To the editor: After the Louisiana Buy, which almost doubled the scale of the nation, Thomas Jefferson known as the USA the “empire of liberty,” hoping that territorial enlargement would imply the unfold of American beliefs and values — these uncovered within the Declaration of Independence and Structure — throughout the continent. All too shortly, “the empire of liberty” grew to become Manifest Future, the excuse for plunder, genocide and the enlargement of slavery whitewashed in that horrendous portray, “American Progress” by John Gast, which columnist Gustavo Arellano deservedly excoriates (“With Manifest Destiny art, DHS goes hard on ‘white makes right,’” July 26).
Nevertheless, Arellano neglects to notice the notable historic figures resembling William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony, together with a number of politicians, ministers and bizarre residents, who noticed by the euphemism and lies, particularly these against the Mexican-American Conflict that was began by President Polk to take land from Mexico. There has all the time been dissent; there has all the time been a maligned minority known as “unpatriotic” and “treasonous” as a result of they dared to problem presidents and the Supreme Court docket, particularly when the courtroom declared that Congress had no energy to shut slavery to the brand new territories.
That is the “homeland heritage,” the historical past that the administration is making an attempt to maintain out of our faculties and nationwide parks. The whitewash continues.
Sidney Morrison, Los Angeles
