Myths – Native Americans and Environmentalism

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. recently wrote the book entitled 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Suppose to Ask.  My next few posts will paraphrase some of his key topics and research.

The Myth: Pre-Columbian America was still like the first Eden, a pristine, natural kingdom.

Former Vice President of the United States, turned environmentalist, Al Gore wrote a book called Earth in the Balance in which he quotes a lengthy 1854 speech attributed to Chief Seattle, a Suquamish Indian from the American Northwest and namesake of the largest city in Washington State.  Here are a few lines from the chief’s speech: “How can you buy or sell the sky?  The land?  The idea is strange to us (my people)?”  “Every part of the earth is sacred to my people.”  “This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.”

The problem is, none of the modern versions of Seattle’s 19th century speech are reliable and, in fact, appear to be totally contrived.  Much of what he attribute to the chief is taken from a book by Dr. Henry Smith written 33 years after he claimed to attend the event.  We know that Seattle spoke no English and delivered the speech in his native tongue of Lushootseed, which was translated into the most common language of the area, Chinook Jargon, a barbaric dialect used primarily in bartering that included French, English and Indian words.  It was not capable of conveying complex thoughts or ideas.  Further evidence of the contrived nature of the “recitation” is Seattle’s reference to the bison and the whippoorwill, neither of which were present in the Northwest where Seattle spent his whole life.  The most recent versions of the speech depart dramatically from even Smith’s versions and have been taken from Texas scriptwriter Ted Perry who adapted the text liberally for his purposes.

The Truth: The American Indians practiced slash and burn agriculture, destroyed forests and grasslands and wiped out entire animal populations.

The fact is that when no one owns the land, no one feels the obligation to conserve and preserve.  History has proven that the most effective way to protect the quality of the land is to allow ownership.  Case in point was the Montagnais-Naskapi Indians of Quebec who granted property rights to family based clans in order to discourage over-hunting and protecting the land from outsiders.  No one had more incentive to protect the flora and fauna of the area than the clan who took their sustenance from it.

History shows that when American Indians lived communally, the pattern was to over-hunt and over farm an area into extinction and then move on to slash and burn a new area.  Large fires, started by Native Americans, to clear forests and grasslands were common, often-times wiping out old-growth forests in the process.  There are now more preserved old-growth forests in existence in American than when Columbus discovered it.

The Bible says the earth belongs to God and He delegated it to man.  Man owns the earth, not the other way around.  Any other way is unhealthy for man and the earth.