Letters from the West

"As you all know we are all thinking about embracing this Manifest Destiny movement that has occurred. O'Sullivan seems to believe that this movement is only for the rich, white men of America but we believe that anyone that helped build this country should have claim to some land in the West. Since the people of Virginia, that are not interested in being friends with the Native Americans like we are, are against our life style we've decided to relocate in hopes of changing our American's minds about the Native Americans. They are extremely nice and helpful people who have done nothing but help us make our lives better since we've met them. They are such free people and their culture has rubbed off on us as a colony. But instead of just picking everything up and moving, we the selected few have gone to check it out first and we've sent a letter back to you all to let you know how it's going. So far we're in the state of Louisiana and all we've done so far is help some lone pioneers clear out land and build houses and barns so we could start communities (pg 324). We've had a bit of luck with changing some views of the Native Americans and those people have agreed to consider joining our colony. They've even suggested that we should all move out here and start our own cotton farm seeing as how a man by the name of Eli Whitney has created the cotton gin which makes harvesting cotton a lot easier (pg 326). This may not be such a bad idea, our colony is growing and we would all be able to pitch in without any outside labor (no slaves). You've probably heard of the Lowell mills up North but since we've been here we've learned that they rely mostly on women and children for labor (pg 332). We've also run into a lot of immigrants from places like Ireland, England, and Germany (pg 334) which brings us to the atrocious treatment of the Asians. We've been informed that in 1798 The Alien Act was issued (pg 335) which helps nativist push out ANOTHER group of people without getting to know them. We as a colony should embrace everyone the US is shunning because different cultures have different advantages that may not know of right away. The last thing we've learned is that entrepreneurship in on the rise which means we as a colony we can start a business if we decide to permanently relocate here (pg 336). Today if we started a business we'd be better protected but the law so that would be something to think about.

                                                                                                         Sincerely,

Anthony Thomas"

In Today's News......

Dear King...

Dear King...

          We hope you are well. We are fine. We are so lucky to have such a noble and amazing leader such as yourself. If we could only have a moment of your time, we would like to bring some things that have bothered us to your attention. For starters, we are a colony that excepts people of all nationalities and religious backgrounds and we were pleased to find out that John Peter Zenger was found not guilty. But upon farther scrutiny we were disappointed to know that he was arrested in the first place. Surely you are not a narrow-minded king. We just can not bring ourselves to believe that someone of high standards, such as yourself, would agree with the fact that we are not allowed to speak our peace out loud or in print. Secondly, we have heard of Pontiac's War and completely side with the Native Americans. We have also heard that this rebellion is constructed upon the teachings of a religious prophet named  Neolin. He believes "...that his people must reject European technology, free themselves from commercial ties with whites and dependence on alcohol, clothe themselves in the garb of their ancestors, and drive the British from their territory" (168). Yes their people were defeated in the French and Indian War but being abandoned by the French should have been punishment enough. They shouldn't have had to fight for what should always be theirs. They have moved enough and should be allowed to remain where they are. Which is why we are extremely satisfied with the Proclamation of 1763. This keeps our friends from relocating and the remaining Native Americans are happy as well. Finally, it is our understanding that a Stamp Act has been put on just about everything which is causing a bit of an uproar here in the colonies. The Sons of Liberty are encouraging, even threatening, us all to protest and participate in acts of violence towards anyone who agrees with it. We as a group DO NOT agree with this act, not just because we could be hurt during so, but we think that it is somewhat greedy to tax almost everything. "By imposing the stamp tax without colonial consent, Parliament directly challenged the authority of local elites who, through the assemblies they controlled, had established their power over the raising and spending of money" (181). Actions such as these could lead to the lose of support from some of the most influential people in the colonies which could lead to more rebellions.

Sincerely,

The Colony of Peace and Love

King's Response

Dear Colony of Peace and Love,

          I am well. Glad you are too. I can assure you that I am not a narrow-minded King but for you to fully understand my actions, you must first understand what it is like to be a King. Anyone that speaks out against something that is right should immediately be taught right from wrong. Secondly, as of now your Indian friends will be just fine as long as the stop killing our kind for no reason. And Finally, the Stamp Act is in place to make sure my Kingdom isn't being cheated. Without me you wouldn't be where you are and I just want to make sure I get back what I put in. Anything that I condone is for your own good.

Sincerely,

King George III

Introduction to the Colony of Peace and Love

In the colony of Peace and Love we live by the Latin expression "Semper Fidelis" which means "Always Faithful" or "Always Loyal" in English. If we make a commitment to someone we will go through with it exactly how we promised. We will never harm or betray anyone who is loyal to us. We have left our Mother Country of Spain for North America in hopes of achieving not only social freedom but a refuge from poverty as well. With this move we plan on trying something entirely different as far as our interaction with the Native Americans go. Instead of conquering their land and destroying their people, like many before us, we've decided to form an alliance with them. Former experiences have shown that working against these people is not helping and not seeking some sort of help from them is stifling any chance we have at succeeding. Together we can reform Virgina into  a safe haven for Native Americans and other Americans alike. To our understanding there has been slavery in Virgina for quit some time and we are starting with the intention of going against the institution of slavery because one of the reasons we left Spain was because we were not living our lives the way we wanted to and we believe that all humans have the right to live how they want. Working with Native Americans has made it a lot easier to form this certain type of colony. They have taught us how to live off the land and their system of trade. While we have learned things from them they have taken an interest in certain areas of our lives like our religion of Roman Catholicism and a great deal of them have decided to convert to it. When people around the World hear of our colony we want them to feel an inner peace that makes them want to accept everyone around them just how they are and for what they can offer.