History of Violence in America
• Violence in Wars
• Racism &
Violence
• Homicides
– Mass Murders
– Terrorism
• A More Humane
Approach
“Stay Calm! Let’s hear what Bill
has to say.”
Chesapeake Bay
Region
NEW ENGLAND:
Puritan-Pequot War 1637
John Winthrop,
Pequots
Puritan Leader
•Land not
improved
Fort Mystic
•Land of nonChristians could
be seized
Pequot War (1636-1637)
King Philip's War (1675)
Yamasee War (1715)
Various slave rebellions
War of Independence (1775–1783)
Quasi-War (1798-1800)
First Barbary War (1801-1805)
War of 1812
Second Barbary War (1815)
Mexican–American War (18461848)
Utah War (1857-1858)
American Civil War (1861–1865)
Spanish-American War (1898)
Philippine-American War (18991902)
America’s
Wars
INDIAN WARS:
Chickamauga Wars (1776-1794)
Northwest Indian War (1785–
1795)
Nickajack Expedition (1794)
Sabine Expedition (1806)
War of 1812 (1811–1815),
including:
Tecumseh's War (1811–1813)
Creek War (1813–1814)
Peoria War (1813)
First Seminole War (1817–1818)
Winnebago War (1827)
Black Hawk War (1832)
Pawnee Indian Territory
Campaign (1834)
America’s
Wars
Creek Alabama Uprising (1835-1837)
Florida-Georgia Border War (1836)
Second Seminole War (1835–1842)
Missouri-Iowa Border War (1836)
Southwestern Frontier (1836–1837)
Osage Indian War (1837)
Texas-Indian Wars (1836–1875)
Antelope Hills Expedition (1858)
Battle of Pease River (1860)
Red River War (1874–1875)
Puget Sound War (1855–1856)
Dakota War of 1862 (1862)
Colorado War (1863–1865)
Red Cloud's War (1866–1868)
Comanche Campaign (1868–1874)
Black Hills War (1876–1877)
Nez Perce War (1877)
Pine Ridge Campaign (1890)
Spanish-American War (1898)
Philippine–American War (1899-1902)
America’s
Wars
Boxer Rebellion (1899-1902)
First World War (1917-1918)
Second World War (1941-1945)
Korean War (1950-1953)
Lebanon crisis (1958)
Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
Dominican Intervention (1965)
Vietnam War (1957-1975)
Operation Eagle Claw (1980)
Grenada Conflict (1983)
Beirut Conflict (1982-1984)
Panama Invasion (1989)
Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)
Kosovo War (1996-1999)
Yugoslavia Conflict (1999)
War on Terrorism (2001–present)
War in Afghanistan (2001-present)
Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines
(2002)
Liberia peacekeeping (2003)
Iraq War (2003-present)
America’s
Wars
The United States spent more on its
military than the next 13 nations
combined in 2011.
Racism and Violence
"The only good Indian
is a dead Indian.“
--General Philip
Sheridan (1869)
Slavery & Violence
Lynching and Racial Violence
1880s 1890s:
one black man
lynched every
two days
Mostly in the
South
North Carolina
South with Highest Murder Rates
Murder Rate in US fluctuates and is Falling recently
Eric Monkkonen, Murder in NY City
Gun Murders in US much higher than
other Wealthy Nations
Source: United Nations, 2010
Myth of Frontier Violence in the Old West:
Not Especially Violent
Mass Murders
Deaths in US since 9/11 2001
Source: FBI statistics
A More Humane Interaction
• Pennsylvania
• Quakers
– Radical Christians
– Pacifists
– William Penn
• Delaware Indians
The Treaty of
William Penn
– Tamanend (1683):
– "live in peace as long as the
waters run in the rivers and
creeks and as long as the stars
and moon endure”
Tamanend
REFORM MOVEMENTS
1830s-1840s
• Christian & Secular
Idealism
– Pacifism
– Abolitionism
Henry David
Thoreau
William Lloyd
Garrison
Dorothea
Dix
Murders