This is the unedited version of P. R. and R. R.’s letter that appears in “Mail Bag,” p. 23.

Israel's concepts that this country was founded with the institution of slavery intact and that the Native American population of the Americas was systematically pushed aside for the benefit of European immigrants are historical truths. However, we believe Israel's contention that the economic power of the United States of America was born on the backs of African slaves is inaccurate. Further, his contention that Native Americans were helpless victims against the white juggernaut carries more political than historical weight. Overall his commentary seemed more reminiscent of a politically motivated college professor than a pastor of the Christian faith commenting on the facts of history.

He wrote, "Had our founders not stolen from, pillaged, deceived, and destroyed native peoples of this continent, our nation never would have acquired the land we now enjoy."Israel is correct that in many instances Native Americans suffered those things at the hands of Europeans and later Americans, though such a charge is not universally true. The initially unintended, often misunderstood effects of European diseases introduced to North America in the 1500’s or earlier caused a biological holocaust among Native American peoples wholly lacking in biological immunity. Europeans had spent hundreds of years developing among themselves in Europe, and many historians agree the greatest majority of them died from disease, rendering the relatively few survivors incapable of resisting the expansion of Europeans over the course of 400 years until the end of the last Indian Wars in the 1890’s. Disease decided the issue of continental dominance decades before the United States was established as a state, and the relative population weakness of the Native Americans to their west enabled early American generations to continue eroding Indian dominance on the continent over a period of 100 years following the end of the American Revolution. Wicked things were done to Native Americans in the name of God at the hands of Europeans, much in the same way Europeans had mistreated one another over religious squabbles for 1,000 years before contact. That said, when considering "all aspects" of what occurred between Americans and Native Americans between the 1770’s and 1890’s, the far reaching historical factor of European disease and its presence in North America for nearly 300 years before the founding of the United States also deserves essential historical consideration.

Additionally, Israel made the charge, "Had our forefathers not enslaved the peoples of Africa and the Caribbean, our nation would likely have never established herself as an economic force in the world." Slavery existed legally in this country from 1776 to 1865, though it was basically dead in the North by the 1820’s, but at no point did the presence of slavery encourage economic development to any great degree. Thomas Jefferson, himself a slave-owner, said famously, "Slavery is like holding a wolf by the ears; you don't like it, but you don't dare let it go." In the first six decades of the nineteenth century the increasingly slave-free North outpaced the slave-ridden South in every single economic aspect. By the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, the state of New York alone could meet or exceed the economic capacity of the entire South. The reason the South lost the Civil War was simple: slave economics in the South stagnated for 60 years while the North grew up, industrialized, modernized, and enjoyed the fruits of free labor, capitalism and entrepreneurship. Such economic characteristics of productivity were wholly lacking in the South, and slavery died with the war it failed to win simply because it was economically unviable. The South did not begin to grow economically in any major way until World War II necessitated such growth to meet the needs of that major war effort. Slavery existed in this country for nearly 100 years before it was eradicated through force of arms, and ultimately slavery died because it was economically unviable and failed to save itself as an institution from the free labor industry of the North in a struggle of arms.

Israel concluded his charges should "remind us to look on our heritage with a deep sense of repentance toward God and compassion toward those we afflicted." He rightly cited the poor decisions our forefathers made, though he appeared to suggest somehow a person living today should feel shame and guilt over something his ancestor did to someone else's ancestor. Such an attitude is entirely political and has nothing to do with achieving a clearer understanding of the full history of this country. History seeks to tell the story of what happened at a given time in the past using as much verifiable evidence as may be available for such examination. Using facts of history to motivate certain emotional reflections or responses from individuals is not the telling of history; it is the persuasion of politics, an entirely different discipline altogether. It is good to understand history as it actually happened and not to selectively forget things, as Israel rightly mentioned in his article.

That said, it is also important to note that slavery has not legally existed in this country since 1865, and civil rights have been adequately protected for the last 40+ years. And though the United States has still failed to resolve its "Indian problem," progress is continually and slowly being made in the right direction as attitudes change and revisions take place in high circles of power. While we're being careful to include things, let us take care to remember the positive progress our democracy has made since 1776.

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