How did our ancestors “tame” a continent?

I wrote this piece a few years back, in 2019, over at Teaching United States History. As I get ready for turkey, hash brown casserole, and more, I think it’s a fitting piece to republish today.

Last May, Donald Trump delivered the commencement address at the Naval Academy. There, he stated that “our ancestors tamed a continent,” and he followed this statement up by adding, “we are not going to apologize for America.” What does this mean? What does it mean to “tame” a continent? What does it mean to be so sure of your achievements that you do not find any reason to “apologize” for America? We must interrogate this language within a historical context and specifically look at the way it espouses ideas of power and subjugation, marginalizing those who our ancestors “tamed” and those who essentially built this nation with their sweat and tears while enslaved.

Later, Trump said, “America is the greatest fighting force for peace, justice and freedom in the history of the world.” This, of course, is a comment meant to flatter and draw attention to America’s ideals of democracy and liberty for all. However, are those ideals, even at home, espoused with rhetoric that claims we “tamed the continent” and bolsters ideas of American exceptionalism and individual merit? These ideas, while working to bolster patriotism, divide because in order to “tame,” one…