On the record
We have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in imparting to them the principles or inspiring them with the spirit of civilization.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
He notes the disparity between land acquisition from Native Americans and the success of civilizing efforts.
Share
More from John Quincy Adams
Mar 14, 1826
I would have sent ministers to the meeting had it been merely to give them such advice as they might have desired, even with reference to their own interests, not involving ours.
These are objects of the deepest interest to society, affecting all that is precious in the existence of multitudes of persons, many of them in the classes essentially dependent and helpless, of the age requiring nurture, and of the sex…
They comprise large and valuable acquisitions of territory, and they secure an adjustment of boundaries and give pledges of permanent peace between several tribes which had been long waging bloody wars against each other.
To conciliate the claim of the individual citizen to the enjoyment of personal liberty, with the effective obligation of private contracts, is the difficult problem to be solved by a law of bankruptcy.
Other voices in this conversation
