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Week One: The First American West

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on July 24, 2013 at 2:48:17 pm
 

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September 4: Introduction to the Course

 

September 6: The Ohio Territory and Indian Country

 

 

Readings

 

          “The Savage Tomahawk,” November 24, 1812 (reprinted in The Columbian) *

          “The Savage Allies of England,” August 3, 1812 (reprinted in The Independent Chronicle) * 

          “The War,” September 19, 1812 (reprinted in The American Mercury) *

  • David Thompson, History of the Late War Between Great Britain and the United States (1832)
  • Click on the images below for links to "The Death of Jane McCrea" (1804) by John Vanderlyn and the Jefferson-Hartley Map of the Territory east of the Mississippi River (ca. 1784). Click here for a more detailed image of the map, on page 34 of Peter Kastor's William Clark's World.

 

* Note: to scroll to the bottom of the newspaper articles, click and scroll at the same time.

   

                                                                                          

 

 Study Questions 

 

  1. Describe the concept of civilization as it relates tot he way Americans and Europeans understand Native peoples.    did John Locke mean when he wrote in the beginning all the world was America?  How did this concept influence Thomas Jefferson's Indian Policy?
  2. How did Americans in the early 19th century understand their relationship to Native peoples?  Was there a place in the republic for Indian peoples?  Base your answers on public policy and popular discourse in the early republic.
  3. Explain the concept of taming the wilderness.  How did this idea relate to America's western expansion?
  4. What were the implications of American ideas about the wilderness and civilization for Indian peoples?
  5. Why did American officials believe it to be important that the Native peoples of the Northwest Territory recognize and accept U.S. sovereignty?  Based on the assigned texts how do you think Indian peoples understood the concept of sovereignty during the treaty negotiations at Greenville? What is the significance of this treaty in relation to the Northwest Ordinance?  What is the significance of articles 5 and 6 of the treaty?
  6. How can the two images above, the painting and the map, be used to analyze the relationship between American Indians and the United States? Explain the significance of Indian violence or "savagery" (real or imagined) in American politics and popular culture?

 

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