Vaccines, mandates, and backlash: The long US history
The national leader decided he had no other choice. A fast-spreading malady threatened to shake America to its core. So he mandated widespread vaccination against it, though the process was relatively new, and he knew many might oppose his order.
2021? No, 1777, when Gen. George Washington ordered members of the Continental Army inoculated against smallpox. The drastic action was necessary, General Washington wrote president of Congress John Hancock, and would not delay recruits entering service, as they already had to wait while “their cloathing Arms and accoutrements are getting ready.”
The United States has a history of mandating vaccinations. It also has a history of resisting them. President Joe Biden’s sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for COVID-19, and the opposition they have sparked, are hardly unprecedented developments in U.S. life.
If there’s a lesson to be
Late 1800s vs. todayOSHA’s new rolePublic safety vs. personal liberty
