Looking for evidence (to come) of this statement

Did it help that America was broadly formed during the start of the Industrial Revolution and at a time in which social mobility was dramatically different than the period of history which proceeded it?

And how much of this difference is split with the idea of the rise of (toxic) capitalism and the switch to "keeping up with the Jonses" which also tends to drive class distinctions?

Read [[Martha S. Jones]] in Sleuthing the Card Catalog

Research on keywords and their shifting meanings over time can make things difficult for the novice researcher. This example from Martha S. Jones certainly highlights this perspective even in under a century of semantic shift.

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/24/1208190881/charlie-chaplin-vs-america-explores-the-accusations-that-sent-a-star-into-exile

Listened to on 2023-11-11

Huffduffer data: podcast:name="fresh air", podcast:producer=npr, podcast:interviewer="terry gross", podcast:interviewee="scott eyman", book:author="scott eyman", book:title="Charlie Chaplin vs. America", book:year=2023, movie:writer="charlie chaplin", movie:director="The Great Dictator", movie:genre=satire, movie:genre=comedy,

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Ungenerous to take Alter to task for context which he might not have the background to comment upon.

Does Alter call it a "platitude" from it's historical context, or with respect to the modern context of Donald J. Trump and a wide variety of Republican Party members who are anything but Christian?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Debo

The National Museum of American History debuted Phyllis Diller's gag file on August 12, 2011 in the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery in an exhibition entitled "Have you Hard the One...? The Phyllis Diller Gag File."

see also: press release https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/national-museum-american-history-showcases-life-and-laughs-phyllis-diller

Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/welcome-to-my-class

Robert Reich course “Wealth and Poverty” 2023

Medicine shows became popular after the Civil War when patent medicine salesmen traveled the "kerosene circuit" in rural America. Flourishing until the passage of 1906 Fair Food and Drug Act made them obsolete, medicine shows provided entertainment to attract audiences and then used their intermissions to sell their products.

This pattern would later be seen in later radio and television when product pitchmen sponsored entertainment in return for commercial time.

(Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "Doctors," February 20, 2008 via http://www.oldhatrecords.com/)

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_show

Also related to tent revival shows which featured music and religion as entertainment and socializing.

Example in music: Neil Diamond's song: Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show

Rank, Mark Robert, Lawrence M. Eppard, and Heather E. Bullock. Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Reading as part of Dan Allosso's Book Club

Mostly finished last week, though I managed to miss the last book club meeting for family reasons, but finished out the last few pages tonight.

annotation target: url: urn:x-pdf:c3701d1c083b974a888f7eaa4009f11f

US History and Primary Source Anthology, volume 1<br /> https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/ushistory1/

Was sectionalism discussed or mentioned in Colin Woodard's American Nations (2011) as part of an underlying piece of his thesis about American history? It seems applicable.

https://beta.scrintal.com/b/peppermint-kings--8gm31

http://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0123/ms0123.html

Zinn, Howard. A Young People’s History of the United States. Seven Stories, 2009. https://www.sevenstories.com/books/2852-a-young-people-s-history-of-the-united-states.

http://www.americanyawp.com/

Apparently this is one of the most annotated texts within Hypothes.is. Interestingly, almost none of the annotations on it are public.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1392/192957/20210920133840569_19-1392%20bsac%20Historians.pdf

https://www.bunkhistory.org/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/second-amendment-slavery-james-madison.html

Prior to the Bill of Rights, only four of the thirteen state Constitutions had a provision for a right to bear arms.

When talking about "disciplined armies", "defense", and "militias" at the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788, Patrick Henry explicitly says that the United States is not in danger from European powers:

Some minds are agitated by foreign alarms. Happily for us, there is no real danger from Europe; that country is engaged in more arduous business: from that quarter there is no cause of fear: you may sleep in safety forever for them.

Professor Carl Bogus: Carl T. Bogus, “Was Slavery a Factor in the Second Amendment?” The New York Times, May 24, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/second-amendment-slavery-james-madison.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002107670/historian-uncovers-the-racist-roots-of-the-2nd-amendment

Transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1002107670 Audio: <audio src="">

<audio controls> <source src="https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/fa/2021/06/20210602_fa_01.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"> <br />

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio. Here is a link to the audio instead.

</audio>

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/

Fascinating...

https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/05/16/ben-franklin-abortion-math-textbook/

some good references at the bottom

https://danallosso.substack.com/p/help-me-find-world-history-textbooks

Dan Allosso is curious to look at the history of how history is taught.

The history of teaching history is a fascinating topic and is an interesting way for cultural anthropologists to look at how we look at ourselves as well as to reveal subtle ideas about who we want to become.

This is particularly interesting with respect to teaching cultural identity and its relationship to nationalism.

One could look at the history of Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War to see how the South continued its cultural split from the North (or in more subtle subsections from Colin Woodard's American Nations thesis) to see how this has played out. This could also be compared to the current culture wars taking place with the rise of nationalism within the American political right and the Southern evangelicals which has come to a fervor with the rise of Donald J. Trump.

Other examples are the major shifts in nationalism after the "long 19th century" which resulted in World War I and World War II and Germany's national identity post WWII.

This page has an audio clip of the speech, but the US National Archives has captioned video as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvTk9ThEG4

I'd be curious to see Miller take his high school textbook and point to specific phrasing to back this up. Even now most US History textbooks are espousing American exceptionalism.

We gotta do this clause by clause:

• "its people have shared a history of common struggle and achievement" - no. Aside from the long history of dispute about who born in the United States really "counts" as an "American", there has never been a common struggle.
• "carving communities out of a vast, untamed wilderness" - no. As of this writing I have finished reading the first half of the document and there has, as yet, been no mention of Indigenous peoples. (Also, see the vast literature on the relationship between expansionism, the "frontier", and American exceptionalism.)
• "winning independence and forming a new government" - dramatic oversimplification. Interesting fact about this document: in contains almost no references to state government.
• "wars, industrialization, waves of immigration, technological progress, and political change" - not highlighting this because it's wrong, but because it implies a strictly linear progress of history that is typical of American exceptionalism and intellectual arguments for racism, colonialism, etc.

All in all, what Luke said.

A simple title, but there is a lot to unpackage here! Just from skimming, I can tell this is a very dense read, and it will take a lot of work and time to analyse this from a feminist, militarist, economic, ethnic, racial, religious, linguistic, and legal perspective.

I suppose I may be a bit biased, being a "Warren" college student. ; ) In all honesty however it is likely that it is the high profile nature of the claim, and the intense politicization that brings so much publicity to this particular case.

Wow! such a shame :(

What more can Elizabeth Warren do to placate the Cherokee? It looks like this might seriously hurt her campaign, and if she does become president, then this could simply sour relations between the United States and the Cherokee. Some have accepted her apology, and “understand that she apologized for causing confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and the harm that has resulted,” Julie Hubbard, a spokeswoman for the tribe said. “The chief and secretary of state appreciate that she has reaffirmed that she is not a Cherokee Nation citizen or a citizen of any tribal nation.”

But others are still not satisfied. “This still isn’t transparent,” said Twila Barnes, a Cherokee genealogist who has been critical of Ms. Warren’s claims of native ancestry since it became national news in 2012. “She needs to go public and say she fully takes responsibility and that the DNA test was ridiculous. There is still something about this that feels off.” It seems that only time will tell in this case. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-cherokee-dna.html

I believe the precise term to be used here is Anthropometry, or human measurement, which was a key aspect of pre-genetic Eugenic ideology, and continues today in genetic biology, under more 'subtle' labels such as euthanizing, sterilizing, or preventing intermarriage between people with 'genetic diseases.' http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/static/themes/6.html (I mean i'm not saying I am denying genetic disease research and treatment is based on science, but so was eugenics back in the day, it's just science has 'improved' since then... or has it? Maybe, but it is policy that is more important in these regards.)

What does this mean exactly? This is extremely important and I don't know exactly what is being articulated here.

This isn't really subtle at all. Most of the public I speak to outside of my family and college seem to view Native Americans as a racial classification that receives certain government benefits as reparations based on past discrimination. Reservations tend to be spoken of as segregated zones, rather than sovereign nations. Public misconceptions by Non-Natives seem to inform the issue.

This statement is vague because it does not clarify what the misunderstanding is, and what it means to weigh in, and precisely what kinship means. Ethically, what is the distinction here? Did Warren make an ethical violation when she publicly claimed to have Cherokee ancestry, without first notifying tribal authority? What constitutes as kinship, versus ancestry. It seems to take the power away from individual identity, and grant it to institutions. It is an opportunity cost of self-determination. What would be the proper course of action for Warren to take afterwards? Make a public apology, or publicly make a statement denying kinship?

Based on this Rhetoric, she sounds sincere, but what is so controversial about this statement? Are there other statements where she made different kind of claims?

Assimilation and 'whitewashing' could indeed produce a large number of un-enrolled people who are of Cherokee descent, and also produce false accounts where people genuinely believe they have some Cherokee ancestry but are mistaken based on an old family story. What is implied here is that there is a malicious, intentional fabrication of Native Ancestry to advance one's own personal agenda. There is a fine line between a claim that should illicit the response, "Really? How neat, what an interesting heritage story," and "I see under race/ethnicity you put down 'Cherokee' on your application. That is very serious claim, do you have any documentation?" I think there is a difference. How harmful is it for someone to claim 'unofficial' or unverifiable ancestry, and what problems does this present? How should these be viewed/enforced differently.

Only a fraction of a percentage of Americans claim to be Cherokee, but high profile cases make a big impact. "In 2000, the federal census reported that 729,533 (0.26%) Americans self-identified as Cherokee. By 2010, that number increased, with the Census Bureau reporting that 819,105 (0.26%) Americans claimed at least one Cherokee ancestor" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/10/cherokee-blood-why-do-so-many-americans-believe-they-have-cherokee-ancestry.html

About 300,000 Cherokee are enrolled, so that is under half of all Americans who claim to be of Cherokee descent. In other words, there is about 3 Americans who claim to be Cherokee for every 2 enrolled Cherokee. It is difficult to say how big of a problem this really is; it could be a minor inconvenience, or it could be a catastrophic threat. It is difficult to say how this should or can be enforced. It could be that a simple fine could dissuade people, or even a public service announcement, or this may be a breach of freedom of speech. Maybe only in instances where fraud is involved, for financial gains or in high profile cases? It is hard to say.

This seems to be at the heart of the issue. Indian gaming can best be viewed as an exercise in self determination, and an important asset on the road towards economic self sufficiency.

In the readings, this seems to be a recurring theme. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, no magic bullet solution that will work for all tribes, which are highly diverse in values, economy, and needs.

This is a really epic story. The theme of butterflies makes sense because of butterfly migrations through the region.

They are rather spectacular. https://dgomag.com/contents/get-outta-town-bisti-badlands-near-farmington-nm-2751

That might be a good opportunity for someone studying Native American History to pursue! It seems like an exciting topic to research.

Can this be considered defamation? It must have had a substantial monetary impact.

"The California Genocide refers to actions in the mid to late 19th century by the United States federal, state, and local governments that resulted in the decimation of the indigenous population of California following the U.S. occupation of California in 1846.

Actions included encouragement of volunteers and militias to kill unarmed men, women and children.

Location California

Date 1846–1873 Target Indigenous Californians Attack type: Genocide, ethnic cleansing Deaths 4,500-16,000 Indigenous Californians outright killed, thousands more died due to disease and other causes Perpetrators: United States Army, California State Militia, white settlers"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Genocide

This is problematic. Most scholars agree, but does the United States government? Does the American Public? Outside of Historians and scholars, do most agree?

Really? Wow, now that's hate speech. Fuck whoever sprayed that, seriously.

In other words, "They don't LOOK Indian." Whatever that means and who's the judge of that, other than their tribe?

This is an important statement. It is a commonly accepted narrative that must be challenged. It is considered 'common sense' to the average American that Indian gaming increases crime in America, because it attracts organized crime, or money laundering or some such narrative. Media portrayal is invariably consistent with this. James Bond would be less cool if he were gambling at a Casino and he WASN'T attacked by mobsters. Right?

While controlling criminal activity is important, doesn't it fall under jurisdiction of tribal law enforcement? Even organized crime?

I have always considered this term to have a sexual connotation, but did not associate it specifically with use by male visitors potential to encourage gender violence, especially in the context of Native American women.

This sounds like economic envy! What is the problem with these 'special privileges?' A sovereign nation can use its independence as it pleases, but this is a decision that they must make and assume responsibility for; what about Swiss banks? They have an international reputation for better or for worse.

It can sometimes be overlooked that Native American issues can have a drastic impact on the nation as a whole, the development of a massive gaming industry is an example of this, also natural resources such as fossil fuels and uranium.

Cheryl Redhorse Bennett is an author, as well as an "Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies at Arizona State University. Bennett is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation and also descended from the Comanche Nation." And focuses on issues such as justice and violence against Native Americans and their communities.

Here is the original question again, but elaborated.

Is this question answered in the passage?

Possible rhetorical response to termination policy, which was opposed by Indian movements. Taking the term termination and cleverly re-applying it, transforming the concept.

Reminds me of blood quantum racial thought, but applied to pan-Indian movement, and more broadly applied outside the United States! Inclusive, rather than exclusive.

Using a current event as an example to prove their point. Linking current issues to American history to influence policy decisions.

Explicitly framing the issue of sterilization as being consistent with an underlying motivation of genocide, based on a persistent dynamic of Native American destruction that predates the use of the term genocide, but fits the definition.

I wonder if framing the problem as human rights issues is related structurally in any way to post-Vietnam war era rhetoric about the Nigerian civil war...

Interesting position title, about self-determination through governance of tribes by members, for positions such as judges.

This, as well as DRUMS, are examples of creative acronyms that are easily recognizable and gain media attention in this era. One negative example coined by opponents is CREEP, for re-electing Nixon.

Wow, this is some important context... the industry is unequally distributed and doesn't help the less fortunate tribes!

The 'plight' rhetoric.

Same rationalization as in some of the readings!

In this context, the Tribes being unfairly barred from this new market is not so surprising, but how is this implemented, and by whom?

Casino failed, locals had to adapt.

Gambling -> Marijuana

This is interesting, and highly unexpected! Tribes not allowed to grow, but the rest of the state IS!

Example of gambling linked to marijuana as a concept of tribal different legal restrictions to federal law.

The wording here is not entirely clear to me... what is "Some measure of the adjustment they enjoyed?"

Here is the problem! "We ask" Instead of "We demand"

This document is a criticism of the Declaration of Indian Purpose, and seeks to re-analyse and re-examine how Indian Interests and rhetorical/political strategies have evolved in the past 20 years.

Calling out the opposition and it's motivation. Explaining where the challenges for Native Americans are coming from, and posturing politically.

Framing this 1961 document in relation to the previous 1944, canonizing these with a shared Native American History within an explicitly recognized narrative. This is the framework that the author chooses to present this message.

https://americanindianmovementehs.weebly.com/ "The Declaration of Indian Purpose is a book concerning the founding of the National Congress of American Indians in 1944. - 64 Indian tribes met in Chicago to emphasize "the right to choose their own way of life" and "the responsibility of preserving their precious heritage."

They mention brain-washing-Uncle-Tomakawkification ostensibly a reference to Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, or more specifically the characterization of portrayal of Blacks in media as a caricature of white stereotypes typical of blackface minstrelsy, at the expense of Black interests, in order to appeal to white audiences. Appropriating this to the stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans as savage, or primitive, but then they mention recognizable 'stereotypes' such as ancient wisdom, drums, sacred hoops, mother earth, tree of peace... At first glance this segment may appear to be a contradiction, but it is a self conscious reclamation of these: they take these universally recognized symbols of colonialism and elimination, and re-brand them to represent an enduring authentic Nativism, rejecting the negative stolen usage,

http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/interpret/exhibits/tomming/tomminghp.html

" In the novel Tom is not an "Uncle Tom," which the dictionary defines as a black person who abjectly sells out the interests of his race to curry favor with the white power structure. Malcolm X's speeches and his Autobiography are probably most directly responsible for giving the term the rhetorical force it has today."

How accurate is this assessment? What basis or evidence is there that the Indian organizations failed? Were these not the organizations that EMPOWERED movements such as the United Indians of All Tribes in the first place? From a historical perspective, this seems to be the trend, but at the time, perhaps this was not what was perceived...

Vietnam War era president, Kent State Massacre, Kennedy Assassination; great social anxiety and fear of civil unrest, tumultuous time in American society and media-coverage of fears in America at the time.

Pan Tribal/Pan Indian Rhetoric. By taking the initiative, they seek to garner support from the momentum of the already growing Pan-Indian movement. Much of this momentum was hard won by political maneuvering and legal battles, and peaceful protesting such as civil disobedience through fishing. But this decisive, militant action is an expression of that prevously gained power, and a great risk!

"Pan-Indigenousism, formerly Pan-Indianism, is a philosophy and movement promoting unity among different Indigenous American groups in the Americas regardless of tribal or local affiliations."

What caused this departure? Was it just that this was the next phase? Previous violence had effectively advanced the agenda to this point to allow 'mopping up' and consolidating the gains that had been won?

It might be a good idea to follow the link and read the Dawes act, just to get some perspective on what was the contents of this document. [http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=50&page=transcript)]

This poetic description of 'dismemberment' is quite graphic and evokes images of slaughter and mass graves such as at wounded-knee. The act of land-redistribution was one of violence and it resulted in destroyed lives and culture as well as somewhat 'indirectly,' the literal death of inhabitants from economic factors as well as increase in crime, violence, alcoholism... I need to take a break and go to work, my objectivity is slipping, and emotion is powerful, but not the best historical lens, especially in an academic setting.

It is the isolation from traditional social networks and economic systems such as Buffalo that accomplishes this. I just thought of how I will go to food-service work in an hour and administer 'Buffalo Sauce' and the thought and association made me sick. That people's livelihoods were destroyed so they would be replaced by making practically extinct a magnificent species. And now I use that word every work-day in the context of a pungent smelling, spicy, cowboy/country-western themed hot-sauce condiment.

Here the wall of separation between church and state is explicitly broken. The reason is apparent: the federal government seeks allies among a variety of institutions to aid in the ultimate elimination of native peoples, and total control of land and residents.

Here is an effective form of collective resistance that allowed individuals such as Nannie to survive. Without this network, she very well may have perished in this harsh environment, no matter how independent she was. No person survives as an island, which is why Allotment policies seek to isolate and control Native peoples made dependent.

Both perspectives are authentic, and neither are mutually exclusive. This is a complex and problematic topic, perhaps it is best that it remains uncomfortable, unsettled, and unsettling, especially in an academic context.

Elevation in social hierarchy becomes equated not with resistance or talent within a traditional Cherokee context, but in the context of white cooperation and submission, with real economic incentives for following the program. Within Cherokee society this restructures the social hierarchy, and alters fundamentally the character and beliefs of the new generation of leaders. This creates division and social upheaval within the community.

Here wildness and skin color are consistently connected, but also notice evidence of equating the state of the hut to the inhabitant, compared to the whitewashed houses mentioned in the lecture, with pine floors...

The Cherokee identity is one that is meant to be eventually erased, so hypodescent is treated differently than that of African slaves. Blackness was considered a badge of slavery, so it was carefully portrayed as a contagious quality that one drop would grant an identity, so that it would persist despite intermixing and create a perpetual stock of potential slaves. This attitude persisted in the South even after slavery was abolished. The Cherokees were meant to eventually disappear, so in this case, whiteness was portrayed contagious in at least the sense it would 'erase' the Cherokee identity, if not enough to make them 'equal.'

Here the physical features between Anglo Americans and Cherokees are juxtaposed, and are tied to an essentialist view where the physical characteristics are ranked on a hierarchy that encompasses linked traits such as intelligence, morality, civilization, and spiritual purity. Having Cherokee students write material such as this promotes an internalization of racism, and a normalization of accepting their place within this hierarchy. Ostensibly there would be resistance to this, but resistance would be punished, and acceptance would be rewarded, leading 'clever' Cherokees to follow the least path of resistance and receive praise and be rewarded for submission, while the 'stubborn/backwards' Cherokees would 'fail to learn the truth' and be punished. This suggests an Orwellian dynamic of indoctrination and psychological manipulation.

It is important to put into context that the real destruction of Native Peoples was far reaching, and that the Boarding School institution did not exist in a vacuum. The real tragedy was a multifaceted, expansive process of genocide, elimination, and replacement... not just allotments and re-education. Context matters to view the Boarding School institution as an agent of cultural violence.

Here is a good explicit example of how race and culture are tied together in 19th and early 20th century racial paradigms.

The internalization of white racism by mixed-blood students represents one of the major consequences of the divisive nature of the boarding school dynamic. In-group/out-group division as different categories are arranged in proximity to whiteness, creating conflict to promote white interests and gain allies in Native destruction and subjugation in the late-game/end-game strategy.

A sense of entrapment, definite negative feelings, and involuntary attendance. This is someone who HAS to be here, they don't want to be.

This is an interesting way to phrase it. Did it create pride among many Cherokees, or just a select few? The narrative the federal government and the institution, and Indian Affairs would want to portray certainly suggests this, but is it wise to use this type of language today off hand, and is it historically accurate?

These names may be useful to remember for researching primary history documents.

The seminarian perspective is one that can be viewed as problematic or controversial, because it is wrong to deny their experiences and their unique perspective of individuals benefiting from boarding schools, but it is even worse to deny the tragedy and the cultural destruction inflicted by this institution.

Calling people out using the constructionist ideals — The American government is not living up to their high ideals.

Poetry as a way to express frustration when there is no way to go up against actual US military power. A weapon of the weak; a powerful message.

This document informs the way Americans have seen themselves since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Interventions are presented as idealistically noble and undeniably moralistic. Instead of recognizing the complexities and consequences of intervention, we continue to propagate intervention as an ideological imperative

We take on the domestic issues of other nations without being invited to take part. We identify as the prevailer of freedom and democracy when these are just ideals that we aspire to, sometimes missing the mark just as terribly as the nations we seek to guide and coerce.

Berger uses the term "non consuming use" to define activities in the wilderness that do not have a lasting impact on nature. He talks about how these non consuming acts are practiced by the Native People and some recreational activities. He contrasts this with the idea that commercial industry exploits the wilderness in a way that permanently affects it. An interesting example to look at here is commercial hunting and fishing practices in the North compared to recreational and indigenous ones. Commercial hunting and fishing operations does not have a decorated history in the Arctic. Whaling practices have led to the collapse of the North Atlantic Right whale which was at one point considered to be the most abundant species in the Arctic. As of today "it is arguably the most threatened large cetacean in the Atlantic Ocean, if not the world, with an estimated minimum population size of 313 animals." This dramatic decrease in population is not only seen in whales but also in many common fish species in the area as well. In 1992 there was a moratorium put on cod fishing in Canada because the population was so over harvested that there was only a few schools left in the ocean. Both of these situation brought a lot of economic hard ship to fishing regions in Canada that relied on these populations for work. The irony in this situation comes from how the large scale fishing operations caused a ban for indigenous populations too even for their comparatively miniscule action.

Parsons, E.C.M., J. Patrick Rice, and Laleh Sadeghi. "Awareness of whale conservation status and whaling policy in the US--a preliminary study on American Youth." Anthrozoos 23, no. 2 (2010): 119+. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed May 8, 2017).

This idea has been an overarching theme in western society for the last half century but the roots of this problem goes back further than that. Since the industrial revolution, Americans have developed the reputation as the most wasteful people and rightfully so. Berger refers to the early days of frontier settlement in North America where there was flagrant misuse of natural resources. It is easy to think of examples of this but one that stands out above the rest was the extermination of the American Buffalo in the Great Plains. Ranchers and hunters were just killing these animals and leaving the corpses out in the fields. Other examples of this is the different mining practices that were used throughout North America. This includes surface mining which is a very intrusive process that leaves the entire area barren and destroyed. In many areas, "because of [surface] mining, the environment has been very bad, and destroyed the balance of the ecology, the stability of the water level and the water quality around the mine for long term." Fortunately, there has been a much stronger movement through sustainable practices within the new generation. Earth Day was created in 1970 to bring awareness to the environment and conservation efforts. In Vancouver, there is a yearly march and celebration led by high school students to help raise awareness of issues facing our planet like climate change and pollution. One student says "without this Earth, without the stuff it provides for us, and if we don't do something about it, it's going to be too late in the future." "Vancouver youth help raise awareness about climate change." Xinhua News Agency, April 27, 2015. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed May 8, 2017).

Yi, Pan, Liu Yang, Yang Min, WangLinyan, Yang Shuangchun, and Zhang Jinhui. "The environmental impact assessments of oil shale in in-situ mining and surface mining." International Journal of Applied Environmental Sciences 7, no. 4 (2012): 403+. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed May 8, 2017).

Sigurd Olson was a writer in the 20th century who focused on nature and how humans interact with nature. Olson grew up in Minnesota and lived there most of his life where he found his love of nature by traveling to different parts of the state. Olson played a big role in drafting the Wilderness Act of 1964 passed. He was responsible for establishing a few national parks including Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota, Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Point Reyes National Seashore in California. Olson also held the position of President of the Wilderness Society and National Parks Association at different times in his life. With all of the work he did, Olson was a well known figure in the conservationist and environmentalist field. Olson wrote many books about the wilderness of different places he traveled and many of them focused on places in the northern states of the US. Olson had a simplistic view of nature as he felt "the wilderness offers simplicity and brings people closer to nature. It is also a place where a person can find a renewed sense of identity." Olson's legacy is continued by his preservation work and the many places he was able to establish wilderness protection laws. In 1978 Olson was able to get full wilderness status granted to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area which was the area he grew up near.

"Sigurd Olson, a Writer And Environmentalist." The New York Times. January 14, 1982. Accessed May 07, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/15/obituaries/sigurd-olson-a-writer-and-environmentalist.html. Nelson, Michael. "Wilderness." In Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, edited by J. Callicott and Robert Frodeman, 402-405. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2009. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed May 7, 2017).

Wilderness is a very vague term that get used a lot in this chapter. Berger uses the definition which is “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” This definition covers the technical and legal definition of wilderness, but wilderness has many meanings that has changed over time. Before modern technology, the wilderness was a place that was dangerous and unforgiving. Because of this perception of the wild, there was a sense of masculinity to travelling in the through it. Even today this idea manifests in pop culture as shows such a Man vs Wild are still popular that focus on humans overcoming the elements in the wilderness. However, wilderness has a even deeper meaning than that. There has been a spiritual element to the wilderness that has been integral to North American society for centuries. From the Pilgrims to Thomas Cole to Thoreau to John Muir to Bob Marshall to Aldo Leopold, the spiritual aspect of the wild led these men on philosophical movements. John Nagle argues "the spiritual benefit which people receive from a stay in the wilderness is not a tangible item, but it must be an important consideration in legislation of America is truly dedicated to a somewhat idealistic sense of values." This notion has been seen throughout history as there was a clear sense of spirituality recognized when the Wilderness Act of 1964 was passed. Nagle, John Copeland. "The spiritual values of wilderness." Environmental Law, Fall 2005, p. 955+. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, find.galegroup.com/grnr/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=6f8f4a3faafd67e66fa023866730b0a1&prodId=GRNR&userGroupName=bucknell_it&tabID=T002&docId=A141802024&type=retrieve&PDFRange=%5B%5D&contentSet=IAC-Documents&version=1.0. Accessed 6 May 2017.

Wallace Stegner in an American author, environmentalist, and historian who grew up in the western part of the country where most of his writing was focused. He wrote about his life moving around the western states and growing up with nature having an important role in his life. Berger is quoting from Stegner's Wilderness Letter that he wrote in 1960. This quote is a good reflection of what Stegner's message was. Even though Stegner was a writer, he was an avid conservationist that was vocal with his beliefs. Once place Stegner lived was in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended the University of Utah there and received his B.A. in 1930. Stegner continued his academics at the University of Iowa where he got his doctorate in 1935. Stegner went on to write Pulitzer Prize winning Angel of Repose in 1971 and National Book award winning the The Spectator Bird in 1976. Stegner's legacy as a writer and a conservationist can be seen throughout the places he lived. At the University of Utah the Wallace Stegner Prize in Environmental or American Western History was established in 2010. This award shows the lasting impact of Stegner's life on the subject. Stegner writes "Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed." Stegner is one of the fathers of the conservation effort of the wilderness in the United States and it is appropriate that Berger quotes him here. Stegner, Wallace. "Earth words." Mother Earth News, August-September 2004, 128. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed May 6, 2017). http://find.galegroup.com/grnr/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=6f8f4a3faafd67e66fa023866730b0a1&prodId=GRNR&userGroupName=bucknell_it&tabID=T003&docId=A119782042&type=retrieve&PDFRange=%5B%5D&contentSet=IAC-Documents&version=1.0.

In this context, Berger is using the Wilderness Act to reference how wilderness is defined. This is a very famous definition for the eloquent way the wilderness is described. "A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” After many drafts and eight years of work the Wilderness Act was signed in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Since the passage of this act there has been much debate about what land is "wilderness" and what should be done with this land. The main reason for the act is to protect these lands from development and industrialization. But another part of the reason was to increase recreational use of this land such as hiking, canoeing and fishing. "Over the decades an obvious contradiction has emerged between preservation and access." The National Forest Service is reluctant to put up signs and other infrastructure in these areas because it goes against the foremost goal of this act. Unfortunately, this is causing safety concerns for recreationists. Overall the Wilderness Act has made over 170,000 square miles into "wilderness" and has protect this land for the last half century. Gourlie, Don. "The Wilderness Act at 50." Environmental Law, Spring 2014, 285+. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed May 6, 2017). http://find.galegroup.com/grnr/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=6f8f4a3faafd67e66fa023866730b0a1&prodId=GRNR&userGroupName=bucknell_it&tabID=T002&docId=A375290680&type=retrieve&PDFRange=%5B%5D&contentSet=IAC-Documents&version=1.0.

Sequoia National Park is a large land reserve in southern California which is home to the Sequoia National Forest. This forest is home to five out of the ten largest trees in the world and contains the single largest tree known as the General Sherman Tree. General Sherman stands at a whopping 275ft and a 14ft diameter at the middle of the tree. Sequoia National Park was founded in 1890 and was part of the initial effort to create more national parks to conserve the different habitats and ecosystems in the United States. The mission of the national parks was to bring awareness of the beauty of our environment. National parks were created to have designated areas that were set aside for humans to enjoy in a natural state. This concept still holds true today in parks as research shows "that this wilderness, in contrast to where most visitors live, is highly valued for clean air and water, natural sounds, low density of people, lack of motorized noise, and where evidence of human influence is relatively unnoticeable." Sequoia and other national parks around it are a large source of eco-tourism in the area. Eco-tourism is becoming a more prevalent force in the world today and some countries such as Costa Rica have much of their entire economy built on it.

Watson A, Martin S, Christensen N, Fauth G, Williams D. The Relationship Between Perceptions of Wilderness Character and Attitudes Toward Management Intervention to Adapt Biophysical Resources to a Changing Climate and Nature Restoration at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park](http://insert-your-link-here.com))mber 2015;56(3):653-663. Available from: GreenFILE, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 25, 2017.

Alexis de Tocqueville is a French politician and historian that is best known for his work, "Democracy in America". Tocqueville wrote this piece with two volumes in 1835 and 1840 after visiting the United States. He traveled around the country making observations on American society compared to his European standard. His work focused on the many aspects of US government and policy ranging from manifest destiny to slavery. A major part of de Tocqueville's work was his study of the different races and how they interact. He drew the picture of America "where three typical characters predominate: the black who suffer in slavery, the Indian who is free in idleness, and the white American who is at work and at work. Profit." Tocqueville focused on other parts of American society as well that Berger references at this part. Here, Berger is quoting a section about how American's drive for expansion led to the destruction of the environment which. Tocqueville was a revolutionary with this observation as he was one of the first people to document the devastation that industrialization can bring to the natural world. Over the next decades this idea would be adopted by many including Theodore Roosevelt and lead to the creation of National Parks across the United States. Berger is using this quote because this idea is still extremely prevalent in the conservation effort today. Berger concedes that expansion of technology and industrialization is inevitable but that sometimes the cost of this advancements is not worth the punishment to the environment. Tocqueville's observations are still major issue in developing countries where massive industrialization is just beginning.

Denys Delâge and Catherine Desbarats and Jean-Philippe Warren. "Alexis de Tocqueville in" wild "country." The Tocqueville Review / La revue Tocqueville 36, no. 2 (2015): 175-204. Https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed April 17, 2017).

The frontier has for a long time been an essential part of the identity of North America. In the United States, after the French and Indian Wars, people rapidly began to move out West on the "frontier" to create better lives for themselves. They saw the frontier as a land of great opportunity. Especially in America, there was so much fertile land that people would be able to move out westward and own massive areas of land to start agriculture on. But the frontier has also had many different motifs in the development of North America. The frontier was a very difficult place to live. Before the French and Indian Wars, white people on the frontier would constantly be harassed or even killed by Native Americans protecting their land. The frontier was also miles away from any substantial civilization so families were pretty much all on their own out there. It was seen as an area of grit and masculinity. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner talks about how the frontier was crucial to the development of American culture. He says that, "this perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character." While here I focus on the expansion westward, the "frontier" extended both northward and southward. When people began to move to westward and northward into Canada, it had already been done before in America. This led to pre-legislation and treaties with the indigenous people that allowed for easier transitions and avoid creating another "Wild West".

Turner, Frederick Jackson. The frontier in American history. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1935.

Yellowstone National Park is a large land reserve in the American west that extends into Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. Yellowstone is very well known for its incredible geology and wildlife. Yellowstone National Park is built on top of a ancient super volcano that causes interesting geological phenomena like geysers and hot springs. Furthermore, Yellowstone has very diverse wildlife that ranges from wolves to American bison to elk populations. Yellowstone was the first ever National Park in the world as it was established in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant. The original initiative for national parks came from the idea for people to leave areas of great natural beauty to be left alone and enjoyed by everyone. Though the first national park, the development of Yellowstone stared a theme of conservation and preservation that spread throughout the country. Even to this day, Yellowstone stands as a prime example of environmental preservation because of their ever expanding American Bison population as well as wolf populations. This can be seen even as early as last year as the Obama administration placed a ban on mining in an area near Yellowstone saying, "Today's action helps ensure that Yellowstone's watershed, wildlife and the tourism-based economy of local communities will not be threatened by the impact of mineral development."

Dennis, Brady. "Obama administration moves to block mining near Yellowstone." Washington Post, November 21, 2016. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (accessed April 10, 2017). http://find.galegroup.com/grnr/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=6f8f4a3faafd67e66fa023866730b0a1&prodId=GRNR&userGroupName=bucknell_it&tabID=T004&docId=CJ470939393&type=retrieve&PDFRange=%5B%5D&contentSet=IAC-Documents&version=1.0

The dust bowl is a geographic region in the United States centralized in the panhandle of Oklahoma and northern part of Texas that extends to surrounding states like Kansas and New Mexico. The dust bowl is infamous for experiencing a severe drought for almost a decade in the 1930's. In addition to the drought, decades of poor farming practices led the top soil to be overused and low in nutrients. Because of these compounding problems, crops were not able to be grown in this region which forced tens of thousands of farming families to move away. The drought in the dust bowl could not have come at a worse time as it occurred during the Great Depression. With an already struggling economy, food supplies were severely reduced nationwide leading to even more struggle. "This convergence of geophysical and anthropogenic factors conspired to create what is arguably the most severe long-term human ecological crisis the USA has seen.” An iconic part of the dust bowl were the intense dust storms that were experienced because of the loose top soil and high power winds. These storms were know as black blizzards as they covered the sky in dust and blackened everything. These dust storms reached all the way to areas of the East coast.

Porter, Jess. 2014. "What was the Dust Bowl? Assessing contemporary popular knowledge." Population & Environment 35, no. 4: 391-416. GreenFILE, EBSCOhost (accessed April 10, 2017).

In this sentence, Berger refers to how transport and industrial activity expanded heavily over this time period when many Americans were moving out west. This is a massive part of North American history because of the opportunities it opened up for rich and poor people alike. The first railroads in North America were established in the 1820's and quickly altered the face of life on the continent. The rapid expansion of the railroad industry led to the development of other industries like oil and steel. For a time in the 19th century these were the largest economic factors in the United States and whoever controlled these essentially controlled the country. However, Berger here is referring to the opportunities that railroads opened up for expansion across the west and north. The incredible development of railroads made travel to the west coast of America much easier than it ever was before. This changed the idea of the "frontier" in many people's mind. Because travel was much easier, the idea of the west in North America being a rustic and dangerous environment changed overtime and culminated in western economic opportunities like the Gold Rush. "Gold discoveries in the Far West preceded the gold rush of 1849 and encouraged migration from eastern cities." As western movement became more and more popular, the idea of a pristine, wild, and natural American west began to fade. The idea of a getting rich quick from the California Gold Rush was translated to the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon of Canada in 1896. This had similar affects on how people viewed the Northwest region of Canada and its wilderness.

"Railroad Promotion and Economic Expansion at Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1857-1869." Annals Of Iowa 42, no. 5 (Summer1974 1974): 371-389. America: History and Life with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed April 6, 2017).

I love the details, the pride, the power of this description!