Intro to "The West and Native American History" Discussion
It’s been a while since I’ve written on here! What’s inspired me to return to my history blog is a class I’m taking this semester in graduate school: Colloquium United States History. For this class, I’ve had the opportunity to read a few books on Native American history and western expansion. As our first module of the course ends, part of the class work involves me reflecting on the first three books I’ve read. As a Public Historian in training, I’ve chosen to use my blog as tool for this reflection.
So far, my class has read the following books: The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815, (by Richard White), Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792, (by Susan Sleeper-Smith), and Winning the West with Words, (by James Joseph Buss). All three of these books delves into different aspects of Native American history with varying overlapping topics.
According to the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies, by high school, students need to learn about power, authority, and governance (https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands, Standard 6). The purpose of this blog post series is to assist high school teachers in prepping for lessons that educate their students on Native American history and western expansion in the Midwest.
I have a couple goals in mind for this blog post series. First, we will delve into what "the West" and "western expansion" really was. Many of us, myself included, hold assumptions about western expansion, the geography of western expansion, and Native Americans impacted by western expansion. This discussion delves into what "the West" looked like to the three authors and how high school students can learn about "the West" in a classroom setting.
My second goal is to reexamine the fur trade in the Ohio River valley and bring to light stereotypes and biases we tend to have about Native American involvement in the fur trade, as well as their prosperity within their communities. In this post, we will focus on Susan Sleeper-Smith's book and learn more about Native American communities in the Ohio River valley. I will also outline resources and activities for high school teachers to use in their classrooms when educating students on the fur trade and stereotypes we have toward Native Americans.
Before we delve into our discussions, I want to provide a brief overview of each book and how they can be best utilized as we examine these topics. Images of the books are hyperlinked to Amazon with more information if you are interested in purchasing.
The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815, by Richard White:
-Richard White focuses on the White-Indian relationship through the geography of the pays d’en haut, which were the lands that bordered “the rivers flowing into the northern Great Lakes and the lands south of the Lakes to the Ohio (White, p. x-xi). White focuses on the French's relationship with “Algonquian” Indians who had strong relationships with the French and became a dominant and distinct group after the Iroquois Wars which started around 1642 and officially ended in 1701 (White, p. xi).
White introduced this concept of a “middle ground,” which he defines as, “place in between: in between cultures, peoples, and in between empires and the nonstate world of villages. It is a place where many of the North American subjects and allies of empires lived. It is the area between the historical foreground of European invasion and occupation and the background of Indian defeat and retreat” (White, p. x).
In the first half of the book and through the “middle ground,” French allied with the Algonquians. In the second half of the book, White delves into alliances, relationships, and finding the middle ground with British, British colonists, and eventually the new white Americans. Toward the mid-eighteenth century, the middle ground and alliances with the French, British, and white Americans, whites put the future of the Algonquians in danger.
Richard White's book serves as the foundation for all three books up for discussion. Sleeper-Smith and Buss refer to White's concept of the "middle ground," as well as other concepts White introduces. This book is essential because it was progressive for its time by bringing a wave of "new Indian history" into the academia world where Native Americans were at the center of the story rather than "supporting characters" in white American western expansion history. White argues Native Americans played a pivotal role in American history and analyzes Native Americans' relationships with the French, British, and finally the white Americans after the American Revolution. White's book allows students to comprehend the complexity of Native American communities, cultures, and relationships.
As you read this book, be aware that White uses declination theory. Declination theory is the belief that Native American demise was inevitable once white Europeans migrated to the U.S.A. The theory holds the view that it was only a matter of time until Native Americans were no more. Take White's mindset with a grain of salt as you learn more about the Native Americans and how many of them lived on and continue to exist today.
Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792, by Susan Sleeper-Smith:
-Sleeper-Smith does a case-study on Native Americans, and European and white American conquest with a focus on Native American female history from 1690-1792. Though she discusses the Great Lake region, Sleeper-Smith primarily focuses on the Ohio River valley, and later on, villages and communities along the Wabash River valley where Native Americans are involved in the fur trade with Europeans, primarily French traders, until the American Revolution.
Sleeper-Smith carries three major arguments throughout the book. First, that Native Americans were not “savages,” but prosperous people who benefited from the fur trade.
Second, Native American women played pivotal roles in their communities which played into Native Americans’ success and prosperity. Third, President Washington acknowledged the importance of Native American women and targeted them which sparked the demise of these communities and treaty negotiations which forced most Native Americans to leave their lands.
Sleeper-Smith shows readers why it’s importance to reexamine Native American history and put Native Americans of the Ohio River valley back in their proper place in history and historical interpretation.
Utilizing this book to better understand western expansion and Native American history is important because Sleeper-Smith provides an angle to Indian history that is often overlooked: Native Americans and women, specifically in the Ohio River valley region, were prosperous and independent. While Richard White focuses on the demise of Native Americans through declination theory, Sleeper-Smith focuses on the prosperity and survival of Native Americans through persistence theory. She examines Native Americans' ability to adapt over time to change as white traders and government powers changed. Unlike White, Sleeper-Smith acknowledges that Native Americans still exist to this day. She focuses on the more positive aspects of Native American history and their survival while also breaking stereotypes and biases we tend to have toward Native Americans to this day.
Winning the West with Words: Language and Conquest in the Lower Great Lakes, by James Joseph Buss:
-James Joseph Buss delves into the power of words when arguing against the one-sided narrative of Native American history scholars and historians before him have focused on. Buss examines the lower Great Lakes region (Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois), while drawing readers into the book by sharing a vivid image of the Indiana Centennial Celebration, where Native Americans are conveyed as “primitive,” “savage,” and distant from their “empty lands” they once inhabited.
While violence, war, and other forms of conflict have their place in Native American history, Buss argues wars of words took place as early as the late 1700s after the American Revolution, between white settlers and Native Americans. This war took on forms of petitions to Congress, treaties, letters, speeches, and even poetry. The ongoing battle of words between Native peoples and white Americans continued until the late 19th century when the middle ground is cleared, and white Americans win the war of words, pushing Native Americans off their lands or silence them by framing their own linear narratives through celebrations and scholarly writings.
Buss divides his book into three parts. The first part focuses on Native Americans using language to dictate the middle ground concept taken from Richard White’s book previously mentioned. The second section examines rhetoric white settlers used in attempts to remove Native Americans. Finally, the third section examines how white Americans during the late 19th and early 20th century memorialized and commemorated their pioneer ancestors while also attempting to erase Native Americans from their history. Buss explains why it’s important to reexamine “shared history” and why it’s vital Native Americans have their voices heard and incorporated into this historical narrative.
Buss' book is excellent for learning more about the power of language and how laws, treaties, letters, and even poetry played into the eventual forced Indian removals. Unlike White and Sleeper-Smith, Buss focuses solely on battles with words while also discussing myths of "the pioneer." His book is useful when it comes to learning about how Native Americans were written out of history, and how the battle of words caused myths of "the pioneer" to take place.
I recommend before reading this book, you read White and Sleeper-Smith so that you have a better understanding of historical events, dynamics, and conflicts that took place. Buss' book, though well-written and provides a unique angle to Native American history, does not provide the proper historic context for one to just jump into and start reading. White and Sleeper-Smith provide the background information to better comprehend the arguments Buss presents.
Works Cited
-White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
-Sleeper-Smith, Susan. Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792. Williamsburg, VA: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2018.
-Buss, James Joseph. Winning the West with Word, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.