As a part-time preacher, I sometimes run across information about differing religious beliefs that fascinate me. I had not expected to find that kind of information in a book about the French and Indian War.
In Fred Anderson's The War that Made America, the author constructed this paragraph to explain a time when the Indians struggled for unity. The time must have been confusing for them as they wavered between the two sides. While they would have loved to have controlled their own destinies, they knew the writing was on the wall: they had to choose the side that would allow them to retain their culture.
In Fred Anderson's The War that Made America, the author constructed this paragraph to explain a time when the Indians struggled for unity. The time must have been confusing for them as they wavered between the two sides. While they would have loved to have controlled their own destinies, they knew the writing was on the wall: they had to choose the side that would allow them to retain their culture.
 | The Iroquois chief's unease arose from a prophetic spiritual movement that had begun taking shape among the displaced Delawares of the Susquehanna Valley a decade or so before, a movement that the war's stresses and disorders had helped to spread into the Ohio country, where other groups beyond the Delawares began to respond to it. Although by 1758 the movement had not yet achieved the coherence it would gain in the early 1760s, when a Delaware prophet known as Neolin began to preach, its rudiments were evident in the spreading belief that the Master of Life had created Indian, black, and white people as separate races, each with its own way to paradise. Indians who had grown too close to whites had been corrupted by white ways, which would prevent them from reaching heaven. The worst of these corruptions was alcohol, but at some level everything associated with whites - cattle, gunpowder weapons, trade goods of all sorts - was inimical to Indian well-being, Indian spiritual power. |
Might that be considered to be a racist world view? To be certain, the multicultural movement would come a couple of centuries later. For the time being, however, I thought their feelings of reaching heaven were interesting; there must have been some strong feelings about interracial relationships. Those beliefs must have been at odds with the assimilation methods (I.e., kidnapping) of maintaining their populations. The prejudice against the European "invaders" could have been strong.
Thoughts take me to today, as well. Things seem to be changing very quickly in our own culture. With the increasing acceptance of vaping, CBD, the spread of casinos, and a broader definition of marriage, we will see continuing transformation. Tie that to advances in technologies, and it's easier to see that transformation. All of these changes and more have consequences much as the changes in the 18th century did for the culture of the time.
Thoughts take me to today, as well. Things seem to be changing very quickly in our own culture. With the increasing acceptance of vaping, CBD, the spread of casinos, and a broader definition of marriage, we will see continuing transformation. Tie that to advances in technologies, and it's easier to see that transformation. All of these changes and more have consequences much as the changes in the 18th century did for the culture of the time.
Of course, for more about this book, The War that Made America,
in preparation for my week-long Teacher Institution at Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York,
during the summer of 2019, follow the link to my Fort Ticonderoga page.
in preparation for my week-long Teacher Institution at Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York,
during the summer of 2019, follow the link to my Fort Ticonderoga page.
