Takaki Ch.2

We recognize our United States of America as the greatest country in the world. A nation that defends freedom and gives us the opportunity to live our lives the way we choose. That definition of our great country made this assignment somewhat difficult. Thomas Jefferson is known as one of the founding fathers of the United States and even served as president. The “Tempest” made me think of how America gives us the opportunity to live our lives the way we choose and I was curious as to why Jefferson did not give the Native Americans the same choice.
Buy the 1760s, thousands of Europeans had made their way across the Atlantic to the shores of America and begun establishing their way of live. However, what was the way of life to the Europeans was far from how the Native Americans lived theirs. The Native Americans began to grow unsure about their future, as the Europeans were ecstatic about theirs. Jefferson was governor of Virginia at the time and tried to create a friendship with them. Jefferson thought they were both “Americans, born in the same land”. Despite the building bond between the two, Jefferson secretly wanted to civilize the Native Americans. Making them abandon hunting and switch to agriculture. The land the Native Americans owned was also an issue to Jefferson. With the ever growing population of the whites in America, Jefferson planned to pressure Native Americans into selling. Jefferson tried to destroy them financially by favoring federal over private trading houses. His tactics worked, either the Native Americans would convert into a civilian or retreat out west.
We discussed in class how Christopher Columbus wasn’t the man we all thought he was. He was still a great explorer but far from the hero we all made him out to be. I feel a little of the same towards Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was a founding father, a man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. So it is just so hard for me to believe and even try to understand what his motives were in the way he forced the Native Americans out. I’m sure I am being a little too strong because the time was different back then and we really can’t put ourselves into someone else’s position. However, Columbus and Jefferson have a lot in common. The way greed took over Columbus for fame drove him to start a mass genocide. Jefferson was maybe driven by starting a new and young country off on what he thought was right. I am not taking anything away from Thomas Jefferson, he is a pioneer, but I believe he could of handled situations a lot better concerning the Native Americans.
The “Tempest” was a difficult read for me than others may think. I am a member of the United States Air Force and when I swore in I swore to serve and protect against all those who threatened our freedom. Where was the Native American’s freedom? Why didn’t they have a right to live the way they wanted to live? I can’t help but feel sorry for the Native Americans and can only imagine what life would be like if people like Columbus and Jefferson would of handled their situations differently.