Frances ("kiwiskeeper") has catapulted us from one controversy to
another. In short, Jefferson had nothing to do with blankets and
Indians, and the evidence is compelling that the intentional spread
of smallpox as a means to ease westward expansion was never U.S.
policy. Yes, in the 1760s the British commander Lord Jeffery Amherst
proposed such a tactic during the French and Indian War; whether or
not it was carried out is uncertain. Yes, there was a major outbreak
of smallpox on the Plains in 1837, an accidental epidemic according
to responsible historians' reading of the evidence. The view that the
U.S. Army distributed infected blankets was popularized by the
radical Indian rights activist Ward Churchill, whose own sources
belie his writings on the subject. Be careful about confusing
fanciful claims with history; be careful about substituting belief
for knowledge.

John Douglas


>Date:         Mon, 3 Apr 2006 07:31:59 -0700
>From:         kiwiskeeper <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Re: Closing
>
>I seldom post anything here but usually read some of the post.
>
>I am not a Jefferson fan but it is history. I believe he is the person who
>gave blanket's to the indians that had been used by people who had small pox
>  The indians were infected and many died because of what he did. "I am in no
>way interested in him."
>
>"However,  we do have freedom of speech and  to try to control another in
>their freedom is to me far worse." We can delete and that is what I have
>been doing. We don't all have the same intrest and that is good.
>
>I do think the Jefferson thing went on long enough to ask those who want to
>continue to do it in private.
>
>If they don't do as, you ask them to do then, delete them from the
>list. Frances

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