By Scott Taylor
In the months leading up to the U.S. presidential election, the campaign itself and the post election-day chaos, the one point upon which media pundits could agree was the fact that the ‘United States’ of America are in fact deeply divided.
President Donald Trump took every opportunity to pour gasoline on these glowing embers of long-standing divisiveness.
Prior to the vote-casting the Trump camp warned that because of the volume of mail-in ballots which were cast in advance, there would be no possibility of obtaining a final result before midnight on election day.
This was presented by Trump as some sort of anomaly that was sinister by nature and a break from traditional norms.
This claim led the media to fact-check and provide some historical context regarding previous U.S. presidential elections.
The examples given were simply common sense in that in a pre-telegraph (let alone telephone or television) horse and buggy era, the ballot counting took weeks and months to tally. That was why the original inauguration date was in March rather than the current January 20th.
In pointing out the logistical advancement in conducting a democratic vote process over the past two centuries these commentators missed an opportunity to remind the public as to just how far U.S. democracy itself has evolved in that same timeframe.
When the founding fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution, voting was restricted to all but a select few individuals. Eligibility to cast a vote was restricted to white Christian males who owned property. In some states voters had to first pass a test on their Christian religious knowledge. Gender exceptions allowed wealthy female land owners to cast a ballot in several states.
Following the U.S. Civil War, in 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment extended voting rights to former male slaves and freemen of colour. Females did not officially get to vote in American politics until 1920.
As for the racial divide which exists currently in the United States this has been highlighted by months of Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the U.S.
The tearing down of statues of Confederate generals who fought to keep Blacks as slaves, reminds us that for hundreds of years Black Americans were shackled and sold as chattel.
The U.S. Civil War freed the slaves but it did not miraculously elevate Blacks to equal members of U.S. society. In fact laws were passed to entrench the segregation of Blacks in the southern states in what became known as the “Jim Crow” era.
Officially these laws requiring separate facilities for Blacks and whites ranged from schools to railway cars and even public drinking fountains. Those laws were not repealed until after the civil rights marches in 1964.
While segregation was never formally adopted in the northern states, it was very much enforced in the U.S. military until 1948.
Prior to that date Black units - usually with white officers - served in largely support roles in the various branches of the American forces. In fact it was not until the Vietnam War that Black and white Americans would fight and die in large numbers at each other’s side in combat.
Now in the wake of the BLM movement we have various professional sports franchises finally realizing that their team names could be offensive to minority groups. Which makes me wonder how we could have been so blind to the fact that, for instance, the name ‘Redskins’ might be considered derogatory by Indigenous peoples.
These horrific historical truths need to be taught to Americans. But Canadians cannot simply sit smug and gloat over our neighbour’s foibles as we have many unpleasant chapters in our own history.
Those who bemoan the loss of a truly ‘united states’ wish to make America great again need to know that the reality was far different than the historical myths some would have us believe.
As my Dad used to say, “It ain’t like the good old days: and it never was”.
