Blog #1 The Formation of Race

When the British settlers first came to America and saw the Native Americans, they saw what they thought was a primitive, infantile people. Because of the “brutish” and primitive ways of the Native Americans, they were called savages. Once they were labeled as such, the British settlers felt they could help these savages by trying to civilize them, and teach them to farm, convert them from their pagan religions, anything else that might make them more like the white man. Along with the savage Native Americans, the settlers also saw all this great land that wasn’t being used to its full potential. The settlers set out to farm this land, at first with the help of the Native Americans. It never seemed to occur to the settlers that they were trespassing on lands that were already owned. Instead they rationalized that these natives needed some sort of guidance, and that the best way to help was to settle there and take land for themselves. Once they started getting comfortable, they began to see how great this land was for farming, and as more and more settlers came over, they wanted more and more land.
At the same time, with these growing colonies, they needed labor, and while at first that need was filled by indentured servants, it soon became apparent that more workers would be needed. Shortly after, Africans were being brought over by the shipload in which to meet this demand for labor. Once these black workers arrived though, how should they be governed, and what rights did they have? They took what looked like the easiest road – none. To do this though, they needed a reason, since they themselves went to America for freedom. They had to separate themselves from these people, and “race” was the most obvious difference. Because they looked different, talked different, and acted different, African Americans must be inferior, which meant they were not worthy of rights or freedom. The same differences made it possible for Native Americans to be pushed off of their land. They were not smart enough to use it properly as the white man could; therefore he was more entitled to it.
As whites took over more and more land, and buying more and more slaves, they began to rationalize the taking of land and slaves so that it was “scientific”. It became widely known that slaves were inferior scientifically; their brains were smaller making them far less intelligent, and were also physically inferior. At one time, the settlers thought that the Native American may be able to be civilized, and many attempts were made by both races. But once again, whites found themselves in need of the land that the newly “civilized” Native Americans possessed, and then decided that the Indians were in fact, savages, making their land available to white colonists.
All the time these settlers were making these rationalizations, they never seemed to consider that they were doing the same thing to Native Americans and African Americans that was done to them by the British. Even when the Declaration of Independence was written, saying all men were created equal, they could talk themselves into not including the other races in that equality.