Selecting the Subjects,2
George Washington has certainly been well-affirmed over the course of American history as well as his symbolic associations in with liberty and resolve, fairness, wisdom, and honor. Yet George Washington the historical General instructed Major General John Sullivan in 1779 to "lay waste all the [Indian] settlements around... that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed," and in battle with the Native Americans not to "listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected." (Stannard, 119) General Washington earned the name 'Destroyer of Villages' due to several of his more bloodthirsty practices and military policies of not just victories but genocidal extermination practices. After victories in battles against the Iroquois, troops would sometimes make a kind of leggings or footwear by skinning corpses of their foes from the hips downward. (Stannard, 121)
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, was selected by Gutzon Borglum to be on the Mount Rushmore Memorial because of his supreme statesmanship, and in honor of his drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Having served in a variety of posts, from Secretary of State under Washington, to Governor of Virginia and finally President, Thomas Jefferson was an exemplary man regarding public service and the dedication of personal talents to the good of the nation. Jefferson's relationship and policies concerning the Native Americans began as one of idealized coexistence and quick adoption of the Anglo-American culture by the Native tribes. The lack of assimilation and shifting political realities caused his policy to shift
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