Blaming the Past for the Present

In England during the mid-nineteenth century, a theory that had begun redefining the explanation of the development of human nature was to take a new turn. While analyzing the writings of his relative, Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton became fascinated with the theory of natural selection. Darwin's theory sparked an idea within him that was destined to create even more complexity in the idea of man's superiority. Galton became intrigued with the idea of human abilities to be hereditary. Therefore, he began to conduct studies within his own family and concluded that if human abilities were indeed hereditary, there would be specific abilities more prominent his family than in the general population. Galton then attempted to develop the idea of nature vs. nurture, and proceeded to test the theory by sending out a questionnaire to 190 people he knew. Through the questionnaire Galton would gather information on characteristics of the families throughout the area. This experiment did not settle the theory of nature vs. nurture but brought it into perspective. He then proceeded to conduct another experiment using twins, by placing them in different environments to see if similar characteristics developed in each. His evidence concluded that nature prevailed over nurture. Galton subsequently compiled his observations and experiments and introduced the idea of eugenics (a name that he came up with himself). Eugenics (meaning wellborn), is explained as a science and social movement of the controlled selective breeding of humans. In other words, perfection of the human race.

Eugenics has two methods. In positive eugenics the superior race, or family, with the ideal traits are encouraged to reproduce as much as possible and intermarry with those of similar high quality traits. Negative eugenics encourages reducing the number of children produced by the defective race through forced sterilization, segregation, euthanasia, and a greater use of contraceptives. Galton was in favor of positive eugenics, but his followers believed that negative eugenics was the only way to enhance the human race. When Galton died in 1911, his followers began to execute ways to wipe out all mentally handicapped, physically handicapped, blind, poor, and colored portions of society.

Eugenics automatically became popular in America because of its mass appeal to the wealthiest and most influential people. The idea of breeding to enhance genetic makeup

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