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The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism myth

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The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism myth

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The quote above is the first sentence of the introduction of “Race and Manifest Destiny”, and is a perfect way to introduce. In the 19th century we saw a shift in the justification and views of American expansion. The shift led to the idea of racial superiority of whites, specifically the Anglo-Saxons. Throughout American history we see different justifications for exploitation of Natives and their lands. This shift from religious or democratically superior to racially superior created deep and still present supremacies and advantages today. We know that race is man-made, and really does not exist outside of a social construct. The use of Anglo-Saxon superiority being the reason that the westward expansion was destined is deeply flawed, and like all other superiority-complex driven motives, used for economic exploitation and gain.

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The Anglo-Saxonist views didn't just apply to the mistreatment of Natives, but also sparked the enthusiasm from white Americans to enslave the African-Americans. Along with this we saw the Americans try to use science and faulty scientific findings to “prove” that their racial superiority is concrete.  According to the text America “eagerly sought scientific proof for racial distinctions and for the prevailing American and world order; the intellectual community provided the evidence they needed.” We see the white Americans continuing to use any means necessary to continue to get “confirmation” for their skewed reasons to take advantage of people that arent of the same “race”.

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This political cartoon speaks to how the Americans exploited the native people and land for their own economic gain. 

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A big topic touched on in this class is the fact that race is a social construct, and that these biases result as a means to justify exploitation, typically for economic gain or gain of power. We know now that biologically a black man, a white man, a hispanic, or any other, are all the same. There is no difference other than the fact their skin is a different color, or their hair is a different texture. What we saw during the American expansion was no different, we saw discriminative racial ideologies spearhead the goal for economic and power gain. On page 6 of the reading it says “Agrarian and commercial desires and the search for national and personal wealth and security were at the heart of mid-nineteenth-century expansion,” this shows what the real motive was clear as day, agrarian and commercial desires. More farmland, more land to sell to Americans, more ways to make money. The previous quote is finished with “but the racial ideology that accompanied and permeated these drives helped determine the nature of America's specific relationships with other peoples”. The racial biases developed to justify the exploitation, became the standard for how America interacted with other nations throughout history.

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Map showing the region in which the Anglo-Saxons originated from, and how only a fraction of England was made up of Anglo-Saxon decent. 

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The idea and meaning of Anglo-Saxon is extremely arbitrary, and was its most arbitrary during this expansion in the United states. The reading quotes that Anglo-Saxon had a “long history of misuse”, something we saw most present in the idea of superiority during expansion. Anglo-Saxon originally referred to a group of Germanic tribes that settled in england. England was not only Anglo-Saxon, it was mixed with backgrounds in many other celtic tribes. The term originally describes a specific “type of white”, but slowly evolved into a blanket term for white, and used to further push superiority. The fact that this term was used with such weight during expansion at that time, in reality, was neither true nor consistent with its origin. This is one of the biggest myths in the American narrative, the idea that the white Americans were superior Anglo-Saxons.

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In this portion of the chapter Heike details to us about the European idea of America as a utopia. Many different writings from Europe are mentioned, in which the idea of a utopian land is found in the Atlantic. Many of these utopian writings were also heavily influenced by religious ideas. This is where the myth of a utopia/promised land, or specifically a religious utopia began. The chapter, on page 141, says “European explorers and travelers did not come across any marvelous utopias in the Americas. The indigenous communities they actually encountered in their eyes did not constitute extraordinary alternative ways of life worthy of emulation; constructed by their Eurocentric gaze as radical alterity rather than viable alternative” We can analyze this and see the start of the superiority complex from the Europeans that becomes the superiority complex of the americans later in time. The Europeans viewed the native cultures as savage and primitive, and that they needed “saving”. We saw the false narrative that the Americas would be a utopian land, and when it was discovered it “was not”, it switched into a promised land destined for assimilation to European ways.

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I wanted to dive into this sentence and analyze it. We see that the Puritans thought of themselves as reformists, and that they could reform England and other places based on the example they would set. Their reformist mindset is a myth for two reasons: their treatment of the natives, and their failure to set an example. During this time religion was used to justify massacres and forced assimilation of native people to the European ways. The blatant exploitation and mistreatment that is so commonly seen throughout the history of America cleary contradicts the teachings of any religious doctrine. Also the fact is that many puritans never returned back to England to “reform”. The chapter quotes on page 151 that “only 10 percent of the first settlers of the Great Migration ever went back to England”. The reformist stance the puritans took became a mask to take over North America and begin the expansion starting with their colonies.

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Puritans praying. An irony given the way they mistreated their God's creations.

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Talked about alot by the puritans and other settlers was the idea that they were bringing a better way of life to the native people. We see this extension of the myth of reformism I mentioned earlier. There is this myth of acceptance and freedom with slavery being so prevalent and a huge factor in the success of the settlers. The puritan promised land that was framed as “a land of Freedom and Deliverance” (Page 167). In reality this was only true for white christians. The Natives and African-Americans specifically are the proof of this fraudulent idea, making it one of the most obvious myths. The mistreatment and enslavement of these peoples goes against everything the settlers claim the new promised land to be. On page 167 it says “Puritan congregations were exclusionary entities that for the most part barred servants and women from membership – not to mention the indigenous population and Africans/African Americans.”, this quote shows that even though the puritans and early settlers claimed their new land to be an accepting land of freedom and deliverance, they were very particular on who was allowed to indulge in this promise.

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1. A huge point of discussion in all these posts is the use of religion in the justification of settler activities. A better sentence would be the mis-use of religion for the justification of settler activities. The settlers and early Americans leveraged the Bible and their religion for their own advantage. They ignored what they wanted to, and took parts out of context to set up a system of manipulation. The Bible and religion was used by the settlers and later slave owners as a form of “social control” as the writing says. The book also said on page 168, “The Christian religion, it is argued, taught the slaves submissiveness, docility, and a negative self-concept based on claims of their unworthiness in the eyes of God; slave-holders frequently drew on the Bible (mostly the Old Testament, and especially the Curse of Ham narrative) to justify slavery to the slaves and to white abolitionist.” Christianity was used against these people, when in reality it is for and belongs to everyone. In my mind this is like using a charity for sick children to launder or steal money, it is taking something that should be used for good and turning it into a way to promote evilness.

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Picture of Uncle Tom from "Uncle Toms Cabin"

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Similar to above, religion was extended into pop culture as a way to control people. We saw the character Uncle Tom from a popular novel used in this fashion. Page 168 describes Uncle Tom as a “pious character who does not even try to escape from slavery because of his faith”. This is one of the earliest popular examples of not just using religion but more so the American pop culture and literature to set this false example of what a slave should act like. We still see the term Uncle Tom used today in derogatory ways, showing the everlasting impact of some of these pop culture figures.

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American Empire map at its peak, shows the vast amount of territory directly influenced by American power and ideologies. What started as manifest destiny in westward expansion resulted in manifest destiny to the globe. 

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The effects of Race and Manifest destiny

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The effects of Race and Manifest destiny

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It is important to take this writing by Horsman and apply it later down the line in history. Quotes in his writing and on page 6 it says “By the 1850s it was generally believed in the United States that a superior American race was destined to shape the destiny of much of the world”. This idea didn't just continue through the complete expansion of the US coast to coast, we see this when the United States fights for control of Mexican land, we see this when the US is imperialising foreign land, and it still continues today. We see not necessarily the Anglo-Saxonism part directly continuing in history, but the superiority complex that America needs to “save” and “better” nations. The imperialism of other lands and the fight against communism are perfect representations of this. The idea that started during these times, lead to countless wars, and political conflicts, that still continue and have continuing effects to this day.