Jessica Crabtree

The Native American Face of Independence Day

The Fourth of July celebrates the day in 1776 when colonial American representatives ratified the Declaration of Independence, making official their intentions to break away from England and organize a sovereign government. We all know what that meant for the Native Americans of this continent, whose numbers had already been dramatically reduced since the time European explorers first set foot on American soil. At the time of the Revolution, the thirteen American colonies didn’t extend far beyond the Atlantic seaboard, and many European settlements still coexisted with large Native populations. But it was gradually becoming clear that the colonists were set on all-out continental expansion, and forming their own nation was part of that process. America achieved its sovereignty largely at the expense of Native Americans (and the imported African slaves who formed much of its economy). So it’s understandable that many Indians today have some not-so-positive feelings about the holiday.

Despite the dark history that has overshadowed much of its record, it bears keeping in mind that much of what has made the founding of this country outstanding is the product of a shared heritage between the Native Americans and the European immigrants. It was never inevitable that white presence in the Americas meant the extermination and removal of an entire race of peoples. The wrong turns taken by the American civilization are the collective result of greed, prejudice, and consistently misguided leadership – but at no time were they inevitable. The fact remains that many of the people who emigrated here did come for genuinely upright reasons; because they were living in oppressive, impoverished European countries and it was the only decent thing they knew to do for their families. Native Americans themselves recognized this by consistently extending friendship and hospitality to the settlers. It was the diligence and ingenuity invested by so many immigrant Americans, and the generosity of resources and knowledge contributed by Native Americans, that not only made this country possible but made it thrive.

A glance at these early interactions, and how they helped to produce the high ideals this country is supposed to represent, prompts us to think about the way things could have been, had history taken a different course. And they still stand out like a beacon showing the way things should be.

Déjà Vu?

It turns out that the great ideals that make America “unique” are evidently not so unique. They were flourishing here long before the founding fathers laid out a plan for independence that embraced Enlightenment principles. Personal liberty, equality, and representative government are long traditions throughout Indian country. The democratic and egalitarian customs of many Indian peoples in what is now the eastern United States inspired the early colonists with a new sense of initiative and self-determination.

Perhaps foremost among these is the Iroquois Confederacy, whose nations make up the oldest democracy in the world. Founding fathers such as Benjamin Franklin recognized the stability and efficiency of the Iroquois form of government, and consulted with Iroquois leaders nearly three decades before the first Continental Congress. It is now widely affirmed among scholars and historians that the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois served as a model for the Constitution.

From Indian societies, Americans learned even broader meanings of liberty. For the first time they saw women treated as equals with men, capable of making important decisions and holding positions of authority. The deep respect for life in the indigenous world view naturally meant a high respect for women (a concept that had been long absent from European cultures). It’s perhaps no coincidence that the Seneca Falls Convention, which proved a pivotal event in the history of women’s suffrage, took place in the heart of Iroquois country, where clan mothers traditionally appointed chiefs and made significant decisions regarding their nation’s welfare.

Native Americans from across this continent have consistently been a source of inspiration for democratic ideals – from the system of direct democracy as practiced by the Iroquois, to the egalitarian and inclusive nature of its societies, to the unbridled independence of the Plains cultures that captured the European imagination.

A Larger Exchange

These are only examples of a powerful spirit of freedom that began influencing the Western world long before the American colonies declared independence. When Europeans reached the Americas, they were exposed for the first time to perspectives, lifestyles, and forms of social organization that were radically different from the European cultures that had festered so long under the same political and religious systems. For centuries they took it for granted that kings ruled by divine right, and the church controlled every person’s destiny. Europeans had been locked in a prison of isolation, oppression, and indoctrination. It could only be freed once it was exposed to the realities in which other cultures existed. This cultural rebirth began shortly after the Crusades, when a gateway to the East opened a new cultural exchange with the Islamic world; the invention of the printing press, the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and the Renaissance all followed quickly on its heels. But it came to fruition only after the discovery of America brought accounts of life ways that kindled the minds of European thinkers already eager for new outlooks on their changing world.

While these men of thought were chafing under the most flagrant absolutism, ideas about natural rights and individual value spread like wildfire through the countries of Europe, fueled by new ideas and perspectives coming out the American continent. Depictions of Native American societies varied widely and were not always accurate. But the intrinsic portrayal of a civilization that lived in close connection to the natural world, with the apparent absence of distinct social classes and absolute rule, where each individual played a direct and valuable role in society, held an endless fascination for Europeans. This is reflected in the writings of Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau who made frequent reference to Native American society in their writings, and drew upon their knowledge of it in their foundational works on social theory. Later on, these ideas came full circle when men like Thomas Jefferson drew upon these very same writings for the principles that formed our early government.

It appears that the awakening of independence and free and rational thought that challenged the established order, and ultimately led to the downfall of European absolutism, was perhaps the New World’s greatest contribution in the Columbian Exchange.

Western civilization often ascribes its great achievements to the fact that it is the heir of Greek democracy and Roman law, and America in particular likes to think of itself as a “bringer of civilization” to the rest of the world. But we often forget that Greek democracy began and ended with property-owning male citizens, and so-called Roman justice was brutally imposed on the world at the edge of a sword. At various periods, America has reflected the advantages and drawbacks of both these civilizations. If America is different from other countries, or unique in its pursuit of truly democratic ideals, perhaps it is only because of the Native American influence that helped to shape it in the crucial period of nation-forming.

Ironically, we’ve been all too eager to appropriate all the credit for this. European Americans often assume a tone of moral superiority, forgetting that we’ve had the benefit of learning first-hand from cultures who are in many ways are far more advanced. From the very beginning we’ve relied heavily on indigenous knowledge, and even today, despite all our technological advances, we are finding that there is a wealth of wisdom from Native American viewpoints that is both valuable and relevant.

A Final Assessment

Sadly, nations usually don’t live up to their own ideals, and America is no exception. If anything, it’s more to blame because it’s had so much going for it, and all of history to learn from. For a nation so proud of its founding principles, we suffer from a chronic moral complacency. From the start we have been a melting pot of the worst kind of contradictions. The founding fathers we praise are often examples of the things we most abhor. The Bill of Rights paradoxically coexisted with the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny. Every shining moment in our history is counterbalanced by the black stains of racism, slavery, and genocide. In each phase of the building of this country, we have matched our successes with the most abysmal failures – and no one knows this better than the Native Americans.

Yet in the face of all of this, they have continued to enrich our arts, contribute immensely to every field of knowledge, and even serve in our military; not because they have been assimilated, but because so many of the things that are worth working for supersede the boundaries of nationality. Freedom and justice are bigger than any nation and any individual, and are not the property of those who dispense with it as they wish. History has shown that the rights and freedoms we praise are only as strong as the people who are willing to stand up for them – whatever their national identity. As Native Americans have been teaching us ever since we first arrived in this country – life, liberty, and the [responsible] pursuit of happiness are everyone’s rights – but they rarely come easy and are never free. It’s maybe our strongest reminder yet to keep striving for the ideals that the best people who have lived in this country – both Indian and white – have shown us.

Happy Independence Day.

In memory of Clarence Wolf Guts, last surviving Lakota code talker of World War II (1924-2010)

Recommended Resources:

The Founding Sachems: Indian Traditions of Democracy by Charles C. Mann, Op-Ed contributor for the New York Times

Native American Political Systems and the Evolution of Democracy An annotated bibliography of academic and other references to Native American influence on America’s founding

Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World by Jack Weatherford
(Ballantine Books, 1989)

Indian traditions of democracy: From the NY Times Op-Ed Contributor

The Founding Sachems
By CHARLES C. MANN

SEEKING to understand this nation’s democratic spirit, Alexis de Tocqueville journeyed to the famous centers of American liberty (Boston, Philadelphia, Washington), stoically enduring their “infernal” accommodations, food and roads and chatting up almost everyone he saw.

He even marched in a Fourth of July parade in Albany just ahead of a big float that featured a flag-waving Goddess of Liberty, a bust of Benjamin Franklin, and a printing press that spewed out copies of the Declaration of Independence for the cheering crowd. But for all his wit and intellect, Tocqueville never realized that he came closest to his goal just three days after the parade, when he stopped at the “rather unhealthy but thickly peopled” area around Syracuse.

Tocqueville’s fascination with the democratic spirit was prescient. Expressed politically in Americans’ insistence on limited government and culturally in their long-standing disdain for elites, that spirit has become one of this country’s great gifts to the world.

When rich London and Paris stockbrokers proudly retain their working-class accents, when audiences show up at La Scala in track suits and sneakers, when South Africans and Thais complain that the police don’t read suspects their rights the way they do on “Starsky & Hutch,” when anti-government protesters in Beirut sing “We Shall Overcome” in Lebanese accents — all these raspberries in the face of social and legal authority have a distinctly American tone. Or, perhaps, a distinctly Native American tone, for among its wellsprings is American Indian culture, especially that of the Iroquois. (continue reading…)

A Native American Take on Independence (American Public Media)
by Krissy Clark; July 5, 2008

Charles Hudson is a member of the Mandan-Hidatsa tribe, born on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. But by the time he came along, in 1959, much of the reservation was under 300 feet of Missouri River water, thanks to a giant dam built by the federal government, which relocated most of the people in his tribe.

Tribal leadership fought the project for years, but failed. When the tribe’s chairman finally went to Washington, D.C., to give up the land, he had to take off his glasses to weep. A picture of the moment made the front page of the Washington Post. Flooding of the reservation started soon after. “Both my mother and my father had to leave the town that they grew up in, where their families and ancestors had all lived,” Hudson says.

This was not the first nor the last conflict Charles and his tribe had with American institutions. (continue reading…)

Finders Keepers? Adulteration of Native American Cultures in the Name of Profit: an essay by Marchell J. Wesaw

January 30, 1615: Birth of Thomas Rolfe, the son of Pocahontas

Thomas Rolfe was the only child of the legendary Powhatan “Indian princess” Pocahontas and her English husband John Rolfe. Pocahontas, whom we all know from grade school history, was the daughter of the sachem or chief of the Powhatan Confederacy of Virginia’s Tidewater Region, and a pivotal figure in the founding of the Jamestown colony.

Although much of her life has been shrouded in popular mythology, many facts are well-established. In 1614 she was baptized Rebecca and married English planter John Rolfe in Virginia, where their son Thomas was born a year later. They traveled to England in 1616 where she and her son were presented at the court of King James and received with great ceremony. She died in 1617 at the age of 23 after falling ill on the voyage home. The young Thomas remained in England, where he later married an Englishwoman and served in the English military. He eventually returned to his birthplace in Virginia. The Rolfe’s influential position as planters made their descendants one of the founding families of Virginia, from which many politicians and other prominents have claimed descent.

Although only one portrait is known to have been made of Pocahontas in her lifetime, this painting showing her with her young son Thomas may have been commissioned shortly after her death. Known as the Sedgeford portrait, it was allegedly passed down through the Rolfe family for hundreds of years and now resides in a museum. Most representations of her tend to reflect stereotypes or agendas in the portrayal of history. The Nova special “Pocahontas Revealed” explores the many aspects of the Pocahontas story, and also features an interactive examining many famous Pocahontas portraits and how depictions of her have changed over time.

“Pocahontas Revealed”: A PBS Nova documentary

Virtual Jamestown: Pocahontas
(An essay from the Virtual Jamestown Museum with many little-known facts about Pocahontas)

#2: My Take on Thanksgiving

Holidays almost invariably stir up a lot of emotionally-charged issues. The volatile mix of relatives, religion, and politics inevitably leads to a lot of vitriol – and sometimes with good reason. Holidays in our modern culture tend to gravitate either towards crass commercialism or romanticized idealism, often combined with a convoluted view of history. In the case of Thanksgiving, gratitude and togetherness are excellent things to celebrate so long as they are not tinged with antiquated political propaganda and racial stereotyping. When this happens – intentionally or not – the results can be damaging.

In a bitter irony, the whole story of Thanksgiving shrouds what is possibly history’s worst case of ingratitude. No version of the Thanksgiving story would be complete without an account of the horrific sequel that occurred only a generation later. We all know the story of Squanto and the Wampanoag chief Massasoit befriending the Pilgrims and saving them from starvation, and later sharing the seminal “first Thanksgiving.” But few realize that many of the same Pilgrims who grew up in the shadow of that festive occasion later murdered Massasoit’s son and paraded his head through Plymouth in a second “unofficial” Thanksgiving; and that the very same Wampanoag with whom they had pledged friendship were brutally hunted and killed or sold into slavery. In a bitter irony, the whole story of Thanksgiving shrouds what is possibly history’s worst case of ingratitude. It’s hard to find another instance where a country’s ideals stand so high while its history is so contaminated with whitewash, treachery, and genocide. And the worst part is, most of us are completely disconnected with the reality of our past and the true context in which we commemorate it.

It’s easy to understand why so many Indians object to the popular form of Thanksgiving. On face value it seems to celebrate the successful European colonization of America and the exploitation of its bountiful resources at the expense of dispossessing an entire race – and to add insult to injury, it seems to commemorate the Indians’ generosity in helping the process along! Mainstream America eagerly incorporates Indians into its holidays, its entertainment, as sports mascots – almost casually, as if they are the intellectual property of the United States, part and parcel of the American mythology, and not real people who are part of living, sovereign nations. We love to include the Indian stereotype – without the price of telling the full story. (continue reading…)

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/63264152.html

Remembering Columbus: An Essay by Julianne Jennings

Departing from the port of Palos Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed his maiden voyage of the Niña, Pinta and the Santa Maria. On Oct. 12, Columbus reached the “New World” and the Bahamas archipelago was spotted. However, the “New World” concept only applies to Europeans as Native Americans had been living on this Great Turtle Island (what we now call the United States of America) for at least 12,000 years. (continue reading…)

Examining the Reputation of Columbus: An Essay by Jack Weatherford

Christopher Columbus’ reputation has not survived the scrutiny of history, and today we know that he was no more the discoverer of America than Pocahontas was the discoverer of Great Britain. Native Americans had built great civilizations with many millions of people long before Columbus wandered lost into the Caribbean.

Columbus’ voyage has even less meaning for North Americans than for South Americans because Columbus never set foot on our continent, nor did he open it to European trade. Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman probably fished the shores of Canada for decades before Columbus. The first European explorer to thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto, who sailed for England’s King Henry VII and became known by his anglicized name, John Cabot. Caboto arrived in 1497 and claimed North America for the English sovereign while Columbus was still searching for India in the Caribbean. After three voyages to America and more than a decade of study, Columbus still believed that Cuba was a part of Asia, South America was only an island, and the coast of Central America was near the Ganges River.

Unable to celebrate Columbus’ exploration as a great discovery, some apologists now want to commemorate it as a great “cultural encounter.” (continue reading…)