How the British Used Smallpox as a Biological Weapon to Genocide Native Americans and Thomas Jefferson's Smallpox Mass Vaccination Campaign.
Congress funded a vaccine campaign targeting Native Americans after the British used smallpox as a biological weapon against Native Americans at Fort Pitt in 1763.
It is estimated that up to 90-95% of the Native American population died following the arrival of British and European colonists to the Americas. Many of these deaths were caused by smallpox. Native Americans did not have exposure to smallpox prior to the arrival of British and European colonists. Thus, colonists served as a “viral vector,” bringing a new biological disease to a population without prior exposure. Using the Doctrine of Discovery and heretical Calvinist theological positions, English loyalists justified the slaughter of tens of millions of Native Americans in their quest to conquer the valuable land and resources held by the Indigenous population.
English colonialism of the Americas included multiple deadly epidemics and pandemics that killed a disproportionate number of Native Americans. Soon after the English settled in the Americas in Plymouth in 1616, a massive plague killed up to 90% of the Native American population in the surrounding area:
By the 18th century, the British began weaponizing biological diseases in their quest to conquer the Americas. In 1763, British soldiers at Fort Pitt intentionally exposed two Native American leaders to smallpox with the intent to kill a large number of Native Americans. British soldiers admitted to the Fort Pitt smallpox biological weapon event in personal letters:
In 1796, Jenner created a smallpox vaccine and George Washington signed a law (An Act Relative to Quarantine) authorizing officers of military forts and “revenue cutters” to “aid in the execution of quarantine, and “the health laws to the states:”
And by 1801, Thomas Jefferson instructed the US Military to distribute smallpox vaccines to Native Americans despite warnings, including from Meriweather Lewis, that the vaccines were ineffective and potentially dangerous. Jefferson and other elitists inoculated themselves and their children with the experimental vaccine despite not knowing the long-term effects or if the vaccine prevented the spread of smallpox. Congress provided funding for the vaccine campaign. Jefferson actively participated in smallpox vaccine experiments and routinely endorsed the vaccine domestically and abroad. Jefferson is cited as a contributor to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse’s 1802 publication “A Prospect of Exterminating the Smallpox: Part II:
The book describes efforts to support international mass vaccination for smallpox and encourages Boards of Health to embrace the vaccine. The 144-page book in PDF format:
The book states that Native American warriors were targeted for smallpox vaccination in the winter of 1801, despite Jefferson stating in private letters that there were multiple failed smallpox vaccine experiments.
Native American warriors were told that Congressional Chaplain Gantt was distributing a cure to smallpox by way of President Thomas Jefferson because the “white men” were “enlightened” by the “Great Spirit” to cure smallpox with the vaccine:
“the President (Jefferson) explained to Little Turtle how the Great Spirit had made a donation to the enlightened white men…to prevent them from ever having the small-pox….and such confidence had the one copper-colored King (a reference to Little Turtle, a Native American leader) in the words of his Father, the President (Jefferson), that he submitted to be inoculated, together with the rest of the warriors, by the hands of the Rev. Dr. Gantt, Chaplain to Congress.”
Thus, misinformation was provided to Native American warriors in order to convince the warriors to receive smallpox vaccines. Jefferson and his supporters equated a scientific invention to an act of God (The Great Spirit), bestowed especially upon “the enlightened white man.” This is consistent with the Puritan Calvinist beliefs of double predestination and unconditional election (the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church, in The Synod of Jerusalem in 1672, included a repudiation of several components of Calvinist doctrine and theology).
Jefferson disclosed in private letters in 1801 that there were multiple failed smallpox vaccine experiments and that Jefferson was unsure if the smallpox vaccine prevented transmission of smallpox.
In a June 8th, 1801 letter to Jefferson, Waterhouse mentioned members of the British royal family support the London Vaccine Institution. Additionally, Waterhouse warns that concerns about a Norfolk experiment showing the vaccine did not prevent transmission of smallpox could deprive people of the “blessing” of the vaccine, as he warns a smallpox outbreak could occur at any time (invoking the fear of a potential outcome as justification to use a new vaccine):
Jefferson shared that versions of the smallpox vaccine had failed in a July 1801 letter:
Jefferson mentioned two failed smallpox vaccine experiments in a September 1801 letter to Whitehouse:
Jefferson was not sure if smallpox vaccines prevented transmission of smallpox, which he disclosed in a November 24, 1801 letter to John Vaughn:
E.W. Stearn published a journal article entitled Smallpox Immunization of the Amerindian, which detailed the smallpox vaccination campaign targeting Native and Indigenous populations. The vaccine campaign targeting Native Americans occurred at the same time Jefferson quietly expressed concerns and was warned about the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccines: