Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America

A persistent theme of the book is how Indians accommodated European newcomers by drawing on aspects of colonial life and society, which they then adapted to their own uses and rules. This accommodation stemmed from the Natives’ community-oriented view of the world and included the incorporation of everything from European goods to European religion.

In everyday life, for example, Natives adapted European pots and other material objects by melting them down and making more familiar out of them. In conflicts, Natives and Europeans relied on one another as allies. Diplomatically, alliances like the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe served as attempts to bring Europeans into the Indian world, according to Indian norms. In terms of faith, Indian Christians like Kateri Tekakwitha used Christianity to make sense out of their lives and to live in harmony with their new Euro-American neighbors.

In the racially contentious climate of the Seven Years’ War, however, advocates of cultural accommodation fell out of favor. As one Indian prophet proclaimed of the Europeans, “Drive them out, make war upon them” (196), a battle cry designed to save Indian culture and society from decline by purging Indian society of Euro-American influence.