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:::The U.S. Government certainly engaged in a campaign of genocide against the American aboriginals, and the Trail of Tears was a part of that. Denying it or diminishing it by comparing it to more "successful" genocide campaigns denigrates the people whose lives were lost. -[[User:DrSandstone|DrSandstone]] 13:26, 3 December 2008 (EST)
:::The U.S. Government certainly engaged in a campaign of genocide against the American aboriginals, and the Trail of Tears was a part of that. Denying it or diminishing it by comparing it to more "successful" genocide campaigns denigrates the people whose lives were lost. -[[User:DrSandstone|DrSandstone]] 13:26, 3 December 2008 (EST)
::::Given that the population of Native Americans prior to European "discovery" was in the 50-100 millions, and that within 100 years it was down to less than 1 million, I'd hardly say the genocide was "unsuccessful". If you look at all Indian nations as "one people", at least in a numbers way, then it is surly one of the largest genocides in history. Does genocide have to be small, specific acts done over a limited period of time, or can it include generations who all share a mindset that "X People are savages and best killed off".--[[User:JeanJacques|JeanJacques]] 15:28, 3 December 2008 (EST)
::::Given that the population of Native Americans prior to European "discovery" was in the 50-100 millions, and that within 100 years it was down to less than 1 million, I'd hardly say the genocide was "unsuccessful". If you look at all Indian nations as "one people", at least in a numbers way, then it is surly one of the largest genocides in history. Does genocide have to be small, specific acts done over a limited period of time, or can it include generations who all share a mindset that "X People are savages and best killed off".--[[User:JeanJacques|JeanJacques]] 15:28, 3 December 2008 (EST)
:::::Infectious disease is the reason that the numbers are ''so'' staggering. Policies like Indian Removal in the 1830s were undoubtedly acts of genocide. You could probably add the killing off of the American bison insofar as this was done to deliberately deprive Plains tribes of their means of subsistence. (The overhunting was done for profit, but the government condoned it as a means of destroying the Indians.) But referring to broad demographic trends as genocide is probably a misuse of the term, since no one was deliberately pursuing the extinction of an ethnic group for 400 solid years. [[User:Fishal|Fishal]] 15:57, 3 December 2008 (EST)