A Post-Exceptionalist Perspective on Early American History : American Wests, Global Wests, and Indian Wars

This book argues that early American history is best understood as the story of a settler-colonial supplanting society—a society intent on a vast land grab of American Indian space and driven by a logic of elimination and a genocidal imperative to rid the new white settler living space of its existing Indigenous inhabitants. Challenging the still strongly held notion of American history as somehow exceptional or unique, it locates the history of the United States and its colonial antecedents as a central part of—rather than an exception to—the emerging global histories of imperialism, colonialism, and genocide. It also explores early American history in an imperial, transnational, and global frame, showing how the precedent of the North American West and its colonial trope of Indian wars were used by like-minded American and European expansionists to inspire and legitimate other imperial-colonial adventures from the late-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. Preface 7 Also by Carroll P. Kakel III 9 Note on Terminology 11 Contents 16 Chapter 1: Introduction: Explaining Early America 17 Chapter 2: Neo-European Wests: Frontiers of Empire, 1607–1754 27 Introduction 28 Conquest 29 Dispossession 32 Depopulation 36 Repopulation 39 Conclusion 42 Chapter 3: America’s First West: The Trans-Appalachian West, 1754–1815 44 Introduction 45 Conquest 46 Dispossession 49 Depopulation 52 Repopulation 56 Conclusion 59 Chapter 4: America’s Farther West: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1815–1890 61 Introduction 62 Conquest 64 Dispossession 67 Depopulation 71 Repopulation 76 Conclusion 79 Chapter 5: The Global West: Other Wests and Indian Wars, 1890–1919 81 Introduction 82 American Philippines, 1898–1946 83 Japanese Colonial Empire, 1869–1919 87 German Colonial Empire, 1884–1919 91 Conclusion 95 Chapter 6: The Global West: Other Wests and Indian Wars, 1919–1945 97 Introduction 98 Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931–1945 99 Nazi-German East European Empire, 1939–1945 104 Conclusion 111 Chapter 7: Conclusion: Understanding Early America 112 Appendices: Mapping American Wests and Global Wests 119 Appendix A: The War for North America, 1607–1754 119 Wars for Empire 119 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 119 Anglo-Indian Wars 119 Dutch-Indian Wars 120 French-Indian Wars 120 Appendix B: The War for North America, 1754–1815 120 Wars for Empire 120 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 120 Anglo-Indian Wars 120 Revolutionary Era Indian Wars 120 American-Indian Wars 120 Appendix C: The War for North America, 1815–1890 121 Wars for Empire 121 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 121 American-Indian Wars 121 Appendix D: The Great Reversal—A Population History of the United States Area 122 1492 122 1600 122 1700 122 1800 122 1890 (The Closing of the Frontier) 122 Appendix E: Alternative Solutions to the Indian Problem—Indian Policy in Colonial and Early America 123 Proposed Solution: Outright Killing 123 Proposed Solution: Forced Dispossession 123 Proposed Solution: Forced Displacement 123 Proposed Solution: Forced Concentration 123 Proposed Solution: Forced Assimilation 123 Appendix F: American Philippines, 1898–1946 124 Wars for Empire 124 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 124 American-Indian Wars 124 Colonial Methods 124 Geopolitical Outcome 124 Demographic Outcome 124 Appendix G: Japanese Colonial Empire, 1869–1919 124 Wars for Empire 124 Settler Colonial Violence 125 Colonial Methods 125 Geopolitical Outcome 125 Demographic Outcome 125 Appendix H: German Colonial Empire, 1884–1919 125 Wars for Empire 125 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 125 Colonial Methods 125 Geopolitical Outcome 126 Demographic Outcome 126 Appendix I: Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931–1945 126 Wars for Empire 126 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 126 Japanese-Indigene Wars 126 Colonial Methods 126 Geopolitical Outcome 126 Demographic Outcome 127 Appendix J: Nazi-German Lebensraum Empire, 1939–1945 127 Wars for Empire 127 Wars of Pacification/Resistance 127 German-Russian Indian Wars 127 Colonial Methods 127 Non-colonial Methods 127 Geopolitical Outcome 127 Demographic Outcome 127 Bibliography 128 North American Historiographies 128 Imperialism, Colonialism, Genocide 130 American Wests 131 Global Wests 138 Index 144 Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi Introduction: Explaining Early America (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 1-10 Neo-European Wests: Frontiers of Empire, 1607–1754 (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 11-27 America’s First West: The Trans-Appalachian West, 1754–1815 (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 29-45 America’s Farther West: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1815–1890 (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 47-66 The Global West: Other Wests and Indian Wars, 1890–1919 (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 67-82 The Global West: Other Wests and Indian Wars, 1919–1945 (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 83-97 Conclusion: Understanding Early America (Carroll P. Kakel III)....Pages 99-105 Back Matter ....Pages 107-138 Challenging the still widely held notion that American history is somehow exceptional or unique, this book argues that early America is best understood as a settler-colonial supplanting society. As Kakel shows, this society undertook the violent theft of Indigenous land and resources on a massive scale, and was driven by a logic of elimination and a genocidal imperative to rid the new white settler living space of its existing Indigenous inhabitants.-- Provided by publisher