HOPEFUL HISTORY THE OREGON WAY

Opening a book to find hopeful history is pure folly. It’s not history if all the good and bad parts get the whitewash treatment.

Too often Oregon history is a mashup of wagon trains and farmers, of noble people of the land, salt of the earth, staking out new ground on behalf of their godly mission of Manifest Destiny.

What was the real mission for Oregon pioneers?

From britannica.com:

the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us.

Hopeful History Of Land Grabbing

There’s the Oregon history of worn out people in broken down wagons showing up desperate for help after their ordeal on the trail.

The local boss of big business, Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson Bay Company, met them at the end of the line.

Who was this Dr. McLoughliln? From The Oregon Encyclopedia:

 HBC’s Northern District governor, described him as “a man of strict honour and integrity but a great stickler for rights and privileges,” and one who possessed an “ungovernable Violent temper and turbulent disposition” that frequently led to conflict.

And to prove that point:

By report, McLoughlin was devoted to Marguerite, and she had a cooling effect on his temper. A visiting Anglican minister, Rev. Herbert Beaver, learned the price of questioning the fidelity of their relationship when his description of Marguerite as “a female of notoriously loose character” provoked McLoughlin’s most aggressive act of physical violence—a beating of Beaver in the public courtyard of Fort Vancouver.

What kind of beating could a six foot four inch angry man deliver on a preacher who shit-talked his wife? I’m guessing Rev. Beaver took a pretty severe thrashing.

But Dr. McLoughlin went against company orders to help the straggling pioneers, and thus became the Father Of Oregon in the process. The man had style.

He helped the wagon folks recover, giving them a place to stay while they made further plans. The land the good doctor set aside had been occupied by local natives, who true to their habits before anyone arrived, were out on their seasonal food round up.

They returned to find the new people parked in their space. By then the routine was established.

From opb.org:

Some modern historians trace the pioneer mandate to settle the West can be traced back to 1493.

In the year after Christopher Columbus claimed the Americas for the Queen of Spain, Pope Alexander VI wrote the rules on the proper way to “discover” new land. His “Doctrine of Discovery” would guide Europe’s colonization of new territories around the world. And the ideas would echo in the occupation of land and subjugation of native people for hundreds of years.

“By the authority of God … We appoint you lords over them with full and free power, authority and jurisdiction of every kind.”

In other words, Jackass behavior was pre-forgiven by the authority of God.

The Oregon Donation Land Act was passed in 1850, offering 320-acre parcels to thousands of white immigrants. In five years’ time, settlers would claim 2.8 million acres of Indian land.

Hopeful History Long View

Today we look back and say how hard it is to understand what had happened then based on current mores and customs.

But how hard is it to understand when powerful figures give a green light to poor behavior and reward negative results.

When the Pope declares some people are born to rule over others, and declares they have free rein to do as they please, when does it stop?

With a nation conceived in religious freedom, especially Protestant religious freedom, why would anything the Pope says have any lasting meaning? If the idea is to ignore the Pope unless he says something hopeful in keeping people down, there’s a balance problem.

The problem of powerful men doing as they please in their public and private lives continues to trouble the land.

The notion of accountability comes up more often than not, with the big guys insisting they get to play by the rules they choose, not the law of the land. If you watch current events as a law abiding citizen, you’ve had your guts twisted recently.

This isn’t a political blog where I, the writer, make lists of someone’s personal transgressions. I’ll go as far as to remind my readers to vote in this November’s election. I may ask that they encourage those they know to vote.

And while you contemplate who to vote for, keep this image in mind. Which is his working hand, the grabber?

Vote accordingly.