America is supposed to be a country of democracy. In fact, America is supposed to be the ultimate symbol of democracy. As a country that has won its hard-earned independence from the tyranny of the British monarchy, inspiring numerous other revolutions around the world, it is supposedly the epitome of freedom, liberty, and democracy. However, America’s history says the opposite. From the start of European settlement, countless groups have faced wrongly treatment, having their rights, their happiness, and their autonomy stolen from them.
Native Americans
From the very, very start, even before the nation was formed, there were a plethora of problems. For one, the colonists always had issues with the Native Americans. Although some settlements had friendly relations with the natives, like Jamestown, those relations were only temporary and eventually crumbled.
(The exception to this would be the French. Consistently, the French and the natives traded fur and other raw materials for mutual prosperity. Often, settlers would marry native people and they’d grow families together. Unlike the Spanish, who were preoccupied with forcibly converting the natives to Christianity, the French only focused on trade and did not try to push their religious agenda onto the natives. While the French-Native relationship did have its brutal downsides, mainly the French need for slaves, it was not nearly as bad as the relationship among natives and the other settlers.)
Since there were numerous cultural differences as well as a significant language barrier, it’s understandable that misunderstandings took place, but misunderstandings are not an excuse for how the settlers felt justified in taking the land of the native people and then committing atrocious crimes against them. The settlers felt entitled to land that was never theirs to begin with; this mindset would unfortunately continue in America for the next few centuries.
For the most part, Natives were seen as inferior savages who needed to be “civilized,” kicked out, or killed. This was due to the immense differences in societal views, culture, tradition, living styles, etc., as well as the traditional and religious beliefs of the settlers. For one, Europeans of this time viewed wealth and status to be closely connected to the amount of land they owned. For the natives, land was more communal and not as connected to wealth. In addition, natives were more likely to use their personal wealth to help the less fortunate, while Europeans did not do that. The settlers came from countries with more developed technology and weapons, and thus assumed themselves to be “superior.” They also assumed responsibility for “civilizing” the Natives when literally no one but themselves told them to do that. They used their religious-inspired complex of being “saviors” to violate the natural rights of the Natives.
In the conquest for God, gold, and glory, about 56 million natives were killed by colonists in the Americas. Within the first 100-150 years of colonization, an estimated 80-95% of the native population had perished due to colonizer-caused reasons, whether it be violence, disease, or something else. Causing this unthinkable number of deaths in the name of greed cannot be justified in any way. Sure, not all the colonists were there for profit; the first colonists were looking for religious freedom, but that is still no excuse.
As a part of a cultural genocide, the US government forced Native Americans to send their children to boarding schools. If the parents didn’t agree, then the children were kidnapped. Over 60,000 (~80%) Native school-age children were attending boarding schools run by the federal US government or by religious organizations by 1926. At the schools, the children endured emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. They were given English names, couldn’t speak their native language, were forced to wear certain clothes, had to style themselves a certain way, and generally experienced strong cultural whitewashing. Out of the 18,624 confirmed students, at least 973 died at these schools.
In addition, the Natives constantly had their land taken from them. Colonists would often sign treaties or agreements with Natives, then break those treaties and receive absolutely zero punishment. Often, the colonists wouldn’t even make treaties or agreements–they’d just act as if the land was already theirs and natives had no way to chase away the settlers.
Noticeably, the Indian Removal Act of 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson, forced around 100,000 natives to relocate. This would later become known as the Trail of Tears, as thousands and thousands died on this forced march.
Currently, natives have lost 98.9% of the original lands. In fact, 42% of tribes from the pre-colonization era have no land.
It is immensely audacious and hypocritical that the freedom-seeking settlers of America treated the natives as inferiors and denied them the very same freedoms they were looking for themselves.
African Americans
The Native Americans were only the first to be gravely mistreated by the settlers. Over the course of a century or so, millions and millions of African Americans were imported as slaves and treated as nothing more than animals. From the start of the colonists’ arrival, they were dependent on slavery. While Jamestown may not have started out with slaves, by 1619, about 20 African Americans had arrived on a ship called White Lion. The numbers of slaves only increased from there. Since agriculture in the Americas could be insanely profitable, there was a severe demand for cheap and low-cost labor, so slavery was apparently the answer. Not only was slave labor relatively inexpensive, but working in the slave trade was also profitable. Millions of Africans were transported like livestock, enduring the vile and inhumane conditions of the infamous Middle Passage, until importing slaves was prohibited in 1808. These people weren’t even seen as people; to Whites, these Americans were just property.
As the years went on, slavery became a more and more heated topic. When writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson initially included a passage condemning slavery and the slave trade, but this passage was removed due to fears of offending the Southern colonists. The Constitution (1788) and The Bill of Rights (1791) allowed slavery to continue on. Various acts and developments over the years led to the Civil War: the Fugitive Slave Act (1793 & 1850), the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the Missouri Compromise (1820), Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831), the Mexican-American War (1840s), the Compromise of 1850, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), John Brown’s Raid (1859), and finally the election of Lincoln (1860). Soon after, the southern states seceded and created the Confederacy, and in 1861 the Civil War began. The South was so adamant in keeping slavery, even when it was such an egregious violation of African Americans’ rights, that they decided to fight a war for four years. Eventually, the Union won and the Confederacy rejoined the country, and the Reconstruction Era began. With high hopes and thought-out plans, President Lincoln was ready to reform the nation. But then, just five days after the Confederacy surrendered, Lincoln was assassinated. With his death, African Americans’ dreams of equality also died. Lincoln’s Vice President, Andrew Johnson, became the new president and barely helped “reconstruct” the country, if at all. He gave full pardons to the Confederates, allowing them to return back to power as if nothing had ever happened. Johnson also kept opposing Congress when Congress would try to pass legislation helping the former slaves. The president of the United States, the man who had sworn to safeguard the Constitution, was plainly working against the Constitution in his non-existent attempts to safeguard the rights of Black people.
The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in 1865, but Black Codes, Jim Crow laws and widespread prejudice prevented Black people from being treated as equal beings, both in legal terms and in society. The ratification of the 14th Amendment (1968) gave everyone birthright citizenship, equal protection, and due process, and the 15th Amendment (1870) protected the right to vote (for men) no matter their race, skin color, ethnicity, and previous condition of servitude. Even so, various discriminatory measures were still in place to prevent Black people from voting. It wasn’t until 1965, a whole century after the 13th Amendment was ratified, when the Voting Rights Act was passed, helping the 15th Amendment to truly be enforced.
Even with these federal protections, the Southern states still passed and enforced laws to discriminate against Black people. The grandfather clause, white primaries, unfair literacy tests, and poll taxes greatly disenfranchised the Black population from voting. The grandfather clause (one is automatically registered to vote if their grandfather voted; slaves couldn’t vote so their grandchildren also couldn’t vote) wasn’t struck down until 1915, white primaries (one has to be in a primary to vote, and one has to be white to join a primary) until 1944, literacy tests (very difficult reading tests designed to disenfranchise Blacks) until 1965, and poll taxes (one must pay a tax to be able to vote) until 1964. Progress was difficult and slow. The government would sometimes work against its own principles; Johnson was not the first, and certainly wasn’t the last.
In one of the most shame-worthy moments of the US judicial system, the Supreme Court declared that state-imposed racial segregation was completely constitutional in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). This decision established the doctrine of “separate but equal,” which allowed states to legally segregate and discriminate against colored people for decades to follow. Thankfully, Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine; the court unanimously decided that segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and was thus unconstitutional. Although this was a great victory for Black rights, there were still many years until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, fully outlawing segregation in public areas.
Even with racial discrimination outlawed, Black people still face racism in everyday life, especially through systemic racism. The fact that major efforts are still required for Blacks to be treated equally goes to show great flaws in the government’s claim of “liberty and justice for all.”
Women
The US Constitution starts with “We the people of the United States;” a phrase used to emphasize the founding principle of popular sovereignty. Since the British government was too powerful, the colonists felt that the power should be placed in the hands of the people. People would elect representatives and the representatives would act according to the wishes of the people.
Are women not people?
Not all cultures have been patriarchal, but the settlers certainly were. In a manner of speaking, women were also property. Women were often married off for a transaction of wealth, and then forced to rely on their husbands. Women were traditionally not allowed or heavily discouraged from receiving an education, which restricted them to housework and chores. For hundreds of years, misogyny has been treated as the norm. Women were tied to strict societal expectations; be obedient, listen to the men, marry and have kids, be a good mother, do the housework, stay at home, etc. Women were seen as “fragile,” “weak,” and “emotional,” leading men to discount women and their possible contributions to society.
Only in 1840 did the first woman in the US earn a college degree; her name was Catherine Elizabeth Brewer Benson and she graduated from Georgia Female College (Wesleyan College). Women didn’t receive suffrage (right to vote) until 1919, with the passage of the 19th Amendment. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected women from discrimination in the workforce, especially regarding unequal pay. One may think that paying two people the same amount for doing the same job, regardless of gender, would be common sense, but apparently people had a different view of logic back then. In addition, women have faced difficulties in bodily autonomy, the government having restricted abortions for women. Decades of villainization of abortions caused intense stigma for women seeking abortions, although with time the stigma has decreased. By 1910, every single state had made abortions mostly illegal, with very few exceptions. These exceptions could only be made by doctors, and 95% of doctors at the time were male. Roe v. Wade (1973) established that a woman had the right to privacy, which included the right to abortion, meaning that states could not outright ban abortion.
Any society that fails women will eventually fail. It is a step in the right direction that current society is overcoming thousands of years of patriarchy and misogyny, but faster progress would definitely be appreciated.
LGBTQ+
In the past century or so, LGBTQ+ people have become more and more normalized and humanized in our everyday lives. Before, homosexuality was seen to be a great sin, an offensive taboo. They were treated as people with “disease” who needed to be “cured.” Interestingly enough, evidence points to a wide variety of ancient cultures being open to and accepting of same-sex relations. Many cultures were also open to third gender identity or fluid gender identity, though that was mostly reserved for religious leaders, artists, and those in power.
It was only in 2015, a mere decade ago, when the Supreme Court decided in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage is a federally protected right. Recently, society has become more open and accepting towards the LGBTQ+, taking steps in the right direction, but it is truly disappointing that such change is even necessary in the first place. In no manner would restricting gay marriage help the government run better. One’s sexual orientation is a personal matter, one that the government should not restrict.
Representation
The people and their wishes are supposedly well-represented through the elected representatives of Congress. This is true in theory, but for a large part, it is not true in reality.
In order for Congresspeople to be elected, they need to go on campaigns. Campaigns take money; in fact, campaigns require quite a large sum of money. Most, if not all, of the candidates who are running do not have enough money to self-fund, so they rely on donations. (This is true of almost every elected representative, not just Congresspeople.) While thousands of dollars may come from citizens, corporations and businesses are what really supports campaigns. If the candidate is mostly supported by businesses, then where are their loyalties going to lie? As much as the candidate may want to truly represent the people, they can’t do that if they don’t get reelected, and they won’t get reelected if they do something their sponsors are against. Money talks, and this is especially true in government.
Conclusion
When the Declaration of Independence was written, it was a list of grievances made to justify why the colonists wished to separate from the British empire. Mainly, their chief complaint was that they were not being treated fairly by the British, specifically due to an utter lack of representation in government. These types of issues lie at the heart of democracy: a democracy relies on the people forming a government, the consent of the people, a social contract between the people and the government.
Nevertheless, countless groups have faced prejudice, discrimination, violence, hatred, and mistrust in America. For a country that boldly declared “all men are created equal” in the face of Britain’s tyranny, America has done a horrendous job of ensuring equality for all. Our Constitution that claims to “establish Justice… promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” has spectacularly failed in more ways than one.
