THE CULTURE of VIOLENCE in the AMERICAN WEST MYTHS Vs. REALITY ~ By: Thomas J. DiLorenzo
THE CULTURE of VIOLENCE in the AMERICAN WESTMYTHS Vs. REALITY
By: Thomas J. DiLorenzo
EXCERPT
The Real Cause of Violence in the American West
The real culture of violence in the American West of the latter half of the nineteenth century sprang from the U.S. government’s policies toward the Plains Indians.
It is untrue that white European settlers were always at war with Indians, as popular folklore contends. After all, Indians assisted the Pilgrims and celebrated the first Thanksgiving with them; John Smith married Pocahontas; a white man (mostly Scots, with some Cherokee), John Ross, was the chief of the Cherokees of Tennessee and North Carolina; and there was always a great deal of trade with Indians, as opposed to violence. As Jennifer Roback has written, “Europeans generally acknowledged that the Indians retained possessory rights to their lands.
More important, the English
recognized the advantage of being on friendly terms with the Indians. Trade with the Indians, especially the fur trade, was profitable. War was costly” (1992, 9). Trade and cooperation with the Indians were much more common than conflict and violence
during the first half of the nineteenth century…
excerpt…continues @ link…
Ref
http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo195.html
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http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_15_02_04_dilorenzo.pdf
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