Was the US Built by Slaves?

[Pangur Bán]

Never claimed we were perfect, but when compared to other nations we're pretty good.

And yes, we started as 13 states on the east coast of an unexplored land and managed to build a great nation composed of every racial group on the earth.

Whether you wish to acknowledge that or wallow in victimhood is up to you.

Me, I am proud to be an American, know we have our faults, and want to see those faults corrected through our system

The USA had never been less than 80% white until beginning on the Millennium--and until the mid-20th century almost all of the rest were the descendants of Afro-Caribbean slaves. It is one of the least multiracial countries in the New World, and is only beginning to head towards genuine multiracialism, just like the rest of the Greater European world.

 

[Roller123]

Some white supremacists in the USA are like this as well. There's different orders that want a certain ethnic background, even if your outward appearance is regarded as white. Mixture of ethnic groups is frowned upon. The same can be said of some of the more notorious Italian mafias, who discriminate in the pecking order based on heritage.

On the political scale, even Americans who don't realize they're operating under the framework you describe that is prevalent in the European far right. For example, recently with the whole mess in our elections about whether or not a half-Canadian, half-American can qualify to be President.

I don't think it's less subtle here than in Europe. I just think it's more ignored.

That's because the law states that only a US born citizen can be a president, and that "Half-Canadian" wasn't, which you, like a true liberal i suppose, are trying to make a race issue out of. Not that you ever gave a damn about laws i suppose, given who is running for the so called "Democratic" party atm.

 

[Traitorfish]

Canadians are a race?

 

[Roller123]

According to Liberals - it is! ( But only when it suits them). So all these US "white supermacists" are racist against Canadians for not allowing a Canadian to run for US presidency. But, i heard there is planned mass exodus to Canada now, so here is some help on how to get there:

 

[Flying Pig]

That's because the law states that only a US born citizen can be a president, and that "Half-Canadian" wasn't, which you, like a true liberal i suppose, are trying to make a race issue out of. Not that you ever gave a damn about laws i suppose, given who is running for the so called "Democratic" party atm.

If we're going to talk about the specifics of the US Constitution, it doesn't say that. 'Natural born citizen' is taken to mean a person who was, at birth, a US citizen, even if they were actually born overseas - which covers both Ted Cruz and John McCain. The Constitution also specifically allows those who were citizens at the time of its adoption to be President, regardless of where they were born, but that should be less of an issue these days.

 

[Traitorfish]

According to Liberals - it is! ( But only when it suits them). So all these US "white supermacists" are racist against Canadians for not allowing a Canadian to run for US presidency.

What?

 

[Roller123]

If we're going to talk about the specifics of the US Constitution, it doesn't say that. 'Natural born citizen' is taken to mean a person who was, at birth, a US citizen, even if they were actually born overseas - which covers both Ted Cruz and John McCain.

This is just an interpretation of the term "natural born citizen" which, granted, isn't precisely defined. There are others. Cruz is a Cuban born in Canada. He is at best a Natural Born Canadian.

 

[Cutlass]

This is just an interpretation of the term "natural born citizen" which, granted, isn't precisely defined. There are others. Cruz is a Cuban born in Canada. He is at best a Natural Born Canadian.

The number of people who would claim that he's not eligible for US president because of his birth wouldn't fill a single football stadium. So it's not an issue.

 

[Roller123]

The number of people who would claim that he's not eligible for US president because of his birth wouldn't fill a single football stadium. So it's not an issue.

So is the number of Trump voters i heard.

 

[daft]

US was built by European settlers, and I mean from all over Europe and not only Anglo-Saxons and Irish (including even the Rusyns of Eastern Europe), as well as African Americans (southern states).
US captured its land from the Nature-Respecting (for the most part, but also often in conflict with each other-tribe vs tribe), native/indigenous North Americans (they added their share into the building of the US as well, if you deny that-you're quite worthless)

 

[Agent327]

native/indigenous North Americans (they added their share into the building of the US as well

If ethnic cleansing can be called building the US, then yes.

 

[Traitorfish]

If ethnic cleansing can be called building the US, then yes.

I mean, Natives played a large part in triggering the American Revolutionary War, so it's fair to say they did more than just run and die.

Reducing people to victims isn't really any more empowering than reducing them to savages.

 

[Agent327]

A very strange argument. If 'the natives' played a large part in the Revolutionary War, it certainly didn't thank them for it in building the USA - which is what the argument was about.

 

[Lexicus]

The treatment of the Indians by the US government through the 19th century could be described as ethnic cleansing. It probably meets the definition of genocide though.

 

[Agent327]

I'm not sure if that was the intent. The intent was to move people away. One has to be a bit careful when using terms to periods past where such terms were unknown.

 

[Traitorfish]

A very strange argument. If 'the natives' played a large part in the Revolutionary War, it certainly didn't thank them for it in building the USA - which is what the argument was about.

Participation in history doesn't always mean being on the winning side. There's no United States without the Natives, for better or worse, and that demands recognition.

 

[Agent327]

I don't think anyone would be arguing against that. But to the early US, the natives were mostly 'in the way' At some point they were so decimated, that the growing US could simply afford to incorporate them - reservates and all. But this is almost the exact opposite as to how black Africans were used to build the US. So if you want to argue that Native Americans were elementary in building the US, that would be in the sense that they were necessary both as enemies and friends, whatever suited their purpose for the US. There's just appeared an interesting book on this very topic.

 

[AppleDumplingHead]

Everyone in the USA "built" the USA. Even some people outside the USA "built" the USA.

 

[Pangur Bán]

Yes, much US growth came from capital movements from Europe. According to Nicholas Shaxson, if I recall correctly, such flight from Europe to the USA after WWII still counts as the largest capital flight in history, its value many times that of the Marshall Plan and very important for fuelling the glory days enjoyed by the baby boomers. But in the 19th century lots of the wealth used to build industrial infrastructure came from European investors. Peripheral parts of the UK like northern England, Scotland and Ireland retained very little of what their military, industrial and merchant class earned as it went towards investments in the US and elsewhere. Not to mention the fact that the US's wealth has historically relied upon, and to some extent still does rely upon, selling stuff to Europe, whether that was the tobacco and cotton produced by African slaves or the cars and machines of the Rust Belt.