A Spirited Resistance

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A Nativist Movement Gregory Evans Dowd is a historian from the University of Michigan. Dowd wrote “A Spirited Resistance” from an ethnographic point of view. He wrote it from the Indians perspective of the Anglo-American takeover of their lands. Dowd’s thesis throughout his book is that the Indians did not have one single viewpoint, but they did have two major ideals that flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries in America. The two major views were acommondationsit and nativist. The accomondationist viewpoint of the Indians was one that wanted to use the Americans for their resources. They were willing to accept the Americans in an exchange of goods and services they were able to supply. The nativist viewpoint was nearly opposite of the accomodationist view. “ A nativisitic movement...is a conscious, organized attempt on the part of a societies members to revive or perpetuate selected aspects of culture” (Dowd xxi). The nativists wanted to keep their land sacred and their culture untainted. They were willing to fight for their freedom and land. This is Dowd’s primary focus in his book. He goes into depth about the Delawares, Shawnees, Cherokees, and Creeks in an attempt to explain the idea of “the loss of sacred power”. The Indians believed that the more land taken over by the Americans and the more the Indians used the white mans resources, that they lost their sacred power. Dowd is arguing that the Indians had two viewpoints. He is also arguing that amongst individual tribes there were a variety of people who believed in one or the other. The nativist ideal was spread throughout many tribes because of Indian prophets sharing ways to rid the Anglo-Americans from their land. Prophets such as Neolin, Pontiac, Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa, and Osceola, all from different tribes, began to share their visions and rituals that would free them from the white man.
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