From “Noble Savage” to “Vanishing Indian”: Euro-American Perceptions of Native Americans English 441 Dr. Roggenkamp

Native-American Literature is a Post-Colonial Literature Literature by a COLONIZING culture (e.g. people of European descent) usually distorts the experience and realities of the colonized people—creates a picture of innate inferiority in terms of the colonized people Literature by the COLONIZED culture (e.g. Native Americans) attempts to regain the power to speak for themselves, rather than be spoken ABOUT by the colonizers

Native-American Literature is a Post-Colonial Literature This literature articulates group identity, reclaims the past, writes their version of history—but also recognizes the influence of the colonizer Colonizing countries often appropriate the languages, images, scenes, traditions, etc. of the colonized land—and vice versa

Colonial New England conceptions of indigenous peoples View 1: Native Americans lost tribes of Israel, waiting for conversion View 2: Native Americans as children of Satan – descendents of fallen angels Either way, justification to eradicate people and culture Image: The Death of Jane McCrea, John Vanderlyn, 1804

Southern colonial conceptions of indigenous peoples “Noble Savage” “Savage” meaning “uncivilized” “Noble” meaning innocent, pure, wise, childlike, connected to nature, spiritual—but uncultured Merely inferior rather than the intrinsically evil “ignoble savage” of New England Open to European guidance and deliverance Totally romanticized view Image: Baptism of Pocahontas, John G. Chapman, Capitol Rotunda, Washington D.C.

“Noble Savage”

“The Vanishing Indian” Pre-contact indigenous population of North America: est. 10-15 million (about 2 million today) Disease and warfare From 1840s : Native Americans are “vanishing race” Vanishing in face of “superior” Euro-American advance Justifies advance of non-Native population and eradication of Native American cultures Image: Last of Their Race, John Mix Stanley, 1857

“Civilization” of the Frontier: A “Manifest Destiny” Image: American Progress, John Gast, 1872

“Indian Territory,” circa 1700 Yellow=Spanish; green=French; blue=English British actively displaced natives with settlements Everything other than blue generally considered "Indian Territory”

“Indian Territory,” 1763 1763, France cedes land east Mississippi River to England King George III issues “Indian Proclamation Line,” creating first official “Indian Country”

“Indian Territory,” 1783 1783 Treaty of Paris revokes Indian Proclamation Line Line redrawn to reflect actual encroachment across Appalachians and Ohio River Valley

“Indian Territory,” 1803 1803 Louisiana Purchase Made Mississippi River natural barrier between “Indian Country” to west and “civilization” to east

“Indian Territory,” 1834 1834, Indian Trade and Intercourse Act

“Indian Territory,” 1854

“Indian Territory,” 1876 After Civil War, Five Nations of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole forced to cede additional lands Great Plains tribes relocated from Kansas and Nebraska, 1876

“Indian Territory,” 1889 1889 General Allotment Act and creation of Oklahoma Territory “Indian Territory” shrunk to final form

Indian Removal Act of 1830 President Andrew Jackson Force Native American removal from East Guise of protecting and preserving Indian cultures Move west or give up all tribal rights Removal as only way to “civilize” the “vanishing Indian”

The “Trail of Tears”