POLSCI 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Black Indians In The United States, American Exceptionalism
Document Summary
What do you have to not see to believe in this myth. There are indigenous people who are native to the land and sovereign. We"ve got plenty of land, tons of prosperity, no classes, no slavery - they do the labor, which is what american prosperity rests on. 18th and 19th century americans couldn"t have sustained the myth of american. Exceptionalism without the race ideologies they help about blacks and indians. Jefferson believes african-americans can"t assimilate into american society because their race is something so different. One-drop rule: if you have one drop of african blood, you are black. Indians assimilate into american culture, so much that they vanish into the people. Their vanishing makes their land available to everyone. If people are gone, their land claims are too. The rule is they must be completely indian to have the land that belongs to their tribe, not just part or be christian.
