The Legacy of Slavery
The legacy of slavery continues to pervert equality and justice today. As Sirvent and Haiphong explain the US pleads that slavery was just a "peculiar institution" and not a contradiction of American exceptionalism:
"While It has been difficult to mask the horrors of slavery on subjugated Africans, it has been equally difficult to pierce through the narrative that the institution of slavery was a mere mistake or an aberration in an otherwise flawless American design."
Saying that the US was built on the backs of slaves is not a metaphor. The early foundation of the US economy relied on slavery. The White House and Capitol were built by slaves; now that is a literal metaphor. Watch the following short debate on the subject:
[Noam Chomsky vs Milton Friedman: Real History vs Fake History]
Chomsky is correct; cotton was king. It was as important in the18th and 19th century, as oil is in the 21st century. Everybody wanted cotton, and the textile industry sparked the industrial revolution. Yet the emancipated slaves and their descendants have never received reparations for their contribution.
The US pleads innocence from genocide and slavery. The colonial settlers even blamed the victims. The African slave was characterized as being lazy. The Declaration of Independence accuses the indigenous people as being the following:
"---merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."
Privatization of the Native's commons and slavery were enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. The "pursuit of happiness" was code for stealing Indian land and enslaving blacks. That was the reason for the 2nd Amendment.
The Monroe Doctrine
Another well-known legacy of early American history is the Monroe Doctrine, as Roberto Sirvent and Danny Haiphong explain in their book. The Monroe Doctrine sprang forth from President James Monroe's lips as an extension of Manifest Destiny. Since God was believed to have granted the US possession of the continent, it followed that it should include the Caribbean and Latin America too.
In the 19th century Spain lost its grip on its colonial possession in the Americas. France had suffered major losses in the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763). The Napoleonic Wars (1801 to 1815) weakened France. Haiti, which was the "pearl" of France's colonies, achieved independence in 1804. In 1823 President Monroe declared that the US would be the arbiter of disputes and protector of the Caribbean and Latin America from then on. With the victory of the Spanish American War (1898) the US became an empire with foreign colonies in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
History is Not "History", It Has a Life of its Own
American Exceptionalism and American Innocence is not just a history book, although it is that too. Sirvent and Haiphong examine historical events and the myths that justified them. For instance, after World War Two the US developed a messiah complex that it was the savior of the world. The facts don't support the myth. However, the US did come out of World War Two as the strongest economic and military power in the world.
During the post-war period the US used it economic and military power to expand its neocolonialism. The US opposed anti-colonial wars of liberation in Africa and Asia, as well as in its "backyard". The power elites of the US ruling class framed the US's neocolonialism as protecting budding democracies from the evils of communism. The US power elites hid their true economic motives in myths about freedom, democracy and human rights.
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