1Creating the Racial StateUS History to 1865Pamela OliverSociology 220General Theoretical Orientation• Groups are in conflict. In our story, the conflict begins with European colonial expansion. One group seeking to take away what belongs to another.• Inequalities in military, economic resources lead to political inequalities• Resources and capacities are crucial• Weaker groups can resist domination and still lose• The struggles of the past create material conditions that constrain action choices in the present.• Today’s conflicts are structured by the past, are legacies of historyAmericans Before 1500• Only indigenous Americans (AKA American Indians, Native Americans)• Arrived 12,000 – 30,000 years ago (before agricultural settlements in Europe)• Long history of civilizations rising & falling before Europeans• Estimates 2-10 million in what is now US• 300+ languages spoken but significant trade and “trade languages” • Some hunter/gatherers, some settled agriculture• No horses [horses introduced by the Spanish]The Europeans & Africans Come• Columbus 1492. Spanish & Portuguese in Latin America & Caribbean – Columbus & slaves– Conquistadores of African descent (Moors)• French and British trade in North America• European settlers & their slaves in North America in 1600s. Importation of slaves 1607-1808.• Settlers vs. armies of conquest. – Settlers ultimately more deadly to the Americans– Indios still survive in much of Latin America1500-1776 Colonial Era • European incursions• European governments "claim" America and divide it among themselves.• Enslavement, pestilence and plagues, economic disruptions, warfare for the Americans.• South America: Spanish conquerors put a new layer on American [indio] populations.• In North America, European settlers intrude on the land, ultimately displace.• African slavery + some free Africans.The Europeans• Religious self-views. The Promised Land. The New Canaan, New Israel. • Some thought they should live peacefully with native Americans and share the land. Some did.• Others took a Biblical view: enter Canaan & kill all the inhabitants. Saw disease and deaths of natives as a sign from God. Hostile reactions from natives increased European hostility to the locals.• Tiny proportion of colonists were Pilgrims & Puritans arriving 1620s, but they became icons of the national myth. Most Europeans arrived after 1800. Most colonists immigrated for economic advancement2The Africans• 1607 - 1776. 175 years of slavery in colonial period. • Some Africans, like Europeans, 17 year indentures, but racial differences rapidly emerge• Always ~10% “free Blacks.” – A few even own slaves themselves– Free Blacks support the American revolution. Crispus Attucks.• Whites argue about whether “equality” should include Blacks.Americans & Europeans: Contact & Genocide• From 2-10 million before 1500 to 500,000 in 1800• Military battles, especially Spanish (less so English, French early on)• Disease: killed 90%+ of many American populations, weakened others, made European settlements possible• Economic disruption: Fur trade, Horses, plains culture• Early contacts more ambiguous: coexistence & conflict; intermarriage, contact between cultures. • Some American groups adopt European ways, even own slaves.• Others retreat west, regroup in the face of disruptionEuropean Claims 1750USA as a Racial State• Early formation of US was a government of, for, and by White people• American Indians were “foreign nations” to be fought, negotiated with• African slaves explicitly excluded from citizenship in Constitution of 1791; citizenship rights of free Africans taken away after 1790s• 1790 Immigration and Naturalization Act. Migrants from Europe can become citizens in relatively easy process of "naturalization." Only "Whites" can be naturalized. (Restrictions not removed until 1940s)Act of March 26, 1790 (1 Stat 103-104) (Excerpts)Act of March 26, 1790 (1 Stat 103-104) (Excerpts)That any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any common law court of record,in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such court, that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support the Constitution of the United States, which oath or affirmation such court shall administer; and the clerk of such court shall record such application, and the proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a citizen of the United States. And the children of such persons so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States. And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States: . . . 1776-1815: Formation of the racial state• Europeans (calling themselves Americans) create a new government of, by, and for "White people." • American Indians are excluded, treated as separate nations (generally as they wish to be).3Whites, Blacks, and the Racial State• Slavery enshrined in the Constitution of 1791.• 1808 importation of slaves ends. Henceforth, slaves are all native born. • European Americans mobilize to strip free Africans of their citizenship rights, ban them from communities, kick them out of formerly integrated churches.• The African-American movement begins as a defense against European-American actions.Immigration to US, in 1000s0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000199019801970196019501940193019201910190018901880187018601850184018301820Immigration to US as a % of Base0246810121990198019701960195019401930192019101900189018801870186018501840183018201815-1860 The White State Expands• European immigrants create population pressures, westward expansion. Accelerated displacement, “cleansing” of indigenous Americans.• Louisiana purchase: 1803. Buy from the French land that is inhabited by
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