When discussing a matter, we should not rush to conclusions but rather consider the historical context. So let's first look at the era in which the American massacre of Native Americans occurred.
First, let's examine a few historical records:
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In "American Genocide: The California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873," historian Benjamin Madley documented the number of massacres of California natives between 1846 and 1873. He found evidence during this period that at least 9,400 to 16,000 California Indians were killed by non-Indians. Most of the killings occurred during what he referred to as 370 massacres (defined as the intentional killing of five or more unarmed combatants or civilians, including women, children, or captives, not necessarily occurring during combat). (Source: Wikipedia)
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In the 1850s, the United States repeatedly violated treaties with the Sioux (or Dakota people), failing to provide food and supplies in exchange for land. When the Sioux suffered from famine, an indifferent federal official reportedly said, "Let them eat grass." The angry leader Little Crow led a rebellion known as the Dakota War of 1862. Within six weeks, the U.S. Army captured 400 people and sentenced 303 to death. (Source: American Racial Inequality website)
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Historian William M. Osborn's "The Wild Frontier: Atrocities in the American Indian Wars from Jamestown to Wounded Knee" collected records of all documented Euro-Indian violent conflicts in present-day America from the first contact between the two races in 1511 to the end of westward expansion in 1890, confirming that 7,193 people died due to white atrocities and 9,156 died due to Indian atrocities. (Source: Wikipedia)
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In 1862, the United States enacted the Homestead Act. This law stipulated that any American citizen over the age of 21 could obtain up to 160 acres (approximately 64.75 hectares) of land in the West for a registration fee of only $10. Lured by the promise of land, many whites rushed into areas inhabited by Native Americans, leading to the massacre of thousands of Native Americans. (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs website) The above four pieces of information are compiled from the world's most authoritative encyclopedia website Wikipedia, American grassroots websites, and official Chinese information, making it relatively objective.
From the information, it can be seen that the issue of the American massacre of Native Americans mainly occurred in the mid-19th century, during the reign of China's Qing Dynasty emperors Xianfeng and Tongzhi, around the 1850s. As I mentioned earlier, when viewing historical events, we must consider the historical context. For example, it is absurd to view the practice of using cauldrons to cook human heads during the Shang and Zhou dynasties in China as a violation of human rights, because everyone knows that the moral views of that time were completely different from those of today. Morality progresses, and we cannot use today's standards to judge past events.
So, what was the moral state of the world around the 1850s? In fact, there is a historical event that can serve as a comparison: the Taiping Rebellion. It is widely regarded today as a rebellion, a war between the rebels and the Qing court, but people often overlook the enormous humanitarian disaster caused by the Taiping Rebellion. In fact, the death toll of the Taiping Rebellion exceeded that of World War II, making it an extremely horrific disaster. The Taiping Rebellion is the war with the highest death toll in history. Although this statistical data is not very precise (due to the limitations of time and conditions), the estimated death toll is over that of World War II.
Summary: The Taiping Rebellion occurred from early 1851 to 1864, lasting 14 years and affecting 18 provinces nationwide. Its main manifestations were the brutal direct killings during the war and the large number of deaths indirectly caused by the war. Many scholars, both domestic and international, have analyzed and discussed the impact of the Taiping Rebellion on modern China's population. For example, early American missionary Happer (1880) estimated that the Taiping Rebellion led to a population loss of at least 50 million, while other scholars such as Ge Jianxiong, Hou Yangfang, and Zhang Genfu (1999) believe this number should be at least 100 million. Since the main battlefields of the Taiping Rebellion were concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the population in these areas was severely affected by the war. Cao Shujin (2001) estimated that the population death toll in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, and other provinces, which were the main battlefields of the Taiping Army, reached 73.3 million. Although existing research may overestimate the figures, the population loss in the main war areas was still over 80 million, and in the seven provinces most affected by the war, including Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang, the population loss was at least 50 million (Li Nan, Lin Chu, 2013). Therefore, the Taiping Rebellion, which broke out in the mid-19th century, is undoubtedly one of the largest massacres in human history. , Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Lin Chu, Li Nan.
Why use the Taiping Rebellion as a comparison? Because the era of the American massacre of Native Americans coincided with the era of the Taiping Rebellion. During that time, the moral standards worldwide were still very low, and the slaughter of civilians during wars was considered normal; people at that time did not view it as particularly cruel, merely a part of war. If we take the killings of Native Americans by white Americans at that time as evidence of the current U.S. government's lack of human rights, would that not be absurd? In comparison, the Taiping Rebellion may have had even less regard for human rights, given that the death toll reached 50 million to 100 million, surpassing World War II, and is considered the largest humanitarian disaster in history. In fact, the current U.S. government has long acknowledged and repented for its past crimes against Native Americans, and there has been ongoing reflection within American society.
In 2009, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution formally apologizing to the Native American community. This resolution acknowledged the historical harm caused by the U.S. government to Native Americans, including wars, land theft, forced relocations (such as the infamous "Trail of Tears"), and cultural destruction. In recent years, the U.S. government and some state governments have taken actions to return land in an attempt to make amends for past encroachments on Native American lands. For example, in 2020, a portion of land in Oklahoma was returned to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which is considered one of the historical acknowledgments of Native American sovereignty and land rights. In civil society, an increasing number of scholars, activists, as well as films, books, and documentaries have begun to expose and reflect on the violence and oppression against Native Americans in U.S. history. November's "National Native American Heritage Month" has become a time for commemoration and reflection on Native American history and culture. In some places, Columbus Day is gradually being replaced by "Indigenous Peoples' Day," symbolizing a corrective measure for historical wrongs.
The U.S. government at that time was indeed brutal, and the atrocities against Native Americans were not stopped. However, in that era, various massacres were rampant worldwide, and the consensus that "war should not kill civilians" had not yet formed. The 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions, especially the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, were the ones that truly began to establish international law protecting civilians. From then on, "battlefields should not harm civilians" became a global consensus. In fact, besides the Taiping Rebellion, there was also the Northern Nian Army Rebellion during the same period, which was even more brutal. The Taiping Army, during their sieges in Nanjing, Tongcheng, and Quanzhou, claimed, "No matter if they are officials, civilians, soldiers, or women and children, none shall be spared." However, the Nian Army's sieges in Qingjiangpu and other places were even more brutal, resulting in true rivers of blood. Ironically, many of the massacres during the Taiping Rebellion were initiated by the official army after successful counterattacks. This was clearly the court's own territory; why would they still carry out massacres after reclaiming it? This shows a complete disregard for the common people. Many people often criticize the U.S. for lacking human rights based on the massacre of Native Americans, but have we ever considered the enormous disaster caused by the Taiping Rebellion? This was a massive tragedy of our own making, and it should be remembered and reflected upon.