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Genocide in the Americas

David Stannard

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Define “Genocide”

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U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

- New York, December 9, 1948

The Convention defines genocide as any of a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

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What does the article refer to as a “comforting lie”?

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What did William Bradford describe as a “sweet sacrifice”?

What can we infer about William Bradford from his point of view?

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It was a crime for any Massachusetts colonist to “shoot

off a gun on any unnecessary occasion, or at any game except

an Indian or a wolf”

What do we learn about Massachusetts’ culture from this law?

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Boston’s Rev. Stoddard states his ideas might be extreme “if the Indians were as other people…

and are to be dealt withal as wolves.”

What is the significance of equating Indians and wolves?

(Or “savage dogs” as Pres. Jackson used)

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What is the “prerogative of victors”?

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Do indirect deaths count when considering genocide?

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What is progress?

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What is the price for progress?

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Is the U.S. unwilling to face up to the underside of its own historical

experience?

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Define “Genocide”

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Was the destruction of Native Americans a genocide?

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Write your opinion on the value of this reading. Consider all of the aspects of history we discussed in regards to Zinn, historiography, etc. Please be honest in your evaluation of this reading.