Wallace Gray

9/1/14
Period 6
Lies My Teacher Told Me Annotation/Notes

American Indian Lies Overview

Textbooks- not sufficient
Knowledge on Natives increased in past 20 years
Decrease of savage stereotypes- Triumph of American Nation
However, not good enough
Biased terms: half-breed, war-whooping/settlers, frontier initiative
On settlers side
Civilization
Some books align wealth with civilization
Others claim Natives were primitive compared to Europeans
Problem- usually compare industrial Europe with rural America
Must challenge civilized definition to give appreciation
Third Reich technically civilized
Use of term civilized turns anyone else uncivilized, period
Europeans + Americans
Changing cultures
Took in European tech, religion
syncretism- creation of new culture from two existing
Economic change also occurred
Change in tech means change in money
Change in Natives' interests
switched from create, learn to survive to trade
Leave system for self interest
Selective syncretism
Picked elements for benefit
translators, how to siege and attack
The cause
Not voluntary- b/c new threat (invaders)
stronger gov'ts, male dominated, more guns
increase in savagery destroyed rival nations, instead of teach
lesson (European played some against each other)
imitated European conflict methods
Resorted to European slavery for European goods
Books don't mention Native slavery
Coexistence
Whites and Natives
Spanish and Apache for 325 years
worked, lived, argued together

America was very multi-cultured, (including Natives)

American, with Mexican approval, got Russian uniforms for 200
Native soldiers who were commanded in German
Not always Natives to Europeans
Less rigorous labor
Better gov't (not autocratic)
Some nations had to prevent Indianization
Hernando De Soto had to get people to stay with him
Pilgrims didn't like Native-like hair
Native-raised whites became heroes
(Daniel Boone)
Africans and Natives
Africans left to escape slavery
Less autocratic and enforced
No hierarchy (also attracted whites)
Native slave trade
South Carolina also home of Native slaves
Sent to West Indies so couldn't escape
Winning
Decline of Natives
Intensified warfare/slave trade = less agriculture
smaller settlements- had to run frequently
Dependent on Europeans for all trade
Europeans learned what they needed to (agriculture) and didn't need
Indians anymore
Power
Mutual accommodation
Europeans left to Indians
Women had more power in Native villages
Leadership hereditary
Mostly democratic though
Democratic influence
Indians responsible for democracy?
Historians debate influence
Natives had successful Iroquois League for 150 years
Suggested colonies create league before they united
Open Native influence seen in earliest governments
Forced Monarchy
Europeans dubbed Natives Kings b/c didn't understand gov't system
Land
Europeans usually paid wrong tribes for land
Wanted to play them against each other
Natives didn't have same ideals
difference between land rights and game rights
Contributions

Freedom
Natives usually seen as fighters for freedom (Tea Party)
Most textbooks don't acknowledge contributions
words, foods, ideas
ideas could only have been spread through positive interaction
Examples of syncretism
Religion
Native
Spirit in every organism
Stated like make-believe in textbooks
Reassessment of Natives' religion requires a reassessment of ours
Our religions don't allow other objects to be intelligent
Wars
200 years of fighting
Textbooks leave out the cost of Native wars
80% of cost during G.W.'s reign
Not just them to blame
Always avoid brutality on both sides
Conquest still not important enough
European warfare wiped out entire nations
Also occurred b/c of no fur trade- Natives gave Europeans everything,
Natives get nothing in return
Damage
Textbooks leave out major Native wars and costs of fighting with them
can't see them as stronger than us
Take out Native part of many other wars
Alternatives to war
Coexistence
Whites hindered coexistence
Land encroachments
Took away Indian land for themselves
Indian way of life too different
discrimination
not considered citizens
Intermarriage
British rejected them, where other nations accepted them
Indian state
Lawmaking bodies never even considered
Results/Legacy
Native history
Still survive- culturally/physically
Natives wouldn't have been able to acculturate- too many ways of life
Changes to Textbooks
Better treatment- step 1
Acknowledge Native contributions to modern-day society

Summary: The Europeans significantly changed the way Natives lived, in probably the
worst way possible. Today's textbooks make them out as savages, accidentally or for
the optimism of the readers, however the details of Native contributions to the modernday America have been rubbed out. The worst atrocities and best accomplishments
have both given way to savagery, misunderstanding, and even nomadic, all of
which improperly characterize this now lost series of races.