Seeing the Round Corners

DUE TO TO WIND INTERFERENCE LAST WEEK'S ARTICLE IS BEING RE-RUN. UPDATES WILL CONTINUE NEXT WEEK.

November 13, 2017

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE AMERICAN INDIAN

Recent disclosures of accepted conduct that’s been common place, par for the course, since pretty much the beginning of time is suddenly disgusting to all the world:  men extorting sex from a female or another male applying for a job.

A person would have to search long and hard for an area of employment – professional, industry, the military, blue collar, church ministries, government – that extorting sex does not occur. As investigations expand, no doubt there will be the reverse as women CEO’s in positions of power have grown, so no one should hold their breath.

Can a case be made that the idea of “put out or no job” has always been the power held by men over women, including more pay for the very same position with identical responsibilities? There is something dreadfully wrong when laws have to be passed to protect people from being run roughshod over by an employer or a prospective employer.

Far too often, the comment is made, “the person doesn’t have to work there,” which is so typical and says it is okay to have that policy, to be known for “put out or no job.” IT IS NEVER OKAY to use extortion for any purpose or reason!! 

Abraham Lincoln has long been idolized as the “greatest President,” but to go along with that aggrandizing, one has to ignore Lincoln’s flaws, or perhaps a more accurate description would be Lincoln’s many flaws. Even back in those days, political patronage was the usual reward for supporting the president.                

As written about earlier, the Dakota War of 1862 occurred because the American Indians in Minnesota revolted over treaties that no longer allowed enough +land area for traditional hunting and gathering practices that had always been the lifeblood of the tribe – they were not farmers.

Treaty payments for 6,000 American Indians were withheld or delayed, or provided only after the Indians agreed to become farmers, which resulted in many starving to death. Those negotiating the treaties knew full well what such extortion tactics would mean – the slow death of the tribe, thus attaining the goal set down from Washington:  rid the Western lands of the Indians to allow for white settlers’ expansion.

In those days, agents appointed by the government were responsible for the treaty payments reaching the Indians and were highly sought after as political patronage in return for supporting the President. Treaty payments were for the most part diverted to benefit those well-connected to the agents and others. Lincoln also caved into massive pressure from Minnesotans.

Both sides, Indians and non-Indians, committed horrendous acts of “torture, rape, even slaughtering children and the unborn.” Only Indians were tried with 392 sentenced to hang. A law passed just a few months earlier required “the judgment of every court marshal shall be authenticated by the signature of the President,” which was also used to get the Indians sentenced to hang although Indians were not in the military and could not be court marshaled.

Lincoln ordered that there be no executions without his sanction which allowed time for review of trial transcripts to look for evidence of guilt since execution was to be on him.

Lincoln was also said to be of concern about showing too much leniency resulting in a lynch mob, or so much severity as to be cruel. Without ever disclosing the basis for his decision, Lincoln “hand wrote the death sentence for 39 Indians, but then lowered that to 38 . . ., thus becoming responsible for the “largest mass execution” ever in the United States.

What idolizers of Lincoln fail to recognize is what impact the “largest mass execution in American history” had for generations to follow. Lincoln’s sanction of the largest mass execution “set a precedent that the United States would condone the execution of ‘hostile’ Indians while simultaneously ignoring the atrocities non-Indians inflicted upon America’s Indigenous people.”

Historical scholars believe that Lincoln’s decision on the execution of the Dakota warriors resulted in long-lasting repercussions of how America “responded to the Sand Creek Massacre, the Battle of Big Horn and the Wounded Knee Massacre, to name only a few of the horrendous massacres.

The reader's comments or questions are always welcome. E-mail me at doris@dorisbeaver.com.