“Nineteenth-century democracy needs no more complete vindication for its existence than the fact that it has kept for the white race the best portion of the new world’s surface.” Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt
It’s only fitting that the site of Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The land was granted to the Lakota people in the Treaty of Fort Laramie, “in perpetuity,” in the year 1868. Like every other treaty with Native Americans, it was broken and the government took it back. Mount Rushmore and the four Presidents selected is supposed to represent America’s birth, growth, development, and preservation. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, had done earlier work with confederate statues and started work on Stone Mountain in Georgia where he was quite friendly with Klan supporters of the project. He later fell out with others in a clash of wills and left Georgia permanently, having developed the skills to sculpt on a gigantic scale.
Mount Rushmore didn’t have an especially grand purpose. It was built in order to attract tourists to South Dakota. Initial thoughts were to include Western heroes like explorers Lewis & Clark, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Lakota Chief-Red Cloud. Borglum dismissed that idea and chose the four presidents.
There are those who would dispute my characterization of the four as racists. George Washington was America’s first President, Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence which stated; “All men are created equal.” Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and Teddy Roosevelt ushered in many of America’s progressive policies. These men have a long list of accomplishments, yet they were racists; each and every one.
George Washington: Perhaps George Washington couldn’t tell a lie yet the suggestion his well-known dentures were made of wood certainly is one. His teeth were made from a number of sources including human teeth taken from his slaves.
History has a way of literally white-washing the past of the Founding Fathers. In many sources; Washington is credited with freeing his slaves without mention that it was after his death and because of a quirk in the law did not include his wife Martha’s slaves. After George died, Martha quickly realized the only thing standing between her slaves and their freedom was her death; so she freed those she could as well.
Washington’s slaves were subject to “correction” at his estate Mount Vernon but history manages to put a gloss on that as well. When a slave woman named Charlotte was deemed “impudent,” she was beaten with a whip, a penalty Washington deemed “very proper.” Because it was her first whipping in 14 years, we’re told how lenient and kind Washington was. Truth be told, Washington regularly had his slaves whipped, beaten, and he tactfully inspired to circumvent laws to ensure his slaves didn’t go free:
Thomas Jefferson: Historians tell us how conflicted Jefferson was about slavery. He wanted so badly to end it though he owned over 600 slaves in his lifetime; notably one he started sleeping with when she was 14-years-old and with whom he had several children, Sally Hemings. The Jefferson family and his estate fought for decades to fight “the lie” that Thomas Jefferson fathered Hemings children, blaming another relative, but time and DNA won out and now the family acknowledges the relationship. The tour of Monticello now includes the adjoining room with the connecting door where Hemings slept.
Were that the worst Jefferson did; he might be no worse than any other Virginia slaveholder, but Jefferson did much more. More than any other person, Jefferson is responsible for establishing the model for domestic slave breeding (which is exactly what it sounds like) and shaping the Constitution and future law to make slaveowners in Virginia (of which he was one) and Maryland the primary beneficiaries. The Constitution in Article One: Section Nine says that the International Slave Trade couldn’t be eliminated for twenty years until 1808. Those retroactive historians spin that as a prelude to ending slavery but it did no such thing. It was a protectionist move to eliminate foreign competition and increase the price of home-grown slaves. Jefferson was President in 1807 and passed the bill restricting the international slave trade o take effect the first day possible, January 1, 1808. The clause to wait twenty years only existed to pacify South Carolina whose port of Charleston was the biggest importer of slaves in the nation and would lose out on the deal. For all his alleged brilliance, Jefferson did more to promote domestic slavery than anyone; and don’t forget about that rape thing either.
Abraham Lincoln: Reasonable people can agree to disagree as to whether Lincoln should be included in this group of racists. Both sides can be aware of the full record yet disagree as to whether he meant what he said or why he did what he did. Famously remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves. It’s important to look at what he did and why he did it.
First of all, he only freed some of the slaves, those within the states that seceded from the Union. If you were a slave in Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, or states North. They were just as much a slave as before. The Emancipation Proclamation had two main purposes; to disrupt the Southern state’s economy and to keep France and Britain from siding with the South. Those countries had previously outlawed slavery within their borders and would have problems siding with the Confederate States on moral grounds though they were more important to them as trade partners.
Lincoln is also famous for the series of debates he had with Stephen Douglas. Over a series of debates across the state of Illinois, he said a number of things about slaves and black people. I’ll let his words speak for him:
“I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position.”
“I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respects-certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment.”
“ I do not now, or ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the Union.”
“ I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.”
“ I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States.”
“ I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a Congressional Fugitive Slave law.”
“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, [applause]-that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied every thing. I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. [Cheers and laughter.] My understanding is that I can just let her alone. I am now in my fiftieth year, and I certainly never have had a black woman for either a slave or a wife. So it seems to me quite possible for us to get along without making either slaves or wives of negroes. I will add to this that I have never seen, to my knowledge, a man, woman or child who was in favor of producing a perfect equality, social and political, between negroes and white men.”
“The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution of the United States. Therefore, nothing in the Constitution or laws of any State can destroy the right of property in a slave.”
There’s much more but I think you get the point. Those supporting Lincoln say he was a politician and like any other, had to say what he had to say for the opportunity to do what he wanted to do. I prefer to take him at his word.
Theodore Roosevelt: I started researching this with no idea what I’d find in Teddy’s record. The whole premise of the story could have crumbled with the existence of a good man. Theodore Roosevelt didn’t let me down though, he was who I thought he was. Roosevelt was upset Hawaii wasn’t admitted as a state earlier than it was. He wanted the Pacific naval base to establish an outpost to conquer the Philippines.
“It was a crime against the United States, it was a crime against white civilization, not to annex it two years and a half ago.”
Teddy was an equal opportunity hater although he did have respect for those he considered good warriors who he gave permission to run wild throughout Asia until the “yellow bastards” attacked us. Many of the longstanding anti-American attitudes in Korea, Japan, China, and Russia (who Teddy didn’t view as white enough) were a result of treaties Roosevelt broke. Roosevelt’s betrayal of Japan played a role in their later attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt betrayed Cuba, Japan, Russia, Korea, and the Philippines. He prided himself as being a hard worker, he must have been to get all that in.
It’s ironic that the sculptor of Mount Rushmore moved directly from memorializing Confederate generals to American presidents who shared many of the same views. If America gave a true depiction of its history, maybe others invoking their name might reconsider some of the same actions.
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Previously published on democracyguardian
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Photo credit: istockphoto