Quotes, excerpts, and commentary regarding Native Americans. The narrative we are typically taught in school glorifies the settler-colonialism of Manifest Destiny, treats Native American history as a mere footnote, and rarely gives the perspective of Native American nations and individuals (despite an abundance of historic quotations which were recorded from Native American leaders!).
The American Dream will not be fully realized until the Western-Civilization-based narrative is replaced by a narrative where Native American perspectives and history are considered an integral part of American Civilization. From the First Thanksgiving, to Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, there have always been those who believed Native Americans should be considered an integral part of US society, contrary to Manifest Destiny junkies who wished for the US to be a "white" and Eurocentric nation.
"When an Indian Child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our Customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian Ramble with them, there is no persuading him ever to return, and that this is not natural [to them] merely as Indians, but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived a while among them, tho’ ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet in a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them."
"The Difference is not so great as may be imagined. Happiness is more generally and equally diffus’d among Savages than in our civiliz’d Societies. No European who has once tasted Savage Life, can afterwards bear to live in our Societies. The Care and Labour of providing for artificial and fashionable Wants, the Sight of so many Rich wallowing in superfluous Plenty, whereby so many are kept poor distress’d by Want: The Insolence of Office, the Snares and Plagues of Law, the Restraints of Custom, all contribute to disgust them with what we call civil Society."
"The British Nation had no original Property in the Country of America. It was purchas’d by the first Colonists of the Natives, the only Owners."
"Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the Perfection of Civility; they think the same of theirs.
Perhaps if we could examine the manners of different Nations with Impartiality, we should find no People so rude as to be without Rules of Politeness; nor any so polite as not to have some remains of Rudeness.
...Having few Artificial Wants, they have abundance of Leisure for Improvement by Conversation. Our laborious manner of Life compared with theirs, they esteem slavish and base; and the Learning on which we value ourselves; they regard as frivolous and useless."
"The good Missionary, disgusted with this idle Tale, said, what I delivered to you were sacred Truths; but what you tell me is mere Fable, Fiction & Falsehood. The Indian offended, reply’d, my Brother, it seems your Friends have not done you Justice in your Education; they have not well instructed you in the Rules of common Civility. You saw that we who understand and practise those Rules, believed all your Stories; why do you refuse to believe ours?"
"This made it clear to me that my Suspicion was right; and that whatever they pretended of Meeting to learn good things [going to church], the real Purpose was to consult, how to cheat Indians in the Price of Beaver. Consider but a little, Conrad, and you must be of my Opinion. If they met so often to learn good things, they would certainly have learnt some before this time. But they are still ignorant. You know our Practice. If a white Man in travelling thro’ our Country, enters one of our Cabins, we all treat him as I treat you; we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him Meat & Drink that he may allay his Thirst and Hunger, & we spread soft Furs for him to rest & sleep on: We demand nothing in return. But if I go into a white Man’s House at Albany, and ask for Victuals & Drink, they say, where is your Money? and if I have none, they say, Get out, you Indian Dog. You see they have not yet learnt those little good things, that we need no Meetings to be instructed in, because our Mothers taught them to us when we were Children. And therefore, it is impossible their Meetings, should be as they say for any such purpose, or have any such Effect; they are only to contrive the Cheating of Indians in the Price of Beaver."
"As to the aboriginal man of America, I know of no respectable evidence on which the opinion of his inferiority of genius has been founded, but that of Don Ulloa. ...He wrote of what he saw, but he saw the Indian of South America only, and that, after he had passed through ten generations of slavery. It is very unfair, from this sample, to judge of the natural genius of this race of men; and after supposing that Don Ulloa had not sufficiently calculated the allowance which should be made for this circumstance, we do him no injury in considering the picture he draws of the present Indians of South America, as no picture of what their ancestors were, three hundred years ago. It is in North America we are to seek their original character. And I am safe in affirming, that the proofs of genius given by the Indians of North America, place them on a level with whites in the same uncultivated state. The North of Europe furnishes subjects enough for comparison with them, and for a proof of their equality. I have seen some thousands myself, and conversed much with them, and have found in them a masculine, sound understanding. I have had much information from men who had lived among them, and whose veracity and good sense were so far known to me, as to establish a reliance on their information. They have all agreed in bearing witness in favor of the genius of this people. ...I believe the Indian, then, to be, in body and mind, equal to the white man. I have supposed the black man, in his present state, might not be so; but it would be hazardous to affirm, that, equally cultivated for a few generations, he would not become so."
"In leading them to agriculture, to manufactures, and civilization; in bringing together their and our settlements, and in preparing them ultimately to participate in the benefits of our governments, I trust and believe we are acting for their greatest good."
"The river Missouri, and the Indians inhabiting it, are not as well known as is rendered desirable by their connexion with the Mississippi, and consequently with us. ...An intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enterprise, and willing to undertake it, taken from our posts, where they may be spared without inconvenience, might explore the whole line, even to the Western Ocean, have conferences with the natives on the subject of commercial intercourse, get admission among them for our traders, as others are admitted, agree on convenient deposits for an interchange of articles, and return with the information acquired, in the course of two summers."
"In all your intercourse with the natives treat them in the most friendly & conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit; allay all jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy them of it's innocence, make them acquainted with the position, extent, character, peaceable & commercial dispositions of the U.S., of our wish to be neighborly, friendly & useful to them, & of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with them; confer with them on the points most convenient as mutual emporiums, & the articles of most desirable interchange for them & us. If a few of their influential chiefs, within practicable distance, wish to visit us, arrange such a visit with them, and furnish them with authority to call on our officers, on their entering the U.S. to have them conveyed to this place at the public expense. If any of them should wish to have some of their young people brought up with us, & taught such arts as may be useful to them, we will receive, instruct & take care of them. Such a mission, whether of influential chiefs, or of young people, would give some security to your own party. Carry with you some matter of the kine pox, inform those of them with whom you may be, of it's efficacy as a preservative from the small pox; and instruct & encourage them in the use of it. This may be especially done wherever you may winter."
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The following academic paper gives a brief overview of Pontiac's Rebellion:
"In a laughing manner [Shu'nuni'u] replied: "You don't expect he has come to decorate your ears with silver ear-bobs? No, he comes here simply to get the balance of our country! Not being satisfied with what he has already obtained, he proposes to remove us across the Mississippi, which country he represents to be far better than ours; he says there is an abundance of all kinds of game there; that the lakes and the rivers are full of fish and wild rice." Several of those who were listening, here interrupted the speaker with evident anxiety, saying, "Why don't he go himself and live in such a fine country, where there is an abundance of everything? He is mistaken! and you ought to have told him at once not to say any more about it." Shononee replied: "That is what we did; but you know how the Kechemocoman (or the Great Knife, as they name the American) never gets rebuked at a refusal; but will persist, and try over and over again till he accomplishes his purpose. I left our chief Oshkosh to debate with him, and I will not adhere to any proposition he may make."
Shononee then made running remarks about different tribes of Indians who had been removed from their country to distant lands, referring especially to the Winnebagoes and the Pottowattamies; and in winding up his remarks, said: "We know by those who have come back from the country whither they have been removed, to what dangers they are exposed;" and, after a pause, he added: "It is but the result of what Pontiac had foreseen and foretold." The by-standers inquired who Pontiac was, and what he had foreseen. Shononee then resumed by saying: "Pontiac lived before my time; but I will simply state to you what my ancestors have related to me in regard to him. He was they told me, a noble-minded Indian; he had come to Milwaukee at one time, and then and there had assembled different tribes of Indians, and addressed them as follows:
"My Friends! I have come here to consult you in behalf of our common cause. When the white man came across the ocean, and landed on our shores, he spoke with a sweet and silver-tongued mouth, saying that we had large possessions of land, and that he had none, and asked to be permitted to settle in a corner, and live with us like brothers. We received and admitted them as such; and they lived true to their proposition and promise, until they had gained strength. They then commenced to encroach upon us more and more. Their purpose is plain to me—that they will continue to encroach upon us, until they discover that they have sufficient power to remove us from our country to a distant land, where we will be confronted with all kinds of danger, and perhaps be annihilated. The time is not far distant when we shall be placed in a critical position. It is now in our power to force the whites back to their original settlements. We must all join in one common cause, and sweep the white men from our country, and then we shall live happy, and we shall have nothing more to do with the hated race. ...""
"After the Indian was seated the Lord said to him: "I am the Master of Life, and since I know what thou desirest to know, and to whom thou wishest to speak, listen well to what I am going to say to thee and to all the Indians:
...I do not forbid you to allow the Children of your Father [the French] among you. I love them. They know me and pray to me, and I give them their needs and everything they bring with them. But as for those who have come to trouble your lands: drive them out, make war on them. I do not love them. They do not know me and are my enemies and the enemies of your Brothers.""
"It is important for us, my brothers, that we exterminate from our lands this nation which seeks only to destroy us."
"When I go to see the English commander and say to him that some of our comrades are dead, instead of bewailing their death, as our French brothers do, he laughs at me and at you. If I ask anything for our sick, he refuses with the reply that he has no use for us. From all this you can well see that they are seeking our ruin. Therefore, my brothers, we must all swear their destruction and wait no longer. ...If there are any French who side with them, let us strike them as well as the English. Remember what the Master of Life told our brother, the Wolf, to do. That concerns us all as well as others."
Working alongside Pontiac was a prophet named Neolin. He urged listeners to abandon the ways of the Westerners and purify their societies from the conflict and social strife which was engineered by them. Coming a generation after Neolin, Tenskwatawa (Tecumseh's brother) was another in a long history of Native American prophets and religious movements (culminating with the Ghost Dance Movement in the 1890s) urging listeners to unite across traditional tribal lines in order to face the threat of colonial encroachment and unjust annihilation of Native American cultures at the hands of Western Civilization.
Linked below is a brief biography on Neolin and Tenskwatawa. The author uses the term "nativist" to describe Neolin and Tenskwatawa, due to their hostility towards the "white" settlers, but it is important to distinguish their anti-colonialist spirit (which may have sometimes used rhetoric which broadly generalized everyone of European ancestry in the Americas as enemies in order to rouse up greater support among Native Americans), from true, prejudiced, nativism (which can be seen in US history in the form of hostility towards Irish immigrants in the 1800s and Latin American immigrants today; in fact, Anglo-centric nativists in the 1800s first coined the term "native American" to refer exclusively to non-immigrant US citizens of Anglo ancestry!). Pontiac and Tecumseh (and we may also assume Neolin and Tenskwatawa) became hostile to the Western colonialists only after it had become clear that the "white" settlers had no desire to live peacefully alongside the Native Americans. Compare this Pontiac quote, "It is important for us, my brothers, that we exterminate from our lands this nation which seeks only to destroy us." with this quote by Malcolm X expressing a similar sentiment two centuries later, "I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don't believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn't want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return the treatment."
It was not immigration or pale-skinned people which Neolin, Tenskwatawa, Pontiac, Tecumseh, Malcolm X, and countless other Americans had an issue with--it was Western Civilization.
"These Indians were the remains of a tribe of the Six Nations, settled at Conestogoe, and thence called Conestogoe Indians. On the first arrival of the English in Pennsylvania, messengers from this tribe came to welcome them... This treaty has been since frequently renewed, and the chain brightened, as they express it, from time to time. It has never been violated, on their part or ours, till now.
...On Wednesday, the 14th of December, 1763, Fifty-seven men, from some of our frontier townships, who had projected the destruction of this little Commonwealth [Conestoga], came, all well-mounted, and armed with firelocks, hangers and hatchets, having traveled through the country in the night, to Conestogoe Manor. There they surrounded the small village of Indian huts, and just at break of day broke into them all at once. ...These poor defenceless creatures were immediately fired upon, stabbed and hatcheted to death!
...The barbarous men who committed the atrocious act, in defiance of government, of all laws human and divine, and to the eternal disgrace of their country and colour, then mounted their horses, huzza'd in triumph, as if they had gained a victory, and rode off--unmolested!
The bodies of the murdered were then brought out and exposed in the street, till a hole could be made in the Earth, to receive and cover them.
But the wickedness cannot be covered, the guilt will lie on the whole Land, till justice is done on the murderers. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT WILL CRY TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE."
"There are some (I am ashamed to hear it) who would extenuate the enormous wickedness of these actions, by saying, "The inhabitants of the frontiers are exasperated with the murder of their relations, by the enemy Indians, in the present war." It is possible;--but though this might justify their going out into the woods, to seek out those enemies, and avenge upon them those murders; it can never justify their turning into the heart of the country, to murder their friends.
If an Indian injures me, does it follow that I may revenge that injury on all Indians? It is well known that Indians are of different tribes, nations and languages, as well as the white people. In Europe, if the French, who are white people, should injure the Dutch, are they to revenge it on the English, because they too are white people? The only crime of these poor wretches seems to have been, that they had a reddish brown skin, and black hair; and some people of that sort, it seems, had murdered some of our relations. If it be right to kill men for such a reason, then, should any man, with a freckled face and red hair, kill a wife or child of mine, it would be right for me to revenge it, by killing all the freckled red-haired men, women, and children, I could afterwards any where meet with."
"Do we come to America to learn and practice the manners of barbarians? But this, barbarians as they are, they practice against their enemies only, not against their friends.
These poor people have been always our friends. Their fathers received ours, when strangers here, with kindness and hospitality. Behold the return we have made them! When we grew more numerous and powerful, they put themselves under our protection. See, in the mangled corpses of the last remains of the tribe, how effectually we have afforded it to them!
Unhappy people! to have lived in such times, and by such neighbours!--We have seen, that they would have been safer among the ancient heathens, with whom the rites of hospitality were sacred.--They would have been considered guests of the public, and the religion of the country would have operated in their favor. But our frontier people call themselves Christians! ...They would have been safer, though they had been taken in actual war against the Saracens, if they had once drank water with them. These were not taken in war against us, and have drank with us, and we with them, for fourscore years. ...These were not enemies; they were born among us, and yet we have killed them all. ...In short it appears, that they would have been safe in any part of the known world,--except in the neighbourhood of the CHRISTIAN WHITE SAVAGES of Peckstang and Donegall!"
The following link gives additional information about the Paxton Boys lynch mob who murdered the Conestogas. From what is stated in the book review, the thesis of the book seems to be that Pennsylvania had fallen to the ignobility of Western Civilization with this massacre, betraying the state's founding principles of peace and inter-ethnic unity.
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The Treaty of Paris (1783) established peace amongst European participants in the Revolutionary War, but the treaty was silent on the fate of the various Native American nations who had fought in the war. Hoping to eventually regain some of the vast territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, Britain did not remove their troops from what was formally US territory, and encouraged Native Americans to continue to fight the US. After a decade of continued battles, the US signed the Treaty of Greenville with Native American nations in 1795.
While the Treaty of Greenville should have theoretically established fair and peaceful relations between the US and the Native Americans, this was not the case in reality. Believing that the US government had taken up the mantle of Western colonialism after achieving independence from Britain (which unfortunately proved to be correct), Tecumseh was highly suspicious of Greenville and subsequent treaties, and began rallying all those who felt likewise. Although, out of necessity, Tecumseh petitioned for material support from the British against their mutual enemy of the US, inspired by Pontiac, he once again united various Native American groups into an anti-colonial alliance. Fundamentally, this is the same spirit of E Pluribus Unum which had previously united the 13 States against the colonial hegemony of Britain. If US politicians and citizens could have abandoned their ethnocentrism and embraced the idealistic vision of Jefferson to unite their blood with the Native Americans and become one people, Tecumseh would not have been compelled to fight against the US.
◦ Article 1 (perpetual peace and friendship are to take place between the US and Amerindian groups signing the treaty)
◦ Article 5 (Amerindian lands in the Northwest Territory may only be relinquished by their sale to the United States government (not private speculators), and the US will defend the Amerindian lands against settlers from the US or other nations)
◦ Article 6 (any "white" person taking land belonging to Amerindians is outside of the protection of the US; can be punished as the Amerindian owners see fit; and may be captured, removed, and punished by the US)
"In view of questions of vast importance, have we met together in solemn council tonight. Nor should we here debate whether we have been wronged and injured, but by what measures we should avenge ourselves; for our merciless oppressors, having long since planned out their proceedings, are not about to make, but have and are still making attacks upon our race who have as yet come to no resolution. ...Before the palefaces came among us, we enjoyed the happiness of unbounded freedom, and were acquainted with neither riches, wants nor oppression. How is it now? Wants and oppression are our lot; for are we not controlled in everything, and dare we move without asking, by your leave? Are we not being stripped day by day of the little that remains of our ancient liberty? Do they not even kick and strike us as they do their blackfaces? How long will it be before they will tie us to a post and whip us, and make us work for them in their cornfields as they do them? Shall we wait for that moment or shall we die fighting before submitting to such ignominy?
...If there be one here tonight who believes that his rights will not sooner or later be taken from him by the avaricious American pale faces, his ignorance ought to excite pity, for he knows little of our common foe... Then listen to the voice of duty, of honor, of nature and of your endangered country. Let us form one body, one heart, and defend to the last warrior our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers."
"Brothers, when the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their fires. They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves. Our fathers commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them whatever the Great Spirit had given his red children. They gave them food when hungry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds, that they might hunt and raise corn.
Brothers, the white people are like poisonous serpents: when chilled, they are feeble and harmless; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their benefactors to death. The white people came among us feeble; and now that we have made them strong, they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as they would wolves and panthers.
Brothers, the white men are not friends to the Indians: at first, they only asked for land sufficient for a wigwam; now, nothing will satisfy them but the whole of our hunting grounds, from the rising to the setting sun.
Brothers, the white men want more than our hunting grounds; they wish to kill our old men, women, and little ones.
...Brothers, my people wish for peace; the red men all wish for peace; but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother.
Brothers, the white men despise and cheat the Indians; they abuse and insult them; they do not think the red men sufficiently good to live. The red men have borne many and great injuries; they ought to suffer them no longer.
...Brothers, if you do not unite with us, they will first destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations of red men, because they were not united, because they were not friends to each other."
"If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would perhaps be the founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico or Peru. No difficulties deter him. For four years he has been in constant motion. You see him today on the Wabash, and in a short time hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on the banks of the Mississippi, and wherever he goes he makes an impression favorable to his purpose. He is now upon the last round to put a finishing stroke upon his work."
Harrison was the General who defeated Tecumseh's alliance in the Battle of Tippecanoe. How much better would our history have been if Harrison had allowed Tecumseh to build his empire--not as an enemy nation, but as an integral part of the USA? Harrison's hatred of Tecumseh's idealistic vision is no different from the British who wanted to keep America subjugated as part of their colonial domain.
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"But this letter being unofficial, and private, I may with safety give you a more extensive view of our policy respecting the Indians, that you may better comprehend the parts dealt out to you in detail through the official channel, and observing the system of which they make a part, conduct yourself in unison with it in cases where you are obliged to act without instruction. The system is to live in perpetual peace with the Indians, to cultivate an affectionate attachment from them, by every thing just & liberal which we can offer them within the bounds of reason, and by giving them effectual protection against wrongs from our own people. The decrease of game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient, we wish to draw them to agriculture, to spinning and weaving. ...At our trading houses too we mean to sell so low as merely to repay cost and charges so as neither to lessen or enlarge our capital. This is what private traders cannot do, for they must gain; they will consequently retire from the competition, and we shall thus get clear of this pest without giving offence or umbrage to the Indians. In this way our settlements will gradually circumscribe and approach the Indians, and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens of the United States or remove beyond the Mississippi. The former is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves. But in the whole course of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that our strength and their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, and that all our liberalities to them proceed from motives of pure humanity only. Should any tribe be fool-hardy enough to take up the hatchet at any time, the seizing the whole country of that tribe and driving them across the Mississippi, as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others, and a furtherance of our final consolidation.
...I have given you this view of the system which we suppose will best promote the interests of the Indians and of ourselves, and finally consolidate our whole country into one nation only, that you may be enabled the better to adapt your means to the object."
"Altho' you will receive, thro' the official channel of the War Office, every communication necessary to develop to you our views respecting the Indians, and to direct your conduct, yet, supposing it will be satisfactory to you, and to those with whom you are placed, to understand my personal dispositions and opinions in this particular, I shall avail myself of this private letter to state them generally. I consider the business of hunting as already become insufficient to furnish clothing and subsistence to the Indians. The promotion of agriculture, therefore, and household manufacture, are essential in their preservation, and I am disposed to aid and encourage it liberally. ...You are in the station peculiarly charged with this interchange, and who have it peculiarly in your power to promote among the Indians a sense of the superior value of a little land, well cultivated, over a great deal, unimproved, and to encourage them to make this estimate truly. ... In truth, the ultimate point of rest & happiness for them is to let our settlements and theirs meet and blend together, to intermix, and become one people. Incorporating themselves with us as citizens of the U.S., this is what the natural progress of things will of course bring on, and it will be better to promote than to retard it. Surely it will be better for them to be identified with us, and preserved in the occupation of their lands, than be exposed to the many casualties which may endanger them while a separate people. I have little doubt but that your reflections must have led you to view the various ways in which their history may terminate, and to see that this is the one most for their happiness. And we have already had an application from a settlement of Indians to become citizens of the U.S. It is possible, perhaps probable, that this idea may be so novel as that it might shock the Indians, were it even hinted to them. Of course, you will keep it for your own reflection; but, convinced of its soundness, I feel it consistent with pure morality to lead them towards it... I beseech you to use your most earnest endeavors; for it will relieve us here from a great pressure, and yourself from the unreasonable suspicions of the Georgians which you notice, that you are more attached to the interests of the Indians than of the U.S., and throw cold water on their willingness to part with lands."
"The general government [federal government] of the United States has considered it their duty and interest to extend their care and patronage over the Indian tribes within their limits, and to endeavor to render them friends, and, in time, perhaps, useful members of the nation."
"Some of you are old enough to remember, and the younger have heard from their fathers, that this country was formerly governed by the English. While they governed it, there were constant wars between the white and the red people. To such a height was the hatred of both parties carried, that they thought it no crime to kill one another in cold blood whenever they had an opportunity. This spirit led many of the Indians to take side against us in the war; and at the close of it, the English made peace for themselves, and left the Indians to get out of it as well as they could.
It was not till twelve years after that we are able, by the treaty of Greenville, to close our wars with all our red neighbors. From that moment, my children, the policy of this country towards you, has been entirely changed. ...from the moment I came into the administration, I have looked upon you with the same good will as my own fellow citizens, have considered your interests as our interests, and peace and friendship as a blessing to us all. ...I have inculcated peace with all your neighbors, have endeavored to prevent the introduction of spiritous liquors among you, and have pressed on you to rely for food on the culture of the earth more than on hunting. On the contrary, my children, the English persuade you to hunt. They supply you with spirituous liquors, and are now endeavoring to engage you to join them in the war against us, should a war take place. ...The course they advise, has worn you down to your present numbers but temperance, peace, and agriculture, will raise you up to what your forefathers were, will prepare you to possess property, to wish to live under regular laws, to join us in our government, to mix with us in society, and your blood and ours united, will spread again over the great island.
...Indeed, my children, this is now the disposition towards you of all our people. They look upon you as brethren, born in the same land, and having the same interests."
"I am glad to see you here, to receive your salutations, and to return them, by taking you by the hand, and renewing to you the assurances of my friendship. ...
The picture which you have drawn, my son, of the increase of our numbers, and the decrease of yours, is just; the causes are very plain, and the remedy depends on yourselves alone. You have lived by hunting the deer and buffalo; as these have been driven westward, you have sold out on the sea board, and moved westwardly in pursuit of them. As they became scarce there, your food has failed you; you have been a part of every year without food, except the roots and other unwholesome things you could find in the forests. Scanty and unwholesome food produce diseases and death among your children, and hence you have raised fur, and your numbers have decreased. ...You see, then, my children, that it depends on yourselves alone, to become a numerous and great people. Let me entreat you, therefore, on the lands now given you, to begin to give every man a farm; let him enclose it, cultivate it, build a warm house on it, and when he dies let it belong to his wife and children after him. Nothing is so easy as to learn to cultivate the earth; all your women understand it; and to make it easier, we are always ready to teach you how to make ploughs, hoes, and other necessary utensils. If the men will take the labor of the earth from the women, they will learn to spin and weave, and to clothe their families. In this way you will also raise many children. You will double your numbers every twenty years, and soon fill the land your friends have given you; and your children will never be tempted to sell the spot on which they have been born, raised, have labored, and called their own. When once you have property, you will want laws and magistrates to protect your property and persons, and to punish those among you who commit crimes. You will find that our laws are good for this purpose. You will wish to live under them; you will unite yourselves with us, join our great councils, and form one people with us, and we shall all be Americans. You will mix with us by marriage. Your blood will run in our veins, and will spread with us over this great island.
Instead then, my children, of the gloomy prospect you have drawn of your total disappearance from the face of the earth, which is true if you continue to hunt the deer and buffalo and go to war, you see what a brilliant aspect is offered to your future history. ...
My Children, I will give you a paper declaring your right to hold against all persons the lands given you by the Miamis and Potawatamies, and that you never can sell them without their consent. But I must tell you that if ever they and you agree to sell, no paper which I can give you can prevent your doing what you please with your land. The only way to prevent this, is to give to every one of your people a farm, which shall belong to him and his family, and which the nation shall have no right to take from them and sell. In this way alone, can you ensure the lands to your descendants, through all generations, and that it shall never be sold from under their feet. It is not the keeping your lands which will keep your people alive on them, after the deer and buffalo shall have left them. It is the cultivating them alone which can do that. The hundredth part in corn and cattle, will support you better than the whole in deer and buffalo.
My son Hendrick, deliver these words to your people. I have spoken them plainly, that they may see what is before them, and that it is in their own power to go on dwindling to nothing, or to become again a great people. It is for this reason I wish them to live in peace with all people; to teach their young men to love agriculture, rather than war and hunting. Let these words sink deep in their hearts, and let them often repeat and consider them. Tell them that I hold them fast by the hand, and that I will ever be their friend, to advise and assist them in following the true path to their future happiness."
"My friends and children, we are descended from the old nations which live beyond the great water, but we and our forefathers have been so long here that we seem like you to have grown out of this land. We consider ourselves no longer of the old nations beyond the great water, but as united in one family with our red brethren here. The French, the English, the Spaniards, have now agreed with us to retire from all the country which you and we hold between Canada and Mexico, and never more to return to it. And remember the words I now speak to you, my children, they are never to return again."
"We, like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the same interests."
"It is well that friends should sometimes meet, open their minds mutually, and renew the chain of affection. Made by the same Great Spirit and living in the same land with our brothers, the red men, we consider ourselves as of the same family; we wish to live with them as one people and to cherish their interest as our own. The evils which of necessity encompass the life of man are sufficiently numerous. Why should we add to them by voluntarily distressing and destroying one another?"
"We are all created by the same Great Spirit; children of the same family. Why should we not live then as brothers ought to do?"
"It is so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water, that we have lost the memory of it, and seem to have grown out of this land, as you have done. ...We are all now of one family, born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers; and the strangers from beyond the great water are gone from among us. ...Let us employ ourselves, then, in mutually accommodating each other. To begin this on our part, it was necessary to know what nations inhabited the great country called Louisiana... For this purpose I sent a beloved man, Captain Lewis, one of my own household, to learn something of the people with whom we are now united, to let you know we were your friends, to invite you to come and see us, and to tell us how we can be useful to you."
"We propose, my children, immediately to establish an agent to reside with you, who will speak to you our words, and convey yours to us, who will be the guardian of our peace and friendship, convey truths from one to the other, dissipate all falsehoods which might tend to alienate and divide us, and maintain a good understanding and friendship between us. ...And should ungovernable individuals commit unauthorized outrage on either side, let them be duly punished; or if they escape, let us make to each other the best satisfaction the case admits, and not let our peace be broken by bad men. For all people have some bad men among them, whom no laws can restrain."
"It is so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water, that we have lost the memory of it, and seem to have grown out of this land as you have done. ...We are all now of one family, born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers, and to have nothing more to do with the strangers who live beyond the great water."
"I was sorry to learn that a difference had arisen among the people of your nation, and that a part of them had separated and removed to a great distance on the Arkansa. ...But it would give me great pleasure if they could again reunite, because a nation, while it holds together, is strong against its enemies, but, breaking into parts, it is easily destroyed. ...It is my wish that all my red children live together as one family, that when differences arise among them, their old men should meet together and settle them with justice and in peace. In this way your women and children will live in safety, your nation will increase and be strong."
"The desire to preserve our country from the calamities & ravages of war, by cultivating a disposition, & pursuing a conduct, conciliatory & friendly to all nations, has been sincerely entertained & faithfully followed. It was dictated by the principles of humanity, the precepts of the gospel, & the general wish of our country, and it was not to be doubted that the Society of Friends, with whom it is a religious principle, would sanction it by their support.
The same philanthropic motives have directed the public endeavors to ameliorate the condition of the Indian natives, by introducing among them a knowledge of agriculture & some of the mechanic arts, by encouraging them to resort to these as more certain, & less laborious resources for subsistence, than the chase; & by witholding from them the pernicious supplies of ardent spirits. They are our brethren, our neighbors; they may be valuable friends, & troublesome enemies. Both duty & interest then enjoin, that we should extend to them the blessings of civilized life, & prepare their minds for becoming useful members of the American family."
"Whatever may have been the circumstances which influenced our forefathers to permit the introduction of personal bondage into any part of these states, & to participate in the wrongs committed on an unoffending quarter of the globe, we may rejoice that such circumstances, & such a sense of them, exist no longer."
"Tell your nation, the Chippewas, that I take them by the hand, and consider them part of the great family of the United States...; that the United States wish to live in peace with them, to consider them as a part of themselves, to establish a commerce with them...
My son, the Secretary at War will comply with your request in giving you a chief's coat with epaulettes, and a stand of the colors of the United States, to plant in your town, to let all the world see that you are a part of the family of the United States."
"I approve of your disposition, my son, to live at peace with all the world. It is what we wish all our red children to do, and to consider themselves as brethren of the same family, and forming with us but one nation."
"Many among you must remember the time when we were governed by the British nation, and the war by which we separated ourselves from them. Your old men must remember also that while we were under that government we were constantly kept at war with the red men our neighbors. Many of these took side in the English war against us; so that after we had made peace with the English, ill blood remained between us for some time; and it was not till the treaty of Greeneville that we could come to a solid peace and perfect good understanding with all our Indian neighbors."
"...we have from that moment, my children, looked upon you heartily as our brothers, and as a part of ourselves. We saw that your game was becoming too scarce to support you, and that unless we could persuade you to cultivate the earth, to raise the tame animals, and to spin and weave clothes for yourselves as we do, you would disappear from the earth. To encourage you, therefore, to save yourselves has been our constant object; we have hoped that the day would come when every man among you would have his own farm laid off to himself as we have, would maintain his family by labor as we do, and would make one people with us. ...Since we have freed ourselves from the English government, and made our peace with our Indian neighbors, we have cultivated that peace with sincerity and affection. We have done them such favors as were in our power, and promoted their interest and peace wherever we could. We consider them now as a part of ourselves, and we look to their welfare as our own."
***
The attention which you pay to their rights also does you great honor, as the want of that is a principal source of dishonour to the American character. The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. After the injuries we have done them, they cannot love us, which leaves us no alternative but that of fear to keep them from attacking us. But justice is what we should never lose sight of, and in time it may recover their esteem."
"The immediate acquisition of the land is of less consequence to us than their friendship and a thorough confidence in our justice."
"We ask your friendship and confidence no longer than we shall merit it by our justice."
"Will you let the whites encroach upon your domains even to your very door before you will assert your rights in resistance? Let no one in this council imagine that I speak more from malice against the paleface Americans than just grounds of complaint. Complaint is just toward friends who have failed in their duty; accusation is against enemies guilty of injustice. And surely, if any people ever had, we have good and just reasons to believe we have ample grounds to accuse the Americans of injustice; especially when such great acts of injustice have been committed by them upon our race, of which they seem to have no manner of regard, or even to reflect. They are a people fond of innovations, quick to contrive and quick to put their schemes into effectual execution no matter how great the wrong and injury to us; while we are content to preserve what we already have."
***
"You propose, my children, that your nation shall be divided into two, and that your part, the upper Cherokees, shall be separated from the lower by a fixed boundary, shall be placed under the government of the United States, become citizens thereof, and be ruled by our laws; in fine, to be our brothers instead of our children. My children, I shall rejoice to see the day when the red men, our neighbors, become truly one people with us, enjoying all the rights and privileges we do, and living in peace and plenty as we do, without any one to make them afraid, to injure their persons, or to take their property without being punished for it according to fixed laws. But are you prepared for this? Have you the resolution to leave off hunting for your living, to lay off a farm for each family to itself, to live by industry...? All this is necessary before our laws can suit you or be of any use to you."
Jefferson's language towards the Native Americans seems quite paternalistic, but the relationship between "Children" and "Father" is simply that of the protectorate/vassal and nation to which the protectorate is under. This terminology was itself adopted from various Native American groups who used it to express, seemingly without any charged value judgment, their political relationship between Western powers and themselves. Without arguing that Jefferson was absolutely free of Eurocentric biases, it does seem that his use of the term "Great Father" to refer to himself in the capacity of President of the US (from 1801–1809) was a significant move away from the traditional Child-Father relationship of the British, French, and Spanish colonizers. Jefferson's conception of the role of Great Father can be seen as analogous to the position of an Emperor--an empire consists of a group of formerly separate nations integrated into a new, united state, on their way to becoming a single nation over time. (Indeed, from the quote above, we can see that Native Americans become full brothers with "white" US citizens once the Native Americans agree to become completely integrated with the main body of the US nation).
Whereas the traditional European role of Father places Native Americans as non-citizen subjects of the colonial power, Jefferson's diplomacy with the Native American nations gives greater recognition of their agency and legitimacy of their status as nations. Of course, when Jefferson left the office of presidency, none of this mattered. Andrew Jackson (1829–1837), with approval from the majority of the electorate, quickly reverted the US back to the traditional Western manner of treating Native Americans as sub-humans not deserving of basic dignity.
"You inform me of your anxious desires to engage in the industrious pursuits of agriculture and civilized life. That finding it impracticable to induce the nation at large to join in this, you wish a line of separation to be established between the upper and lower towns, so as to include all the waters of the Hiwassee in your part, and that having thus contracted your society within narrower limits, you propose within these to begin the establishment of fixed laws and of regular government.
...In proceeding to the establishment of laws, you wish to adopt them from ours, and such only for the present as suit your present condition; chiefly, indeed, those for the punishment of crimes, and the protection of property. ...Let them associate in their council our beloved man living with them, Colonel Meigs, and he will tell them what our law is on any point they desire. ...This council can make a law for giving to every head of a family a separate parcel of land, which, when he has built upon and improved, it shall belong to him and his descendants forever, and which the nation itself shall have no right to sell from under his feet; they will determine, too, what punishment shall be inflicted for every crime.
...I suggest these things, my children, for the consideration of the upper towns of your nation, to be decided on as they think best; and I sincerely wish you may succeed in your laudable endeavors to save the remains of your nation by adopting industrious occupations and a government of regular law. In this you may always rely on the counsel and assistance of the government of the United States. Deliver these words to your people in my name, and assure them of my friendship."
"I understand from the speeches which you have delivered me, that there is a difference of disposition among the people of both parts of your nation, some of them desiring to remain on their lands, to betake themselves to agriculture, and the industrious occupations of civilized life, while others, retaining their attachment to the hunter life, and having little game on their present lands, are desirous to remove across the Mississippi, to some of the vacant lands of the United States, where game is abundant. ...Those who remain may be assured of our patronage, our aid, and good neighborhood; those who wish to remove, are permitted to send an exploring party to reconnoitre the country on the waters of the Arkansas and White rivers... Every aid towards their removal, and what will be necessary for them there, will then be freely administered to them, and when established in their new settlements, we shall still consider them as our children, give them the benefit of exchanging their peltries for what they want at our factories, and always hold them firmly by the hand.
I will now, my children, proceed to answer your kind address on my retiring from the government. Sensible that I am become too old to watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen States and their territories, I requested my fellow citizens to permit me to retire, to live with my family, and to choose another President for themselves and father for you. They have done so; and in a short time I shall retire, and resign into his hands the care of your and our concerns. Be assured, my children, that he will have the same friendly dispositions towards you Which I have had, and that you will find in him a true and affectionate father. Indeed, this is now the disposition of all our people towards you; they look upon you as brethren, born in the same land, and having the same interests. Tell your people, therefore, to entertain no uneasiness on account of this change, for there will be no change as to them. Deliver to them my adieux, and my prayers to the Great Spirit for their happiness. Tell them that during my administration I have held their hand fast in mine, and that I will put it into the hand of their new father, who will hold it as I have done."
"It gives me great satisfaction to see that we are likely to render our Indian neighbors happier in themselves and well affected to us; that the measures we are pursuing are prescribed equally by our duty to them and by the good of our country. It is a proof the more of the indissoluble alliance between our duties & interest, which if ever they appear to lead in opposite directions, we may be assured it is from our own defective views."
"Our experience with the Indians has proved that letters are not the first, but the last step in the progression from barbarism to civilisation. Our Indian neighbors will occupy all the attentions we may spare, towards the improvement of their condition. The four great Southern tribes are advancing hopefully. The foremost are the Cherokees, the Upper settlements of whom have made to me a formal application to be recieved into the Union as citizens of the US. & to be governed by our laws. If we can form for them a simple & acceptable plan of advancing by degrees to a maturity for recieving our laws, the example will have a powerful effect towards stimulating the other tribes in the same progression, and will chear the gloomy views which have overspread their minds as to their own future history."
"You know, my friend, the benevolent plan we were pursuing here for the happiness of the aboriginal inhabitants in our vicinities. We spared nothing to keep them at peace with one another. To teach them agriculture and the rudiments of the most necessary arts, and to encourage industry by establishing among them separate property. In this way they would have been enabled to subsist and multiply on a moderate scale of landed possession. They would have mixed their blood with ours, and been amalgamated and identified with us within no distant period of time. On the commencement of our present war, we pressed on them the observance of peace and neutrality, but the interested and unprincipled policy of England has defeated all our labors for the salvation of these unfortunate people. They have seduced the greater part of the tribes within our neighborhood, to take up the hatchet against us, and the cruel massacres they have committed on the women and children of our frontiers taken by surprise, will oblige us now to pursue them to extermination, or drive them to new seats beyond our reach. Already we have driven their patrons and seducers into Montreal, and the opening season will force them to their last refuge, the walls of Quebec. We have cut off all possibility of intercourse and of mutual aid, and may pursue at our leisure whatever plan we find necessary to secure ourselves against the future effects of their savage and ruthless warfare. The confirmed brutalization, if not the extermination of this race in our America, is therefore to form an additional chapter in the English history of the same colored man in Asia, and of the brethren of their own color in Ireland, and wherever else Anglo-mercantile cupidity can find a two-penny interest in deluging the earth with human blood. But let us turn from the loathsome contemplation of the degrading effects of commercial avarice."
***
"I hope we are friends here. A few summers ago I was fighting against you--I did wrong, perhaps; but that is past--it is buried--let it be forgotten.
The Rock river was a beautiful country--I liked my towns, my cornfields, and the home of my people. I fought for it. It is now yours--keep it as we did--it will produce you good crops.
...I am now old. I have looked upon the Mississippi since I have been a child. I love the Great river. I have dwelt upon its banks from the time I was an infant. I look upon it now. I shake hands with you, and as it is my wish, I hope you are my friends."
*****
While all Americans are familiar with the tragic history that enveloped Native Americans, we may sometimes forget the many positive interactions which have provided founding myths for different regions on the Atlantic coast: the First Thanksgiving in New England, the Treaty of Shackamaxon in Pennsylvania and the "Middle Colonies", and the legend of Pocahontas in Virginia and the South. Far from being unimportant and isolated, these early acts of diplomacy have taken on the utmost importance to the American mythos, and could have very well become the foundation for subsequent unity between Americans of European and Amerindian heritage, if Western efforts did not thwart them.
"Penn's memorable treaty with Tamanend and other Delaware chiefs, under the great elm at Shakamaxon, within the limits of Philadelphia, is full of romantic interest. Unarmed, clad in his sombre Quaker garb, he addressed the Indians assembled there, uttering the following words, which will be admired throughout the ages: "We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good-will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. We are the same as if one man's body was to be divided into two parts; we are of one flesh and one blood." The reply of Tamanend, is equally noble: "We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure.""
"This is King Tammany's Day. Tammany was an Indian King, of this part of the continent, when Mr. Penn first came here. His court was in this town. He was friendly to Mr. Penn and very serviceable to him. He lived here among the first settlers for some time and until old age and at last was burnt.
Some say he lived here with Mr. Penn when he first came here, and upon Mr. Penn's return he heard of it, and called upon his grandchildren to lead him down to this place to see his old Friend. But they went off and left him blind and very old. Upon this the old man finding himself forsaken, he made him up a large fire and threw himself into it. The people here have sainted him and keep his day."
"Last Evening May Poles were Erected in every Regt in the Camp and at the Revelle I was awoke by three cheers in honor of Kimg Tamany. The day was spent in mirth and Jollity the soldiers parading marching with fife & Drum and Huzzaing as they passed the poles their hats adorned with white blossoms. The following was the procession of the 3d J Regt on the aforesaid day:
First one serjeant drest in an Indian habit representing King Tamany
...
Second Thirteen Serjeants drest in white each with a bow in his left hand and thirteen arrows in his right.
Thirdly thirteen Drums & fifesIn the evening the Officers of the aforesaid Regt assembld and had a song and dance in honour of Kimg Tamany. About 12 O Clock we dismissed and retird to rest."
*****
Both the French and British made extensive use of military alliances with Native American groups in the Seven Years' War, but in repayment for their struggles, the victorious Natives merely found themselves traded from the French sphere of exploitation to the more harsh British sphere. Outraged, over a dozen Native American nations (some of whom had previously backed the British and others the French) united together to form the first large-scale anti-colonial alliance in North America--and started to fight back in 1763 shortly after Britain made peace with France. Their resistance against the British is known as Pontiac's Rebellion, named after one of the alliance's Generals. Pontiac's forces were so successful in their battles that the British turned to biological warfare (infamously spreading smallpox-infected blankets to the Natives, which received high praise from British General Amherst) and doubled-down on their enforcement of the unpopular Royal Proclamation of 1763 (which attempted to segregate the Natives west of the Appalachian mountains from the 13 Colonies east of them).
In 1766, the British negotiated a peace with Pontiac, ending the rebellion. This caused great jealously among Pontiac's former allies, as the war effort was largely decentralized (Pontiac was only one of many Generals), he did not necessarily have political authority to end the war on behalf of the alliance, and the peace treaty did not firmly establish Native sovereignty of their lands. Instead of being celebrated for his role in courageously staving off British intrusions, he was ostracized by tribal leaders who valued their tribes' identities more than the unity which Pontiac constantly demanded from them. He was assassinated in 1769. Unscrupulous historians often portray the smallpox blankets tactic as one of the many dark chapters of American history. However, when viewed from the perspective of American culture vs Western culture, it becomes clear that Pontiac had waged the first war of American independence (a decade before British subjects east of the Proclamation Line did), and the smallpox blankets were one of many in a long line of injustices inflicted upon Americans by the British colonizers during the 18th century.