REMOVING THE INDIAN MENACE
Early settlers in the West were surrounded by numerous dangers, by no means the least was the Indian. While the Indian was in many ways an interesting and admirable person, he made a very unpleasant neighbor for the white frontiersman. From time to time, and without due formality, he went to war; then the forest became alive with lurking savages, and no settlement was safe. Peace and prosperity for the settler [dominator] was impossible without the pacification [domination] of the Indian. Settlement [domination] could not proceed tranquilly until the Indians were subdued [dominated]. (p. 57)
IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIAN
The fear of attack was only a part of the westerner’s problem. The Indians were in prior possession of the lands which the frontiersmen desired to occupy [dominate], and [the Indians] had a claim to their [the lands’] ownership which the central government was willing to accept, at least in theory. On this subject the westerner disagreed with the federal government. Few westerners took Indian land ownership seriously, for to most the Indians were savages whom God, for some inscrutable reason, had allowed to hinder the progress of his chosen white people. After the whites had overcome the evil (the Indians) they could enter upon the joy of possessing their rightful heritage. Killing Indians was like killing snakes—entirely desirable except from the standpoint of the [murdered] victim. (p. 57)