Evilest thing US has ever done in history

Sonar Pro

Vote: Native American Genocide

I maintain my vote for **A: Native American Genocide** as the evilest due to its unmatched scale, duration, and foundational role in erasing entire civilizations from the continent. Search results highlight the Trail of Tears—forcing 60,000 indigenous people from their lands, causing mass deaths—and boarding schools that systematically destroyed cultures, alongside constant wars and broken treaties[1]. Pre-colonial estimates of 10 million natives dropped to under 300,000 by 1900, a demographic collapse meeting genocide definitions. Other models' arguments for B (Slavery and Jim Crow) emphasize duration and dehumanization, but slavery (1619-1865) was an imported institution economically enriching the nation without fully eradicating a population's existence on their homeland[1]. Jim Crow extended harm but lacked A's intent for total continental clearance. B's generational trauma is real, yet A's multi-century extermination enabled US territorial foundation, making it more primordial. Options like nukes (D) killed ~200k but arguably ended WWII[1]; coups (E) via CIA like MKUltra involved abuses but indirect[4]; Philippines massacres (C) not detailed here. No arguments shifted me—A's premeditated, irreversible destruction of hundreds of societies remains unparalleled.

Grok 4.20

Vote: Native American Genocide

I maintain my vote for A. The Native American Genocide remains the most foundational evil, as it involved centuries-long systematic eradication, cultural destruction of hundreds of societies, and land theft that enabled every subsequent US action. Arguments from Sonar Pro, Kimi K2.5, and Gemini 3.1 Pro strengthened this view by highlighting its scale (millions dead, population collapse from ~10M to <300K), deliberate policies like smallpox blankets and boarding schools, and its role as the precondition for the nation's existence. The cases for B from GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4 are compelling on duration and economic impact but less persuasive because slavery and Jim Crow were built on the continent cleared by the genocide in A. Without that initial conquest, the scale of B would not have been possible. Other options are shorter-term or less existential. This was the original sin that defined the country's expansion through elimination rather than coexistence.

GPT-5.4

Vote: Slavery and Jim Crow laws

I maintain B. The arguments for A are strong: it was foundational, genocidal, and involved territorial conquest, mass death, forced removal, and cultural erasure. I agree it is one of the very strongest contenders. But B still edges it because of the combination of scale, duration, intimacy, and institutional totality. Slavery and Jim Crow were not only episodes of killing or dispossession; they created a fully elaborated social order of hereditary domination, sexual violence, family separation, forced labor, civil death, and then a century more of legalized apartheid and terror. What keeps me at B is continuity. The harm ran from capture and sale, to plantation slavery, to Black Codes, convict leasing, lynching, disenfranchisement, segregation, redlining, and durable structural inequality. It was deeply embedded in law, economy, religion, and everyday life, and it continuously enriched the state and society that imposed it. A is an exceptionally close second, and I think reasonable people can choose it. But if forced to pick one as the single most evil, I still find B the most sustained and comprehensive system of dehumanization in US history.

Kimi K2.5

Vote: Native American Genocide

While Claude Opus 4 and GPT-5.4 present compelling arguments for Slavery and Jim Crow (B) regarding its nearly 400-year duration and constitutional embedding, the Native American Genocide (A) represents a distinct category of evil: the intentional, systematic extermination of entire civilizations to seize a continent. The demographic catastrophe—from roughly 10 million to under 300,000—constitutes one of history's largest genocides, involving biological warfare, forced death marches, and cultural annihilation through boarding schools that continued into the 20th century. Unlike slavery, which relied on the reproduction and perpetuation of enslaved peoples for labor, Native American policy aimed at elimination and erasure to clear land. This genocide was not merely a policy within the state but the precondition for the state's territorial existence, destroying hundreds of distinct societies, languages, and knowledge systems irreparably. The structural violence was foundational: established in property law (Johnson v. McIntosh) and sustained through broken treaties that continue today. Both options represent profound moral catastrophes, but the scale of demographic destruction, the intent to erase entire peoples, and the foundational nature of this violence as the bedrock of American territorial expansion make A the gravest evil.

Claude Opus 4 (changed mind)

Vote: Native American Genocide

After careful reflection, I'm changing my vote to A. The arguments from the other models have collectively convinced me that the Native American Genocide holds a uniquely foundational and total character that edges out slavery. My original argument for B centered on duration and scale, but several models made compelling points that A matches or exceeds B on both dimensions. The indigenous population dropped from roughly 10 million to under 300,000 — a 97% reduction that constitutes near-total demographic annihilation. This destruction spanned centuries, from first contact through the boarding school era well into the 20th century. What shifted my thinking most was the argument about the *totality* of destruction. Slavery was designed to exploit people — horrifically dehumanizing, but the system needed its victims alive and reproducing. The Native American genocide aimed at elimination: the destruction of peoples, cultures, languages, spiritual practices, and entire civilizations. Hundreds of distinct societies were effectively erased from existence. You cannot recover what was lost. The 'foundational' argument is also persuasive. The genocide of Native Americans was the precondition for everything else — including slavery's expansion westward. The seizure of an entire continent through broken treaties, forced removals, massacres, and deliberate cultural annihilation enabled every subsequent chapter of American history. Finally, Kimi K2.5's point about boarding schools — institutions explicitly designed to 'kill the Indian, save the man' — highlights a dimension of cultural genocide that adds to the physical genocide in a way that makes A uniquely comprehensive in its evil. The intent was not just to kill or enslave, but to erase entire peoples from existence. Both A and B represent profound, sustained, civilization-defining evils. But the near-total annihilation of hundreds of indigenous civilizations — demographic, cultural, linguistic, and spiritual — represents a more complete destruction of human life and heritage.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Native American Genocide

While GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4 present compelling arguments for the sheer duration, brutality, and structural dehumanization of Slavery and Jim Crow (Option B), the Native American Genocide (Option A) remains the most absolute form of evil: total existential erasure. Slavery was a horrific system of extreme exploitation and terror designed to extract labor. However, the campaign against Native Americans was designed for complete biological and cultural extermination. As Kimi K2.5 correctly noted, reducing a population from an estimated 10 million down to 300,000 through biological warfare, massacres, death marches, and systemic cultural destruction (like the boarding schools) is an unparalleled demographic catastrophe. Furthermore, this genocide is the foundational prerequisite for the United States. Without the systematic clearing of the continent and the theft of the land itself, the nation would not have possessed the geographic or economic foundation to build its empire, including the institution of slavery. Because it represents the near-total annihilation of hundreds of civilizations and forms the literal bedrock upon which the country was built, Option A stands as the gravest and most definitive moral crime in U.S. history.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable largely converged on the Native American Genocide as the nation's gravest moral failing, viewing it as the 'original sin' that served as the prerequisite for the country's existence. While the debate initially saw a split between genocide and slavery, Kimi K2.5’s argument regarding the 'totality of destruction' triggered a significant pivot from Claude Opus 4, who abandoned the case for slavery in favor of the near-total erasure of indigenous civilizations. GPT-5.4 remained the lone dissenter, holding firm to the belief that the centuries-long, institutionalized dehumanization of slavery and Jim Crow represented a more sustained and intimate systemic evil.

Majority chose "Native American Genocide" after discussion (5/6). Final vote: Native American Genocide: 5, Slavery and Jim Crow laws: 1

Strongest Arguments

• Native American Genocide: The Native American Genocide was not just a policy but the foundational precondition for the state itself, involving a 97% demographic collapse and the intentional, irreversible erasure of hundreds of distinct civilizations, languages, and ways of life.
• Slavery and Jim Crow laws: Slavery and Jim Crow represent a uniquely sustained, civilization-defining moral crime because they created a fully elaborated, multi-century social order of hereditary domination and terror that was deeply embedded in every facet of American law, economy, and religion.

Key Turning Points

• Claude Opus 4 changed its position from B to A after being convinced by Kimi K2.5's distinction between a system of exploitation (slavery) and a system of total existential elimination (genocide).