To the editor: After the Louisiana Buy, which practically doubled the dimensions of the nation, Thomas Jefferson known as america the “empire of liberty,” hoping that territorial growth would imply the unfold of American beliefs and values — these uncovered within the Declaration of Independence and Structure — throughout the continent. All too rapidly, “the empire of liberty” turned Manifest Future, the excuse for plunder, genocide and the growth of slavery whitewashed in that horrendous portray, “American Progress” by John Gast, which columnist Gustavo Arellano deservedly excoriates (“With Manifest Future artwork, DHS goes onerous on ‘white makes proper,’” July 26).
Nevertheless, Arellano neglects to notice the notable historic figures similar to William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony, together with a number of politicians, ministers and odd residents, who noticed by the euphemism and lies, particularly these against the Mexican-American Struggle that was began by President Polk to take land from Mexico. There has at all times been dissent; there has at all times 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 court docket 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 colleges and nationwide parks. The whitewash continues.
Sidney Morrison, Los Angeles
