Some Native American nations hold dear the idea that the potential benefits or harm that would be felt by the next seven generations should be amply considered when making major decisions.* That seems to be a very significant idea—and one almost impossible to implement sufficiently.
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| I asked AI to create an image that refers to taking care of the earth for the next seven generations. This was the result. |
I began thinking about seven generations while working on
this blog post that originally was to be primarily about the Louisiana Purchase.
That purchase was a major accomplishment of President
Jefferson and one of the most significant events in the history of the young
nation—and even in the history of the nation up until the present. It is widely
considered to be the greatest real estate deal in history.
The U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a
price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. It added to the
United States an area larger than eight Great Britains, doubling the size of
the United States and opening up the continent to its westward expansion.
Jefferson explained his action to Congress by saying that
this fertile and extensive country would afford “an ample provision for our
posterity, and a wide spread for the blessings of freedom and equal laws.”**
President Jefferson was perhaps thinking about the next
seven generations in his efforts that led to the acquisition of that huge territory
for the U.S.
Without question, that purchase had tremendous benefits for
most White U.S. citizens—and considerable harm for Native Americans— for the
next seven generations, and more.
Thinking Seven Generations Back
So, seven generations before I was born in 1938, Hartwell Seat
was born in Virginia just six years after Thomas Jefferson’s birth. In 1797, Hartwell
and his family migrated to Tennessee, just a year after it had become the 16th
state of the USA.
The Mississippi River was the western border of the new
state and at that time it was the westernmost edge of the United States. Just
seven years later, though, the vast expanse of land on the other side of the
Mississippi became U.S. territory.
When working on this article, it was a bit of a shock when I
realized that the Louisiana Purchase, which had always seemed like ancient history
to me, was made when my seventh-generation ancestor was 54 years old and living
less than 200 miles from the eastern border of that vast new territory.
Just fifteen years later, Littleton Seat, my
sixth-generation grandfather, migrated with his wife Elizabeth and two young
daughters (as well as two of his brothers and their families) to Missouri
Territory. That was three years before Missouri became the 24th
state in 1821.
Littleton’s great-grandson George, my beloved Grandpa Seat,
was born just 75 years after the Louisiana Purchase, and his death was just one
year shy of being as long after his birth as the Louisiana Purchase was before
his birth.
Thinking Seven Generations Forward
Now, turning from the generations of the past (and the
Louisiana Purchase), what about the generations to come? With me as the first
generation, my first two great-grandchildren, who were born in 2022, are the
fourth generation. Their great-grandchildren will be the seventh generation.
It is hard to imagine what all will happen and how the world
will change during Nina’s and Vander’s lifetime. How can we even begin to
imagine what the world will be like when their great-grandchildren are born? That
will be well into the 22nd century.
But maybe the Native Americans were right: we need to
consider how the decisions we make now will affect the seventh generation in
the future. Of greatest need along this line is concerted thought and action
regarding the current global ecological crisis.
_____
* In the 2022 book What We Owe the Future, author William MacAskill writes about "longtermism: the idea that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time" (p. 4). Early in "The Case for Longtermism," the first chapter, he cites a Native American who wrote, "We . . . make every decision that we make relate to the welfare and well-being of the seventh generation to come. . . . We consider: will this be to the benefit of the seventh generation?" (p. 11).
**
Jefferson’s words are cited on page 49 of William Catton’s book Overshoot,
which was the main topic of my March
23 blog post, and it was related to the author’s explanation of the
significance of the Louisiana Purchase in expanding the “carrying capacity” of
the United States at that time.
Wise words, Leroy. In comments I've made in the past I've drawn on Dietrich Bonhoeffer to underscore your emphasis on our responsibility to future generations. I repeat (an excerpt from one of my sermons): In one of those meditations [in Letters and Papers from Prison] Bonhoeffer reflects on what ethical and responsible people are to do when societies are in trouble. He says we should not be simply outraged critics. He adds, we should not be opportunists, seeking our own advantage. He says success and failure are not ethically neutral realities; they are realities of great consequence for human beings. And we have to shoulder our share of responsibility for molding history. He thinks Christians should be ready to assume the burden of responsibility for history’s outcomes because they believe that the responsibility has been laid on them by God. They have a calling. That doesn't mean, though, that a lot of heroic theatrics are called for. There's nothing responsible, says Bonhoeffer, about "going down fighting like heroes in the face of certain defeat." That's "not really heroic at all," he says. It's "merely a refusal to face the future." In the end, he concludes, when we’ve gone through all the possible motivations and justifications for what we do, the most important ethical question to guide responsible people is how the coming generations will have to live.
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that a close analysis, especially of the history of the twentieth century, could draw the conclusion that Seward's Folly, the purchase of Alaska, was or perhaps will have been the greatest real estate deal in history.
One other item, just for fun, and my apology for sharing another excerpt from a sermon of mine: Every nation has its flag-waving ceremonies, and many historical milestones have been marked by lowering and raising flags. One instance was in 1804, connected to the Louisiana Purchase. In 1762 France had surrendered the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi to Spain. In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte was able to get the king of Spain to give Louisiana back to France. Three years later, France sold it to the United States. But the French had not yet officially taken possession of the northern portion of the Territory, so the Spanish flag was still flying over St. Louis. Captain Amos Stoddard was in charge of taking over the Louisiana Territory for the United States. The French governor of New Orleans had no desire to go up the river to St. Louis, so he gave Captain Stoddard the right to represent France, too. Then on March 9, 1804, Captain Stoddard, representing the United States and the French, “drew up his small party of American soldiers” across from the Spaniards and ceremoniously lowered the Spanish flag. But he did not immediately raise the U.S. flag. The French in St. Louis had asked Stoddard to raise the French flag and to leave it up for one night, which he did, and the French partied all night. “The next day...the French flag came down and the American flag, with its 17 stars, was pulled to the top of the staff.” So today you and I are conducting this service in English instead of French.
Thanks much for your meaty comments, Anton. What you shared from your sermon reference to Bonhoeffer was valuable.
DeleteWith reference to the greatest real estate deal, I agree with Catton (in the book I referred to in the second footnote). He wrote, "Many Americans in 1867 had considered exorbitant their government's expenditure of about two cents per acre to acquire “an arctic wasteland.” Then a little later: "Secretary Seward had not quite matched President Jefferson's achievement in territorial expansion, but no doubt we did acquire something valuable in purchasing this northern land" (p. 255).
I appreciate the information about the Louisiana Purchase you gave in your final paragraph. That is some of what I intended to include in my original plan for this blog post but didn't include because of the shift of emphasis to thinking about seven generations. It is amazing how much influence the French and the Spanish had in the territory we know as the U.S. until well into the 19th century, although the French lost most of their earlier influence with the sale of Louisiana Territory in 1803.
P.S.: The image created by AI is terrific.
ReplyDeleteHere are comments from local Thinking Friend Bob Southard:
ReplyDelete"Thanks. I love your topic and who you are, but you may be over thinking the past and under thinking the future. To build the future, when your granddaughter makes her first money, you match it in a Roth IRA. When you have some extra put it in the Gov sponsored 529 education non taxable fund. Switch to solar/wind energy everywhere you can so they will have multiple sources of energy.
"Encourage Zoom to save time, resources. Stop overusing paper to give trees a chance to repopulate. Plant and water often. And Bedrock…Smile, hug, love, give. It builds trust and stability and brings hope, an essential for the future. Sleep well and teach grandkids how to sleep well. It is THE restorative piece that builds the future. Much love to you and yours!"
Thanks for your suggestions, Bob. To respond to just one of those suggestions, June and I started contributing to 529 college funds for our grandchildren after we returned to the States in 2005, although it was already too late for the two who were born in 1985 and 1986. Since four of our grandchildren are already college graduates, last year we started new 529 accounts for our two great-grandchildren, whom we expect to graduate from high school in 2040 (and after our passing).
DeleteI much appreciate these very gracious comments by Thinking Friend Glenn Hinson in Kentucky:
ReplyDelete"The future generations of Seats have a noble foundation on which to build, Leroy. I pray that they will act as wisely as the previous seven generations of Seats."
A few minutes ago, I received the following comments from Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for your observations about past and future generations. I cannot trace my family back seven generations (perhaps a good thing), but I am deeply concerned about future generations as we are stealing from our grandchildren (and their children) by using the earth's resources at an unsustainable rate.
"As for the Louisiana Purchase, France ceded Louisiana to Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1762. The French territory east of the Mississippi River was ceded to Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War (or the French and Indian War as it was called in the New World). France regained Louisiana west of the Mississippi under the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801) in exchange for some French controlled Bourbon territories in Tuscany. Napoleon needed money for his adventures, so he eagerly agreed to sell Louisiana to the U.S. Spain and the U.S. had conflicting views about the location of the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase.
"When Zebulon Pike visited a Pawnee village in September 1806 in what is now northern Kansas (and nominally part of the Louisiana Purchase), he found the Pawnee flying the Spanish flag over their council house. He convinced them to lower the flag of Spain and raise the U.S. flag, which Pike supplied. He allowed the Pawnee to keep the Spanish flag, although they no longer used it.
"As you point out, the Louisiana Purchase was a disaster for Native Americans, who had no say in the arrangement."
Thanks, Eric, for adding more information about the background of the Louisiana Purchase, some of which I originally intended to be included in my blog article. However, I don't remember reading about what you wrote in your next to last paragraph, and I appreciate you sharing that interesting information.
DeleteA few minutes ago, I realized that I wrote the last part of this post as though all of my Thinking Friends (and other readers) have children and will likely have descendants down to the seventh generation. That, of course, is not the case. But still, since "it takes a village" to raise the future generations, everyone can/should have concern for the seventh generation of their siblings, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances who do have children and do or will have grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteThe Ten Commandments get into this issue of generations, although later prophets disagreed, and said each is punished only for his or her own sins. I square the two by contrasting consequences and punishments. When viewed as consequences, the issue of long-term consequences fits very much with what we are discussing today. Here is the NRSV of Exodus 20:5b-6: "...I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments." Compare that to Ezekiel 18:1-4: "The word of the Lord came to me: What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land Israel, 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die."
ReplyDeleteThe Bible has made other similar clarifications, such as distinguishing between killing and murdering. (I note that in Exodus 20:13 KJV says "not kill" while NRSV says "not murder," so perhaps that one is just a translation issue.) On a variety of social issues modern readers have sought to tease out distinctions on issues such as abortion and homosexuality. So, clearly, consequences flowing through multiple generations can have profound results much later.
I was reminded of this a few years ago when I attended a Veterans Day theatrical event at the World War I Memorial in Kansas City. On one level, the show was quite a farce, presenting the leaders of the countries involved as clowns. On another level, I was left meditating on the huge cost on that war, not just in the millions killed, but of the lingering results such as the rise of Communism in Russia and the rise of Hitler in Germany, both of which flowed from the Great War and its aftermath. Then the news reported that the last known American veteran of World War I had just died. He was still living while we watched the play. World War I was so far away, and yet so close. The shock waves from that war are still reverberating around the world; and the Memorial still has a field of poppy statues to honor the dead.
Thanks, Craig, for posting thought-provoking comments, as you so often do. I was especially interested in thinking more about your first paragraph. I am wondering if the contrast can be made between responsibility and consequences. Everyone is responsible for their own activities and must bear the consequences of and perhaps punishment for what is done. But if the responsibility ends with the individual person, the consequences do not. The "punishment" [=effects] of bad actions/decisions are often felt to the "third or fourth generation"--and perhaps even down to the seventh generation.
DeleteThank you, Leroy, for sharing about your ancestry, and reminding us that, at whatever remove, we are all the children of immigrants. I live in a house on lands seized from the Cherokee two centuries ago; a fourth great-grandfather lived in this "frontier" region in the 1820s. My family history until lately has been chiefly "western", until I learned about the ancestors' part in the westward flow of Euro-American society over three centuries. I wonder what these folk thought about future generations.
ReplyDeleteAsian friends repeated the axiom that "your teacher is my teacher," referring obviously to traditions of learning and heightening the sense of responsibility for the teacher. A mentor frequently asserted axiomatically, "No Child is Father to the Man," referring to the Reform era (for Catholics as well as Protestants) in which ". . . every father became aware of his priestly role in his own household as an image of the whole congregation." What the clergy alone had carried out before, now families were entrusted with--scripture and prayer led in the home came to be the model of the early-modern Christian home. Luther's own home was an example. The "Protestant home," for example, diverged from the medieval pattern, a change from traditional, prescribed roles and responsibilities, to an emphasis on the role of parents in spiritual formation in the home. That can be idealized. Whatever spiritual rank accrued in Reform society, whatever spiritual authority parents held for their children, dwindled in the "progress" of the industrial, techological and scientific revolutions. Of course in no way were these processes complete, then or now, but the emphasis is on the spiritual basis of a society. "On the children was impressed the paradox that they might advance in the ways of the world far beyond the parents and still owe them their first elevation to the highway of the full spirit." (E. Rosenstock-Huessy, THE CHRISTIAN FUTURE, OR THE MIND OUTRUN, 1966, pp. 36-37.)
Parents were not only for giving life, but for shaping children for life in the world in the Spirit.
I apologize for the overly brief expression here; ER-H offered similar argument as to "fathers and sons" (not "Sons and Fathers) re Dostoevsky's classic novel, whose narrative showed the spiritual destructiveness of improper ordering.
I am struck by the impact of the axiomatic "seven generations" taken figuratively rather than literally, that any teacher or parent or leader ought to be thinking about the moral and practical effects of his or her decisions and actions on all future generations, and with a sense of accountability to all former generations who demonstrated prudence and spiritual responsibility.
Thanks, Jerry, for your thought-provoking comments also. I will make only two fairly brief responses. First, you mentioned your fourth-great grandfather (the seventh generation before you) in the 1820s. That caused me to think (and research) a bit more about Hartwell Seat (my fourth-great grandfather) who emigrated from Virginia to Davidson County, Tennessee, in 1797. According to Wikipedia, "Through much of the early 1780s, the settlers [in Davidson Co.] also faced a hostile response from the Native American tribes, such as the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), and Shawnee who while not living in the area used is as a hunting ground and resented the newcomers moving into there and competing for its resources."
DeleteThen, thanks for noting that "seven generations" can, and probably should, be taken figuratively rather than literally, as I did in what I posted. Your final paragraph is an excellent summary of what I was seeking to say in the final part of my post.