Are you thinking its just a Community Center . No. It is much more than tha creating wifi enabled list so students from low income families can get the tools that they need to be ready for anything. Comcast along with these Television Companies support cspan2 as a public service. I am an assistant professor at the history university of southern california. This is my first inperson Conference Since the pandemic. After two years we are giving a conference paper with basically sitting alone in my part apartmentss. Its wonderful to stipulate a person to you guys today. I wanted to say thank you for putting together this conference and for accommodating all the different varieties. Even though that i know that it came with some great logistical challenges. I want to thank Ray Lynn Barnes who unfortunately cannot be here today what is really the one responsible for bringinggi us al together today. Ultimatelyas last year around february deciding to focus on 1852. He this is the year when the Republican Party succeeded and the original campaign promises, abolishing slavery in the district of columbia and the western territories as well as passing the homestead act. It achieved legislative victories that would help the union when the war, like the direct tax act of 1862, establishing the first income tax. This islo the year when the fighting intl civil war took a particularly muddy turn with the battle of the shiloh among others. It seemed increasingly likely that france or england may recognize the confederacy and when the congress and later lincoln recognized what many africanamericans free and enslavedth had known all along. That this was a war over slavery , not just union. And, of course, the war in the west is even more complicated and i am sure will be the subject of much of what we areec discussing in todays roundtable all of these decisions, events have shaped the world that we live in today and so it seems particularly apt 160 years later to think about this year together in this roundtable. As you may notice, our ranks are somewhat diminished. Unfortunately, glenn had a family emergency and could not come to the conference at all. Unfortunatelyan a flight cancellation and if youre wondering which one it was united and was not able to get here in time for the roundtable. They are to not be able to be t with us today. So, what we are going to do is ask the two members of our roundtable to share some thoughts. I will introduce each of them before they speak. Then we will open the floor up to a broader discussion. I really hope that we can do that as a conversation. First up, we have monica who is an assistant professor of studies and affiliated faculty with women, gender and faculty studies where he has taught since 2014. His work centers a critique of imperialism with a focus on antiracism and indigenous. Hes teaching courses on racism, u. S. Imperialism and radical internationalism. Critiquing the economy and liberation. The author of e empires tracks indigenous nation, Chinese Workers in the Transcontinental Railroad which was published in 2019. I want to echo thanks to the organizers of Public Comment which i know is a huge amount of work especially in these conditions and also to ray lynn. I feel kind of sheepish because it feels like from here the big 1862 did not feel so big. I hope that we can just have a discussion with everyone in the room. Thank you so much for making time to join us. So, in my remarks today, i plani to focus on 1862 as a moment of escalation in the destructive power of the u. S. And the world linking the wartime expansion of u. S. Military power with the development of u. S. Financial institutions. I am particularly interested in the relationships between the war, military and financial power in the west and in the caribbean. No links between these two appeared in its wars and occupation against the seminoles which up until that point were the most expensive wars that the u. S. Fought until the civil war and wars that they were militarily defeated and also against mexico. The u. S. N war economy had tied together the production of farms in new england with the stabilization of slavery in texas in the deep south. By the early 1860s, the war economy marked the confrontation between northern Merchant Capital which required a protected market to grow in southern capital which required International Experts to ensure itthe future. Merchant and insurance capitals based in new york city and the Connecticut River valleyar began the war paralyzed and divided undertaking a transition from cotton to a diversified Portfolio Investment across ranching, agriculture, mining and industry. The u. S. Victory over the confederacy was thwarted by a series of battlefield catastrophes. On february 25, 1862 authorizing 150 million in u. S. Treasury notes socalled which eventually increased to 450 million with an additional half billion dollars in war bonds raising funds to support military power over land and sea which would be necessary to defeat the confederacy. It provided a windfall for industrial and military contractors launching the careers of robber barons of the coming period. In a further effort to raise more funds and bitter Political Polarization the revenue act which lincoln signed into law july 1, 1862 established both thee First Federal income tax is the first tax on inherited wealth and the agency would eventually become the irs. In turnov setting the stage for the National Bank act speared between 1863 and 1866 which formed a National Banking system giving the u. S. Federal government the ability to issue war bonds and authorizing the federal government to regulate and tax a commercial banking system. On april 19, 1851 lincoln had issued a proclamation against southern ports. The naval blockade was necessary to stop the flow of capital, weapons and consumer goods into the confederacy. It was a coercive policy to break thehe alliance of new york merchants with southern planters which is running goods by nassau , bermuda and havana. They began the civil war with 42 ships in active service. By the end of 1862 this would increase the 384 ships and by the end of the war they had the Worlds Largest navy. This navy provided the muscle for an expanded Monroe Doctrine in the decades following the war which activate u. S. Interventions against caribbean and the National Movements in the service of ensuring u. S. Returns on investment. In cuba over the coming decade, the u. S. Would leverage Political Economic and eventually military pressure to support an alliance of the finance capital based in north america. The close of the 19th century the cuban revolution would seek to overturn this pressure. Two days after the passage of the legal tender act on februar. Executed Nathaniel Gordon of a respectable main family. He was captain p of the slave sp which had been apprehended the previous august at the mouth of the Chicago River carrying a cargo of 897 african catholics. This is the first and only time the u. S. Executed someone for participating in slave a trade. The u. S. Concluded a negotiation on thetr beyond sewer treaty whh effectively entered u. S. Sanction for participation in the slave trade to cuba and brazil. This ended u. S. Participation, legal u. S. Participation in the atlantics and the atlantic slave trade. On july 1, 1862 the same day as the revenue act link inside the Pacific Railway act into law appeared chartering the railroad for thehe Union Pacific in the Central Pacific railroad which is chartered in the state of california. In these corporate land grants the u. S. Congress violated treaties that it signed with indigenous nations along with the railroad. They use these land grants to raise capital to fund the construction and maintenance to the road. The infrastructure that they built raised capital to finance. Itmo moved resources out and it moved troops in. These rail developments took place on a global stage. The end of 1862 a completion of the first rail line in algeria in theri spread of the rail network and western india built by the british. Julyif 2 establishing the structure of the university through land grants. A continental by Opening University education to small property owners. The shapes of the colonialism. Organizing Higher Education around modern disciplines producing Accounting Administration and the universities produced what train and educate the corporations in a rapidly modernizing and expanding state. The political economy continues to operate within the constraints in place by land grants to corporations and universities over these two days in 1862. At the end of the year on december 26 u. S. Executed 38 prisoners in what remains the largest mass execution in u. S. History. A Historical Context of the railway act and landgrant act the mass execution this involved a transition of relating to north america in the place of war to a space of policing. It remains unfinished. We see the prioritization of the corporations over and against International Treaty obligations the expansionon of land and sea based military power was accomplished through finance capital. This set the stage for Subsequent Development such as territory ionization vigilantism in the application of treaty applications that provide the context for the same massacre on november 29, 1864. In the subsequent period following the defeat of the confederacys and the democracy the war financed the condensation of u. S. Power between the mississippi and california and the caribbean. The definitive break in the alliance between northeastern Merchant Capital in southern slaveholding capital around shared investments in cotton led to the development of finance capital. By the 1980s they had economic terms controlling the production of sugar mining operations. Burning down to establish massive sugar estates building rail and Road Networks to transport Raw Materials and importing thousands of Seasonal Workers from haiti and jamaica. I have spoken about two executions in 1862 as windows into the transitions in place during that year. I am particularly interested in how it was accomplished not to revolution of land relations but a new alliance between finance capital. Particularly on the plains of north america and in the islands of the caribbean. I want to call our attention to the saudi execution of 81 prisoners this past march 12 followed by the shipment of missiles to saudi arabia march 21 as reported in the wall street journal. While they report that they are unable or unwilling to rapidly increase Oil Production for russian oil for consumers in europe. This is taking place as we witness rapidly unfolding experiments between countries seeking to trade in currencies other than the u. S. Dollar. In the recent developments we can also see assertions of power over sea and land and attempts to stabilize the dollar to project a future for u. S. Power. The world remains caught in the graph of finance nexus. [applause] thank you so much. Our next panelist is jimmy sweet who was an assistant professor of american studies at rutgers. His current book project race, wall and indians in the 19th century midwest analyzes the legal and racial complexities of American Indians of mixed indian and european ancestry with a focus on kinship, Family History , land possession and citizenship. Dedicated too indigenous languae and preservation and his research is driven by a need to understand the full effects of american colonialism on indigenous americans and how those consequences influence people today doing so with the hope of contributing to the hope for the fight for indigenous communities. Jimmy. [inaudible] that was a formal dakota greeting. I said hello my relatives. Is my mic not working . Is it on . Is it working now . Okay. [speaking in native tongue] a formal dakota greeting. It means hello, my relatives. I shake your hands in a goodhearted manner. It is a really big thing in that culture. When i was invited to the panel, i intended to talk about the war of 1862 which is much closer to my area of expertise but two of the panelists were already going to talk about that. Not all of them are here today. [laughter] my thinking lately has been turning a bit more broadly from the u. S. Dakota war. Tmore broadly in scope in the time. To think more about native people and though west particularly during the civil war years. So, 1862 when the civil war years is a particularly horrible moment for native americans i would say. In this moment where the u. S. Government really goes all out and makes it, you know, the full policy to dispossess native people of their land and replace them with white settlers. This really was not something new. The u. S. And other colonial growlers in north america have been carrying out genocide and dispossession for hundreds of years. But the civil war acted as cover for american lawmakers to explicitly make native land dispossession a policy of federal government. In 1862, we heard about the congressional acts of that period. The homestead act, the Pacific Railroad act, moral act, even. All of these were legislations that focused on the dispossession of native people. The dispossession of salford indigenous nations. Not just individuals but nations these are sovereign nations. This was a policy. To remove them from their homeland and replace them with white settlers. In the same year during the civil war we also see the creation of a large number of territories. Colorado, nevada and the anterritorial governments were created in 1861. Arizona and idaho in 1863 in montana in 1864. A huge swath than what is now, you know, government presence of administration has now dramatically increased over the huge swath of native american territory native American Land which all of these things couple together the creation of these territories, really all about using what was going on in the civil war to dramatically overtake indigenous land. That is always been kind of the practice, unfortunately, of the American Government and other colonial nations. It really kind of ramps up this moment. We see the rampup and violence. In this particular moment in 1862. Some of these are better known. I mentioned the u. S. Dakota war of 1862. A major war that depopulated the state of minnesota and resulted in, you know, hundreds of settlers dead, hundreds of native peoplee dead and thousans displaced from their homes and eventually removed fromm their homelands in minnesota appeared one of our commenters who will was not able to make it today is actually a defendant of one of the 38 men, at least one of the 38 men executed on december 26, 1862. I wish he was here for powerful talk about that. But that is one of the betterknown ones. There is a decent of that. Another one is the sand creek massacre in 1864 in colorado. Most people have heard of that. There is some historical literature on that as well. But there are many, many other moments of violence in this particular. In theha civil war years particularly in california under what is known as the california genocide which was going on a decade or two after the civil war and continued after. It was a bloodied time during the civil war. Four example, a lot of these are lesserknown. There was the bearr river massacre in idaho where the u. S. Army massacred 280 shoshone men, women and children appeared there was another massacre around the same. In california where settlers, was not even the army, local settlers roads up and murdered in california. These are just to name a couple ofof the more extreme ones. So many of these massacres going on in the west during the civil war years and many of them are just completelyrt unknown. Particularly those in california just completely understudied. People who are more expert on california than i. The native population of california was greatly reduced. Seventyfive80 , i believe. A little bit broader of a timeline in the 19th century. Something like 300,000 to 30 50,000 or Something Like that largely through the settler violence that was going on. Back to the u. S. Dakota war, in the aftermath of that, general john pope who was the commander of the new department of the northwest that was created as a result of the war, he wrote to september of 62 writing about his thoughts about the dakota people. He used the word soup. It is my purpose. The power to do so and even if it required a campaign lasting the whole of next year. It took two years. It goes on to destroy everything belonging to them. It is by no means people with whom treaties are compromised to be made. Of course many of them did. Probably most notably the mastermind of the sand creek massacre a few years later. These thoughts of the military officers at the time and some of the people in the administration another aspect of the civil war was that it completely devastated the territory which is now oklahoma. This is where the u. S. Government forcibly removed thousands ofn people just a generation earlier and now the civil war devastated their new homeland. There there were thousands of native people that ended up surveying both on both sides. That gets us to president lincoln. Lincoln is someone who scholars in the public often viewed as one of the greatest american president s. But, the reality is he did little to nothing to curtail violence towards native people during his tenure. He did nothing to curtail the suffering particularly in indian territory and pl