John Locke was an English philosopher and physician born in 1623 and is regarded as on of the greatest minds of the Enlightenment period. Often referred to as the "Father of Liberalism", Locke's political and philosophical views were derived from his religious beliefs which began in Calvinist Trinitarianism. Locke's concept of man started with a belief that all men were created equally under the natural law and put on this earth for a purpose. It was the book of Genesis that Locke used as the theological foundation for the doctrine of natural law. Locke believed that man was put on this earth, as spelled out in Genesis, to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Man was to have dominion over all creatures that inhabited the earth and the seas. According to Locke's second treaties on Civil government, the blessings of property rights were derived from God's command to Adam to "subdue" the earth. Man was to have dominion over the animals and to use the fruits of the earth. By cultivating the land, man was able to feed more people and assist in God's plan to multiply on this earth. Therefore the land rightfully belonged to those who were following God's command to fill and subdue the earth.
President James Monroe had studied the works of John Locke and attributed much of tour constitutional philosophy to Locke , so it is no surprise that his beliefs and philosophy of the role of mankind to "subdue" the earth followed that of John Locke. No where is this more evident, than in his policies on the continuation of the Indian Removal programs under his predecessor James Madison. From Jefferson to Monroe, the policy of the United States was to "civilize" the Indian tribes, and turn them from nomadic hunters into an agrarian society. Indian removal was not done out of malevolence, but rather both Madison and Monroe sought to create benevolent treaties with the tribes that turned their "uncultivated desert" into a land that could support a "civilized population". Both, considered the deals made with Indian tribes to be very generous. As James Monroe stated in his first State of the Union address, 1817 the "conditions very favorable to the United States, and, as it is presumed, not less so to the tribes themselves."
The Indian removal in 1817 was coming quickly and swiftly. Monroe described a number of these treaties in his first State of the Union:.
"By these purchases the Indian title, with moderate reservations, has been extinguished to the whole of the land within the limits of the State of Ohio, and to a part of that in the Michigan Territory and of the State of Indiana. From the Cherokee tribe a tract has been purchased in the State of Georgia and an arrangement made by which, in exchange for lands beyond the Mississippi, a great part, if not the whole, of the land belonging to that tribe eastward of that river in the States of North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, and in the Alabama Territory will soon be acquired. By these acquisitions, and others that may reasonably be expected soon to follow, we shall be enabled to extend our settlements from the inhabited parts of the State of Ohio along Lake Erie into the Michigan Territory, and to connect our settlements by degrees through the State of Indiana and the Illinois Territory to that of Missouri. A similar and equally advantageous effect will soon be produced to the south, through the whole extent of the States and territory which border on the waters emptying into the Mississippi and the Mobile."It was all happening so fast, that nothing could prevent the "rapid and gigantic" growth of our nation. Therefore Monroe believed that was America's duty to preserve, improve and civilize the native inhabitants. Their hunter way of life could no longer be sustained in the United States, and Monroe explained that this is how it was supposed to be. Here the president expressed his views in common with John Locke, that man was to "subdue the earth". Monroe wrote, "the earth was given to mankind to support the greatest number of which it is capable". The "hunter state" of the tribes could only exist in a vast uncultivated desert, and must give way to a more "dense and compact form". In other words, it was God's plan for man to cultivate the land of America, and the Indian tribes with their hunting grounds were standing in the way. It was not "right to withhold from the wants of others more than is necessary for their own support and comfort."
According to John Locke, property rights were given to those who cultivate the land, not to those who hunt on them. And this philosophy formed the basis for the treaties made with the Indian tribes. Monroe explained that the treaties made with the tribes on lake Erie were made with a view to individual ownership by those who would cultivate the soil. James Monroe concluded that it was the "liberal and humane policy of the United States toward all the tribes within our limits, and more particularly for their improvement in the arts of civilized life".
"In this progress, which the rights of nature demand and nothing can prevent, marking a growth rapid and gigantic, it is our duty to make new efforts for the preservation, improvement, and civilization of the native inhabitants.Please note, that in no way am I trying to justify the Indian removal programs, rather I am just providing context behind the philosophy of the day that helped to drive government policies.
It is gratifying to know that the reservations of land made by the treaties with the tribes on Lake Erie were made with a view to individual ownership among them and to the cultivation of the soil by all, and that an annual stipend has been pledged to supply their other wants. It will merit the consideration of Congress whether other provision not stipulated by treaty ought to be made for these tribes and for the advancement of the liberal and humane policy of the United States toward all the tribes within our limits, and more particularly for their improvement in the arts of civilized life."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29459
The Biblical Politics of John Locke, by Kim Ian Parker, pgs 143 - 147
http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2016/03/1801-thomas-jefferson-indian.html
http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2017/01/1816-james-madison-indian-removal-era.html
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