrounds
and massacres 800 Creeks, including women and children (a good place to think
about cognitive dissonance and the justification of cruelty)
2. Jackson's own involvement in land speculation
3. Presidency, beginning in 1828... refused to enforce laws protecting Indian
lands; ignored Supreme Court decision in 1832 holding that states could not
extend their jurisdiction over Indian lands
a. Choctaw in Mississippi: Allotment and removal... over 20% died during
removal
b. Cherokee in Georgia: treaty negotiated with small, pro-removal faction,
while Georgia militia jailed Chief Ross and suppressed the Cherokee newspaper...
7000 troops finally forced removal on "Trail of Tears" (4000 died
en route)
c. Both Choctaw and Cherokee had become largely agricultural; they had
taken on white ways, as Jefferson had asked during his presidency, but it
made no difference.
V. Chronology key events in the history of white-Indian relations in the U.S.
A. Indian Removal Act of 1830: Andrew Jackson
But in the long run, as we will see, being west of the Mississippi provided
little or no protection from white encroachment.
B. 1849-1871: Almost 400 treaties (see Minnesota overhead)
1. Gave up more than 1 billion acres of land
2. Typically guaranteed education, health care; retained right to fish and
hunt
C. 1865: Boarding schools begin
D. 1870s: Aggressive promotion of reservations under Indian Commissioner Walker
1. "a rigid reformatory discipline"
2. By 1884, all Indians assigned to reservations
E. 1887: Dawes General Allotment Act
1. Parcel out all reservation land to individual Indians in 160 acre parcels,
with excess to be sold and the proceeds held in trust for Indians to be used
for their "education and civilization"... in Minnesota, only the
Red Lake Chippewa that largely managed to avoide allotment
2. Initially inalienable for 25 years, but in 1906 that provision nullified
and the sale of Indian land to individual whites took off on a large scale.
F. 1934: Indian reorganization act ended allotment
1. Almost half of Indians by then landless
2. Indians as a whole had lost about 60% of the 138,000,000-acre land base
they had owned at the time of allotment
3. Cultural pluralism
4. Indians on reservations allowed to establish local governments
G. 1953: Termination of reservations: Menominee and Klamath the first
H. 1975: Indian Self-determination Act
I. 1975: Passamoquoddy Indians claim much of northern Maine under provisions
of 1790 Act. Settled in 1980, when the tribes voted 2-1 for a pact that provided
300,000 acres of land plus $81.5 million
J. late 1970s and early 1980s: Confrontations between whites and Indians in
the state of Washington over fishing rights... Federal Judge Boldt held that
treaties were valid and in 1989, agreement reached between 26 tribes and state
of Washington to cooperate as governments in managing fish and game.
K. Wisconsin/Minnesota Chippewa: Treaties of 1837, 1842, 1854 reserved rights
to hunt, fish, and gather
a. 1992: Federal judge upholds these rights for Fond du Lac Chippewa
b. 1998: Supreme Court affirms these rights for Minnesota Chippewa
L. 2001: Federal Court rules that Department of the Interior has failed to
properly supervise Indian trust accounts going all the way back to the Dawes
Allotment Act
VI. Demographics
A. Largest tribes in order: Cherokee, Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa, Choctaw
B. Indians and the 2000 census. Excluding those who picked two or more races,
Indians constituted 1.1% of the total U.S. population; including those who picked
two or more races, Indians constituted 1.4% of the total U.S. population.