In the book New Worlds for All, Calloway discusses conflicts and confrontations between Indians and Europeans coming to the American land. The author analyzes and evaluates different assimilation patterns and discusses cultural changes in both nations. He underlines that conflicts between Indians and Europeans are as old as the Europeans’ first encounters with the Americas. When Columbus returned to Spain from his first voyage, he carried with him nine Indians as living proof of his arrival in the Indies. Later voyagers conveyed natives to Europe, some to act as guides for future expeditions, and others to serve as hostages. In the book, Calloway writes that “Indians were becoming more like Europeans and Europeans were becoming more like Indians.”
Calloway is right, stating that both cultures affected and influenced each other, bringing new ideas and values to an alien world. Thus, Europeans injected their value and traditions into a new world, paying no attention to the unique and authentic beliefs of native tribes. The strange and exotic creatures of the Americas, among them Indians, commanded interest for generations of Europeans. In North America, as in Europe, unfamiliarity heightened curiosity.
As European settlements displaced the aboriginal occupants of the continent, and “civilization” after a fashion pushed back the “wilderness,” Indians came to reside as much in the imaginations of Americans living east of the Mississippi River as they did in reality in the western regions of the United States. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Indians had become object lessons for the inexorable triumph of civilization over savagery.
Their challenge to westward migration had become central to the most persistent legend of the American experience. Their defeat enlarged the victory of civilization; their heroism certified that of their adversaries; and, to some, their tragedy inspired compassion, or at least a willingness to raise those survivors of the contest to a level approximating that of other Americans. Finally, by the 1890s, civilization supposedly had tamed the wilderness and its denizens. Those Indians who were left breathing after the struggle bore witness to a process, centuries-old, on the verge of completion–or so many Americans believed.
The impact of Indian culture on Europeans involved such spheres as folklore and agriculture. “Colonists also adapted Indian corn agriculture into their new way of life. “Many ways hath their advice and endeavor been advantageous to us,” said one man” (Calloway 1998, p. 52). For many Europeans, agriculture was the main way to survive in America and adapt to local conditions. In their turn, “settlers planted European grains whenever they could. but corn agriculture became a way of life in much of pioneer America” (Calloway 1998, p. 53). To some extent, Europeans were becoming more like Indians forgetting their native laws and accommodating to a new environment.
With the safety valve of free western land closed, pressures would build up in the cities. In time, there would be an explosion of class conflict that would threaten democratic institutions. For most Americans, however, the passing of the frontier marked only another stage of progress. Even in the uncertain spring and summer of 1893, when the worst industrial depression created economic hardship for countless citizens, Americans saw little reason to abandon hope. If economic problems beset the present, certainly the future offered encouragement. The American character was yet intact.
The mass of people indeed have led lives of quiet desperation, but it was despair born of routine, of the sameness in their lives. Also, it was the nostalgia they felt at the disappearance of wild places, a longing after a lost Eden. It was a wistfulness born of the realization that they would never experience the adventure. Cultural nationalism and romanticism sustained the quest. In their search for American themes, writers and artists declared their independence from Europe.
They are found in the eastern forests and their inhabitants’ sources for American literature and art. Europeans extolled indigenous traditions and folk customs and glorified the national past. “Europeans not only changed the landscape, but they also introduced new concepts of ownership to North America” (Calloway 1998, p. 23). The eastern woodlands represented immensity and wildness on such a scale as to dwarf anything European. Part of the wildness of the forest came from its very sublimity, the nature of its inhabitants, and the terrors of warfare between Native Americans and Europeans. Ambushes, torture, escape, ritual cannibalism, and reprisal aroused emotions of the most romantic kind. The noble and ignoble savages made ideal subjects for American high culture.
A strong impact on Europeans was made through Christianity and religion. ‘Indians who converted to Christianity must demonstrate unquestioning faith: Indians who resisted were clinging to heathen ways” (Calloway 1998, p. 59). Therefore, in this context, the Indians rejected the pope’s authority because he either possessed no real power or refused to use it responsibly. People sought power to heal, to succeed in warfare or the hunt, to survive a great ordeal, to attract game, or to ensure that their people would flourish. A person seeking power also sought rapport with a universe that was likewise filled with power. “Christianity meant radical changes and carried weighty consequences” (Calloway 71). Such a quest would put a person in accord with the universe.
In spite of positive changes, Calloway’s statement is partially true because Europeans deceived Indians trying to reach their goals. “Indians who believed they had given colonists the right to share their land. in return for gifts, found instead they had sold the land” (Calloway 1998, p. 23). Calloway underlines that reliable information about Indians would also promote peace on the frontier and the orderly extinguishment of Indian land titles. Until this could be accomplished, perhaps only after generations of patient care, the government must protect the natives. The greatest injustice occurred when the races met on the frontier.
In the vanguard of the westward movement came the traders, often of the most venal and mercenary sort. They brought liquor, which destroyed the harmony of Indian lives. Traders invited Indians to slaughter the buffalos and exchange their hides for whiskey. The Indians, who once had harvested the buffalo for food and raiment, were now destroying their greatest resource for a few hours of inebriation. Such a practice assaulted the environment. Traders brought in guns so that Indians could war against other tribes to protect their exploitation of the American lands. Worst of all, traders introduced diseases that decimated Indian populations.
To prevent the destruction of Indians and the environment, some Europeans wanted the government to restrict contact between the races and isolate Indians. This event shows that the impact of Europeans was greater than the influence of Indian cultural values and traditions on newcomers. The impact of Europeans was greater because “convinced that Europe was synonymous with civilization, colonizing Europeans failed to see anything of value in Indian civilizations” (Calloway 1998, p. 10). Disasters, personal and financial, dogged Indians. Incidents of drunkenness increased markedly.
In sum, Calloway’s statement is true because both cultures had a certain impact on each other. Thus, Europeans had a greater and negative impact on Indians while Indian traditions and values did not harm and ruin Europeans and their destiny. Many Europeans saw Indians as “lazy” and stated that they and their families were the “unproductive element” on the reservations who get very hard up for foodstuff during the winter months, had become dependent on the shows for their livelihood.
References
Calloway, C. (1998). New Worlds for All. The Johns Hopkins University Press.