Merciless Indian Savages | First America
This transcript introduces 'First America,' a podcast exploring how Native Americans are erased from US founding narratives despite being central to the Declaration of Independence. Host Rebecca Nagel reveals that the founders' anger at Indigenous resistance—not taxes—was the primary grievance driving the Revolution, and connects this historical erasure to contemporary immigration enforcement policies.
Summary
The transcript begins with advertisements before launching into the first episode of 'First America,' a podcast by Indigenous journalist Rebecca Nagel examining how Native peoples have been systematically removed from American historical narratives. Nagel visits Fort Snelling in Minneapolis with history professor Nick Estes, a Lower Sioux Tribe citizen, to explore a site that served as a concentration camp for over 1,600 Dakota people in 1862, where atrocities including starvation, sexual violence, and executions occurred. The camp is now a casual recreation site where visitors cross-country ski, unaware of the genocide that transpired there. Nagel's visit coincides with ICE agents killing a woman named Renee Good who tried to prevent deportations, drawing a direct parallel between historical Indigenous removal and contemporary immigrant detention. The podcast then focuses on the Declaration of Independence, revealing that the final and most emphasized grievance—which should represent the founders' deepest anger—specifically condemns 'merciless Indian savages' and their 'undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.' Nagel interviews Yale historian Ned Blackhawk, the first tenured Native American faculty member at the university, who explains that the American Revolution's true origin story predates the Boston Tea Party. He describes how, after Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the Crown made peace with Indigenous leader Pontiac's confederation through the Proclamation Line of 1763, which restricted colonial expansion westward. This policy infuriated colonists whose wealth depended on land speculation and western settlement, contradicting the conventional narrative that taxes sparked revolution. Blackhawk reveals that colonial militias called 'the Black Boys' attacked British troops escorting trade goods to Pontiac as early as 1765, three years before Boston's major protests, specifically to disrupt peace between the Crown and Indigenous nations. These militias composed songs calling Native peoples 'enemies of mankind,' framing Indigenous elimination as ideologically central to emergent American identity before independence was even declared. Nagel argues that understanding this suppressed history is essential to comprehending contemporary authoritarianism: concentration camps, mass deportations, and violent enforcement are not new to America but rather represent continuations of foundational policies targeting Indigenous peoples.
About this episode
<p>There's a sentence in the Declaration of Independence that almost no one talks about. It's the last grievance: “He has excited the merciless Indian Savages”, it reads, "whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." We’ve all been told the American Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But that's not what the Declaration of Independence says. According to our founders, what they were most upset about was Native Americans. How did we miss that?</p> <p>That's the question at the heart of a new Pushkin podcast called First America. It’s hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Indigenous author and the host of Crooked’s This Land podcast. First America reveals the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. It unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. </p> <p>Here's episode 1. Rebecca sits down with historian Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) to talk about how hunger for Indigenous land drove the Revolution. <a href="http://lnk.to/FAPushkin">Find more episodes of First America wherever you get podcasts</a>.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
Key Insights
- The Declaration of Independence explicitly names Indigenous peoples as the primary grievance against King George III, calling them 'merciless Indian savages,' yet this has been systematically omitted from how Americans are taught their founding document for 250 years.
- The American Revolution's true catalyst was colonial anger at the Crown's peace treaty (Proclamation Line of 1763) with Pontiac's Indigenous confederation, which restricted westward expansion and land speculation—not taxation grievances as conventionally taught.
- Colonial militias known as the Black Boys attacked British troops three years before the Boston Tea Party specifically to prevent trade and peace-making with Indigenous nations, framing Indigenous destruction as ideologically central to American identity formation.
- Britain's peace with Indigenous nations was motivated by imperial economics: the crown prioritized profits from Caribbean sugar and slave labor over North American expansion, making conflict avoidance financially rational for the global empire.
- Fort Snelling exemplifies how sites of Indigenous genocide have been transformed into casual recreation spaces and tourist attractions where visitors participate in winter sports unaware that 1,600 Dakota people were imprisoned, starved, and executed there during winter 1862.
- The same federal land (Fort Snelling) now hosts ICE headquarters, making the location a continuity of historical Indigenous removal and contemporary immigrant detention, both rooted in violent expulsion policies.
- Contemporary statements that current US government actions are 'fundamentally un-American' misdiagnose the problem, as detention, forced removal, and extrajudicial killing of designated groups represent core continuities in American policy rather than aberrations.
- Ned Blackhawk argues that Indigenous hatred provided colonial cohesion before independence was ideologically defined, with anti-Indigenous sentiment appearing in Revolutionary-era rhetoric before egalitarian Enlightenment ideals were articulated in founding documents.
Topics
Transcript
This is Jacob Goldstein from Business History. When the internet arrived, most people used it to look things up. Others saw what it could really do. The same is true with ChatGPT. ChatGPT work goes beyond answering questions. Give it a goal, plus things like notes, files, feedback, data, or project plans, and it can help create a brief, analysis, deck outline, tracker, or workflow. You stay in control, reviewing the work and choosing the final result. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro plans. This is Jacob Goldstein from What's Your Problem? Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder…
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