History of American Indians and the United States

Sixty Years' War & Traditionalist Revivals

Dr. Kane

mkane2@albany.edu Humanities 109 | MWF 9:20 - 10:15 AM

Office Hrs: M 10:20 - 11:20 & F 1:30 - 3:30

Social Science 60S

Monday, October 23

coming up

  • Objects paper Nov 6
  • email your images by Nov 5 - mini presentations in class
  • stay caught up with Kenny!

today's class

  • French and Indian War
  • major players
  • 1779 Sullivan Campaign
  • traditionalist revivals

18th century European claims

claims
claims

actual control

actual
actual

French and Indian War

French and Indian War

  • Iroquois as English ally or barrier?
  • German settlers as English ally or barrier?
  • English fear of French Catholicism
  • Proclamation of 1763

major players

  • Molly Brant: noted diplomat and war leader
  • 1759 married Sir William Johnson, British Superintendant of Indian Affairs
  • Joseph Brant: educated at Dartmouth, noted war leader
  • Molly Brant's post-Revolution influence on British
  • Josef Clemens & Ury Klock: who represents British interests?

1779 Sullivan campaign

  • Iroquois neutrality in American Revolution
  • Oneida allied with Americans but not against other Iroquois
  • shift in American attitudes towards Native women
  • early: take hostages and material objects
  • late: destroy land & murder acceptable

tradtionalist revivals

  • 1762 - Neolin & Pontiac
  • 1799 - Handsome Lake & Cornplanter
  • 1805 - Tenskatawa & Tecumseh
  • all born of a set of twins or triplets

1762-1764 - Neolin & Pontiac

  • British belief in declining Indian ally importance
  • fasting induced dreams
  • rejection of alcohol and cloth, polygamy, focus on monogamy or celibacy
  • pan-Indian military resistance, anti-Iroquois
  • extermination of European and African settlement
  • questionably Christian - shift from dualistic to monotheistic

1799 - Handsome Lake & Cornplanter

  • precipitated by punitive US treaties - 1786 Ft Stanwix
  • Handsome Lake's liver failure
  • rejection of alcohol, internal argument, wife beating, witchcraft, promiscuity
  • emphasis on peaceful coexistence
  • shift in women's roles and reframing of dualism

1805-1812 - Tenskatawa & Tecumseh

  • precipitated by increased US settlement & Northwest Ordinance (1787)
  • Tenskatawa's liver failure
  • rejection of alcohol, cloth, firearms, witchcraft, Christianity
  • extermination of European but not African settlers
  • emphatic dualism w/ devil-influenced Americans
  • explicitly Pan-Indian politically and religiously

what do they have in common

  • triggered by shifting diplomatic landscape
  • male savior figure + dualist elements
  • rejection of some European goods/influences
  • pan-Indian goals

lessons learned

  • importance of Indian diplomats (incl women) in Indian diplomacy
  • importance of professional Euro diplomats
  • need to conduct diplomacy on Indian terms