What is the ideal of America?
I don’t mean the United States, any of the political arrangements on North and South America, or even the individual continents themselves. I mean all of it. America. Perhaps a better way to say it: what is the ideal of the New World?
had this to say in a relatively recent essay (you can find it here) which I found very relevant.had this to say in Notes.The flaws in ethno-nationalism are exactly what America solved by offering a nation that could belong to anyone who shared its ideals, regardless of identity. It’s this ideal that needs fighting for, not more of the same identity-based systems of that past, no matter what new hierarchy they promote.
A longstanding expression of pure, unadulterated individual liberty, where the individual has every right imaginable to pursue and safeguard one’s ideal way of existence — as long as that individual does not impede another individual’s same freedom to exist as they so choose.
Issac Asimov wrote this in Prelude to Foundation. It’s spoken by the protagonist scholar Hari Seldon as he defends himself from the High Priest of an archaic, highly insular culture.
We are members of societies that do not tie ourselves to a past that is thousands of years old, making no contact at all with what has existed between that past and ourselves. We live in the present, which we recognize as the product of all the past and not one long-gone moment of time that we hug to our chests.
All of the people living in the New World came here for all the reasons human move anywhere. Some by choice, some by force, but I’d suggest all due to necessity. We wanted a better life, the freedom to practice our religion, or safety from war. In many cases, bare survival, certainly once one stepped on the boat and it embarked across the vast blue ocean. We sought a life where our children would be free of whatever ailed us. We came and in perhaps as charitably as I can manage made it a blood soaked gold rush. But that’s what humans do. No sense in crying about it. We were going to go and make either a gorgeous disaster or something disastrously gorgeous. I may never decide which way to say it.
As for me, my paternal roots go back relatively far. Not nearly as far as our Native American brethren, but more than most of you reading this. They came on a ship called John of London and landed in Rowley, Massachusetts. For those familiar with early colonist history, you’ll recognize the name of their little band: Pilgrims.
Yup. Those Pilgrims. My ancestor’s ship brought the first printing press to America, which I think is a slightly more impressive fact. The family histories say this about the two patriarchs who lead us at the time.
They did not come to this country as adventurers. They were men of respectability, “of good estate,” and could probably have no hopes of improving their worldly condition by emigration. They were lovers of liberty, and men of distinct and well-marked religious views. They were non-conformists. They had too sturdy an independence, as well as too strong a sense of duty, to abandon what they held in trust even in the midst of the bitterest persecution. For this reason they left their homes and sought in the wilds of America a resting place from oppression, a spot where they and their children might enjoy freedom to worship God. They were men of thought and character.
The goal of the Nuevo Monroe Papers is answering that original question, not just in theory but much more importantly in practice: what is the American ideal? Not just what it’s been, but was is it now and what is the best version it can be for the future. This also crucially goes beyond the New World but to the New Worlds humanity will someday explore and colonize. From the bluest sea to the blackest one we’ll go for all the same reasons we came here.
By choice. By force. But always necessity.
As we work we must think about what those worlds might look like. Talk about what we should bring with us, and more importantly, what must be left behind. We already have a history of this process with our first attempt at conquering a new world: the New World here in North and South America. It is not an easy thing to consider, what with the aforementioned bloody gold rush, but it is the only history of this sort we have for reference. We do the dead and our children no honor by refusing to learn from our mistakes and triumphs in equal measure.
What do you think? What triumphs and mistakes should we draw from? As we consider our place beyond Earth, what comes with us? What stays behind?
Why?
Whatever you think, remember necessity. We have no choice and the journey ahead of us is long.
Get packing.
I cannot speak to the mindset of the individuals on the John of London. However, historic accounts (google search; how did puritans treat Native Americans) (https://www.google.com/search?q=how+did+puritans+treat+native+americans&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1084US1085&oq=how+puritans+treated+native+americans&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYFhgeMg0IAhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMgoIBRAAGKIEGIkFMgoIBhAAGKIEGIkFMgoIBxAAGKIEGIkFMgoICBAAGIAEGKIE0gEKMjI2MjVqMGoxNagCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
tell us the Puritan's changed from being persecuted to being persecutors.
It seems in general the nobel characteristics of adventurers, respectability, “of good estate,” lovers of liberty, distinct and well-marked religious views were overcome by too sturdy an independence, too strong a sense of duty to abandon what they held in trust even in the midst of the bitterest persecution. A perceived new persecution from Native Americans. "The Puritans were seeking freedom, but they didn't understand the idea of toleration." "Because they fear the Native Americans as Devil Worshipers & do not accept the Native beliefs."
I say all this not to judge the Puitans for I have never known persecution in my life and the fears that may instill. But I say this to answer your questions. "what comes with us? What stays behind? Why?"
What we take with us is tolerance and we leave behind fear for this will lead to greater understanding. Yes the journey ahead of us is long but the first step starts today and all our travel companions are known to us.
Your students are blessed. Thank you for helping to better educate us knuckleheads in your spare time. Cheers!