The Poor Indians: British Missionaries, Native Americans, and Colonial Sensibility (Early American Studies)

273 Pages·2004·3.62 MB·English

by  Laura M. Stevens

The Poor Indians
EARLY AMERICAN STUDIES
Daniel K. Richter and Kathleen M. Brown, Series Editors
Exploring neglected aspects of our colonial, revolutionary, and early
national history and culture, Early American Studies reinterprets familiar
themes and events in fresh ways. Interdisciplinary in character, and with a
special emphasis on the period from about 1600 to 18j0, the series is
published in partnership with the McNeil Center for
Early American Studies.
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
The Poor Indians
British Missionaries, Native Americans,
and Colonial Sensibility
Laura M. Stevens
PENN
University of Pellnsylvallia Press
Philadelphia
Copyriglit t? 2004 C'iii~wsityo f Priiiisylvunin Pi-rss
All rights reserved
Pi-iiited iii the Ciiitrd Stutrr ofArtlei-icn on uciii-,free puper
Publislieii 11s
lit1ii)ersity ~tfPennsy1i)utlirPl ress
Philudelphiu, Pennsy1i)utlirl 19104-4011
of
Librury Congress Crltu~ogitlg-itl-Pwb~ic~1tDi~u1ttul
Stevens, Lnui-u LV1.
The poor Itldiutls : British tnissiot~uries,h Tutil)eA rtzericrltls, [rliltl colonirll setlsibility /
Lulirrl 1M. Stevens.
p. cin. - (Eui-ly Ainericuri rtniiirsj
It~clwdesb ibliogruphicul references (11. ) uncl it1cle.x.
ISBN 0-8122-3812-j (cloth : (tl/i. puper)
1. lridiniir ofh'oi-tli Anlei-i~n-~Missioilr. 2. lridiniir ofh'oi-tli Anlei-icu-Public opiiiioii. 3.
Indiutls of hbrth Artzericrl-History-Coioi~iul period, cu. 1600-177j. 4. ~Missionuries-
Greu t Brituitl-Attitudes. 5. Atlglicrlns-Missions-Unitecl Stutes-History. 6. Protestun ts-
,Lfirrioiir-Ciiitrd Stuter-History. 7. Puhlic opiiiion-Gi-rut Britniii. 8. Gi-mt Bi-ituiii-
Colonies-Artzericu. 9. United Strltes-History-Colot~iul period, cu. 1600-177j. I. Title.
II. Series.
E98.LM6S7-j 2004
266'.02341'008997-t1~22
For Tom
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Con tents
Introduction: "The Common Bowels of Pity to the
Miserable" 1
Gold for Glass, Seeds to Fruit: Husbandry and Trade in
Missionary Writings 34
"I Have Received Your Christian and Very Loving Letter":
Epistolarity and Transatlantic Community 62
"The Reservoir of Natio~alC harity": The Role of the
Missionary Society 84
Indians, Deists, and the Anglican Quest for Compassion: The
Sermons of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts 111
5 The Sacrifice of Self: Emotional Expenditure and Transatlantic
Ties in Brainerd's and Sergeant's Biographies 138
6 "Like Snow Against the Sun": The Christian Origins of the
Vanishing Indian 160
Conclusion 195
Notes 203
Index 249
Acknowledgments 261
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Introduction
"The Common Bowels of Pity to
the Miserable"
In Daniel Defoe's Life and Strange and Szlrprizing Adventures of
Robinson Crzlsoe, Crusoe tells us that in his eighteenth year as a castaway
he stumbled across the remnants of a cannibalistic feast. Repulsed by "this
horrid Spectacle," he "gave God Thanks that had cast my first Lot in a Part
of the World, where I was distinguish'd from such dreadful Creatures as
these." He then spent several weeks plotting "how I might destroy some of
these Monsters in their cruel bloody Entertainment." After a while, though,
he gave up these fantasies, as he considered the injustice of "so outragious
an Execution as the killing twenty or thirty naked Savages." Several factors
prompted this change of heart. Crusoe admitted that the Caribes had not
hurt him by slaughtering each other. He considered that any attack might
result in his own death. He began to pity the Caribes, "who it seems had
been suffer'd by Providence in his wise Disposition of the World, to have
no other Guide than that of their own abominable and vitiated Passions."
He wondered, how could God want him to kill Indians for their sinful acts
when he had never told them those acts were sins?'
The real change, though, occurred when he realized that killing canni-
bals "would justify the Conduct of the Spaniards in all their Barbarities
practis'd in America." After all, the Indians of Mexico "had several bloody
and barbarous Rites in their Customs," but they were "yet, as to the Span-
iards, very innocent People." To kill these Caribes would make Crusoe just
like the Spanish, who, he categorically proclaimed, were "without Principles
of Tenderness, or the common Bowels of Pity to the Mi~erable."C~r usoe
gave up on murdering the Caribes because he pitied them, but more be-
cause he could not bear to think of himself as a man without pity. His
response was ponderous and self-conscious, precisely because it emerged
from his need to think of himself as one who, unlike the Spanish, spontane-
ously felt pity. A few years later he did find an opportunity to be both
compassionate and violent. After dreaming of and planning for such an