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It also illustrated the solidification of the definition of a true American as a white male. Andrew Jackson was a populist, and spoke out against the landed aristocracy, of which Jefferson was a member. Jackson wanted votes for all men, regardless of property-holding status, but he also wanted to expand property ownership to a larger proportion of the population. This would be accomplished by expansion westward.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 confirmed the Jacksonian idea that America was not a race-neutral civilization, and depended upon the subjugation and eradication of some races, while it strove to build up its own status: "They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and superior race, they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear," said Jackson, defending his actions.
The war with Mexico, which resulted in the establishment of Texas as one of the states of the union, was also characterized as a battle of civilizations, with Mexicans being characterized as 'inferior' and undeserving of a state that had been their territory, into which they had invited American settlers. Because the American settlers in Texas were white, ergo Texas was seen as...
A variety of compromises were instated to balance the U.S. between slave and free, but a crisis was clearly building in terms of how the U.S. would finally identify itself -- could an American citizen be anything other than a white man? But not only southerners subscribed to the doctrine of racial inferiority: In a perfect ideological storm, a misinterpretation of Darwinian notions of the evolution of the races and anthropological study of 'primitive' societies and skull sizes were used to justify the inequitable status of black people and the right of Europeans to dominate all other races in the name of progress. Racism and domination of native peoples was cast in a moral light.
Finally, he inferiority of certain races became codified into law: the 1857 Dred Scott U.S. Supreme Court case declared that people of African ancestry, enslaved or free, could never become citizens of the United States. The Court's opinion stated that black people "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect," and in effect, one a slave, always a slave. Hopes that slavery would die out of its own accord were extinguished.
The war with Mexico, which resulted in the establishment of Texas as one of the states of the union, was also characterized as a battle of civilizations, with Mexicans being characterized as 'inferior' and undeserving of a state that had been their territory, into which they had invited American settlers. Because the American settlers in Texas were white, ergo Texas was seen as a 'white' and 'American' nation in a way that transcended most legal conceptions of what constituted national ownership of a territory.
As expansion westward continued, so did the divisions in the nation over slavery. A variety of compromises were instated to balance the U.S. between slave and free, but a crisis was clearly building in terms of how the U.S. would finally identify itself -- could an American citizen be anything other than a white man? But not only southerners subscribed to the doctrine of racial inferiority: In a perfect ideological storm, a misinterpretation of Darwinian notions of the evolution of the races and anthropological study of 'primitive' societies and skull sizes were used to justify the inequitable status of black people and the right of Europeans to dominate all other races in the name of progress. Racism and domination of native peoples was cast in a moral light.
Finally, he inferiority of certain races became codified into law: the 1857 Dred Scott U.S. Supreme Court case declared that people of African ancestry, enslaved or free, could never become citizens of the United States. The Court's opinion stated that black people "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect," and in effect, one a slave, always a slave. Hopes that slavery would die out of its own accord were extinguished.
Race: Power of an Illusion This second episode of the PBS series, "The Story we Tell" discusses how race and racism developed in this country. Surprisingly, the series experts believe race has a history, and develops over time, and "that it is constructed by society to further certain political and economic goals" ("Race"). The episode begins with narration that leads into the controversial words of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that he
Race: The Power of an Illusion The constructed notion of race, as reinforced through good science, is also reinforced throughout the first episode of this PBS documentary. In the past, poor and racist science has attempted to classify human individuals according to racial categories and failed miserably. However, good science shows that the very notion of racial separations between individuals of different geographies and cultures is in fact specious, and genetically,
Race: An Illusion The concept of race has no place in today's globalizing world. In fact, it is a damaging illusion. Not only does the idea of race allow false beliefs to develop, but it allows the concept of "them against us" to develop. In such a reality, race becomes a pride-producing rallying point around which blatant discrimination, injustice, and atrocities spring. The idea of race as a meaningful concept is no
Nowhere on earth is a thirteen-pound, six-foot long unit of 'scandal' or 'integrity' to be found, for example. Nor apparently can someone find a benchmark unit of 'race'. The second thread runs through the slides 1887, 1934 and 1997. Jim Crow led to better homes for whites than Blacks even after they fought WWII side by side. What this demonstrates is one clear way we very literally live within the
McIntosh (1988) puts it, the primary issue with privilege and the power that comes with it is that those who are privileged rarely realize or acknowledge it. Denial of power and privilege perpetuates problems, because when men display "unwillingness to grant that they are over privileged," it becomes impossible to engage in meaningful dialogue or generate change (McIntosh, 1988, p. 22). One example of how dialogue is systematically shut
Race and Community Anderson, South Carolina: Race and Community A soft southern twang of the local server at the local cafe and the warmness of the air that envelopes me even into the fall months, the beauty of Anderson, South Carolina is something that I enjoy constantly. It is the environment of Anderson that I enjoy so much that also fosters the community and the human interactions that make it up. Human