“…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag,… excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
This was taken for granted in 1907, and TR was one of the more liberal on the subject. Today it is absolute chauvinism.
When you discuss the Constitution, remember that the same thing would have been routine to say about the white race. We were discussing what to do abut Indians and blacks, not whether to assimiliate with them.
The reason the capitol of Liberia is named for a slaveholder is because President John Monroe FOUNDED Liberia country to return freed blacks to. Francis Scott Key was another who favored this solution. Those who were opposed to slavery always had the problem of what to do with the blacks after they were freed.
This is a major hunk of history you never hear a word about. Historians act as if everybody took it for granted that it was slavery or assimilation. In fact, the accusation of “Negro Equality,” much less intermarriage, was one of the major planks of those opposing Lincoln’s reelection in 1864. He denied it vigorously, of course.
#1 by danerebor on 07/16/2007 - 11:08 am
I’ve never heard about what early Americans really wanted until a few years ago. Now I’ve been hearing more and more about this lately.
And I think that it’s being talked about alot NOW is very important.