David Roberts Quotes
I was doing research on the Mormon handcart tragedy when I came across information about Brigham Young sending out missions to the Indians in 1855.
Roberts, David. Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy. Simon & Schuster, 2008, p. 9.
The months later, Colorado “volunteers” attacked a Cheyenne village flying and American and White flag, killing the women and children at what would come to be known as the Sand Creek Massacre.
He and the 7th Cavalry were themselves whipped and killed shortly thereafter.
The railroads that opened up the West are often used as examples of American corporate and entrepreneurial achievement. But private enterprise would not risk the capital for such a visionary and innovative scheme. It was the Federal Government which provided loans to start and paid for every mile of track with huge grants of land along the right of way. Then the Federal government provided the security and conducted numerous wars against the Indians to make the construction and operation possible. Had the Government and President Lincoln not pushed and supported the plan, there would have been no transcontinental railroad.
The Louisiana Purchase was part of a much larger grand vision for American expansion.
Between a purchase of lands from the Hudson's Bay Corporation and land grants, Canada annexed millions of acres of land without much political activity or any assent from the people who lived on those lands.
Jefferson had insisted that the expedition was purely scientific. The fact that it was lead by two military officers and involved soldiers led many to suspect the expedition was an “invasion” of what was then officially Spanish Territory. The very small size of the expedition made the concept of an expansion effort seemingly ridiculous to many. Jefferson was never public about his hopes fort the eventual possibilities but Martinez seemed to have gotten it right but was paid little heed.
Referring to the prophet Jared and his family in search of the Promised Land.
It is generally believed that after several decades of protecting Lee, Brigham Young and the Mormon Church which had ordered Lee to carry out the Massacre, used Lee as a sacrificial lamb. They were under incredible pressure and the church was about to be outlawed. They gave Lee up, and no one else was ever implicated after Lee’s death.
Jackson’s policies regarding Indians set back all the work of the earlier Presidents and created facts on the ground and attitudes that vex us to this day. In this occasion he said very forthrightly that it was his intention to deny Indians title to ANY land in the then United States. His idea was to send all the Indians to the Oklahoma Indian Territory and establish reservations for them there. Of course, as the Western states joined the Union, the Whites wanted those Indian Lands as well. See {643150} for other Jackson views on Indian policy.
The economic development contribution of military spending is not new and not limited to today’s military bases and defense contracts and plants. See {623902} for Sheridan’s famous prediction.
David Roberts (born 1943) is a climber, mountaineer, and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, chronicling major ascents in Alaska in the 1960s, which had a major impact on the form of mountaineering literature.
