Sierra and Williams a Study in Contrast

1. Sierra and Williams a Study in Contrast European Attitudes toward Native Peoples in North America

2. Juipero Serra 1713-1784

3. Spanish California • Brilliant Scholar and Franciscan Priest • Founder of California: • San Diego, San Francisco, Carmel, Santa Barbara, San Louis Obispo • Contributed Money to American Revolution • Beatified by Pope John Paul in 1988 • Converted thousands of Native Americans to Christianity • Piety, devotion and honesty beyond reproach

4. Controversy • “that spiritual fathers should punish their sons, the Indians, with blows appears to be as old as the conquest of the Americas.” • Supported the concept of “Indian Reductions” meaning to relocate and reorganize Indians into camps or villages along the model of a rural Spanish town. • Some historians like the missions Serra founded as “concentration camps” were slave labor was employed and were native culture was destroyed. • Serra, like many Europeans of his time, had little respect for Native American culture.

5. Roger Williams 1603-1683

6. Founder of Rhode Island Born in London and became a Puritan Minister • Moved with wife Mary to America in 1631 • Shocked leaders of the Massachusetts colony with three principles: • Separatism; Freedom of religion and separation of church and state • He asserted that civil authorities could not punish a person for breaches of religious law • His beliefs angered local authorities and he was forced to flee the colony • Later he founded the city he named Providence and the State of Rhode Island

7. Williams and Native Americans • “Boast not proud English, of thy birth and blood; Thy brother Indian is by birth as good. Of one blood God made Him, and Thee and All, As wise, as fair, as strong, as personal • Williams learned Native American language and customs • He questioned the right of the king to grant to Englishman land that belonged to the Native Americans. He believed that the land should be purchased from the Indians first. • Maintained that Indians were just as good as Englishmen even better in some respects. • His colony became a sanctuary for people who did not accept the strict authoritarian dogma of the Massachusetts colony • He was greatly trusted and respected by the Indians, and for forty years Williams kept the peace with the Indians until King Philip’s War in 1675.

8. American Holocaust • David Stannard wrote American Holocaust in 1992. In it he chronicles the destruction of the native peoples that began in 1500 A.D. and continued for the following four hundred years. • The main agent of destruction was Old World diseases that New World humanity had virtually no defense against. • He estimates that the population of the Western Hemisphere in 1500 A.D. was hundred million people. This assertion is highly questionable. • Stannardpromoted great controversy when he blamed Christian European ethnocentricity for the destruction of native civilizations.

9. Why were the Americas Behind? • The huge discrepancy in technology and knowledge between the Old and New Worlds • This cannot be explained in terms of culture. This begs the question, “Why did the Native American cultures grow so slowly?” The New World had been completely populated thousands of years before 1500. • A deeper explanation can be found in geography and fauna. • There was a lack of animal resources available to native peoples.

10. Geographic Determinism • Almost none of the useful “farm animals” existed in the Americas. This presented an obstacle to diverse and widespread agriculture. This in turn slowed the technological growth of these cultures. • More ominously the lack of close exposure to farm animals did not expose Native Americans to the many diseases like small pox and cholera that were prevalent in the Old World. • This doomed them to destruction.

11. The Influence of Geography Eurasia North & South America

12. Bartolome Las Casa 1484 -1566

13. An Appeal to Humanity • In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, he wrote, “It has been Spain’s practice,” Las Casa wrote in 1552, “in every land they have discovered to stage a massacre.” • He gave explicit accounts of torture, enslavement and mass burnings of Indian men, women and children. • Indians were rationale beings who were totally deprived of their land and freedom. • He claimed Spain had the right to rule for religious reasons, but did not have the right to enslave and brutalize the native populations. • As a result of his efforts, Spain did reform many of its policies in the New World, but forced labor by Indians and out rate slavery of Africans continued for centuries

14. Puritans in New England • They left England to find religious freedom, but did not practice religious tolerance • Their faith informed all aspects of their lives • They believed in absolute conformity in religion and social convention • Hard work and industry were greatly admired • Building wealth was a godly objective pursue • The Puritan “ethic” has contributed hugely to American culture

15. Salem Witch Trials

16. A Community in Hysteria • Puritan society was rigidly conformist, any deviation from accepted norms was suspicious • Puritans were obsessed with religion • Religion informed virtually all aspects of life • Satan was a tangible reality to them • Women were particularly placed under suspicion due to mankind’s fall from God’s grace due to Eve’s tempting of Adam

17. The Contagion Spreads • Beginning with a group of young women who were said to be “Afflicted by the Devil” • They gave witness against other women who they maintained were witches in the service of Satan. • Dozens of people were arrested, examined and put on trial • Twenty were put to death mostly women and some men, including Bridget Bishop who defended herself with bravery and refused to confess to a crime she did not commit

18. The Death Of Bridget Bishop

19. The Crucible • In 1954, The Crucible by Arthur Miller opened on Broadway Miller’s subject was the Salem Witch Trials But The Crucible is a thinly disguised polemic about modern American politics. It remains as one of his most famous plays.

20. Franklin, Edwards, Whitmore and the Great Awakening

21. Ben Franklin 1706 to 1790

22. Franklin • Showed great promise as a teenager • Traveled to Philadelphia and became very wealth in printing and publishing – Poor Richard’s Almanack among others • Spent decades in Britain as agent for Pennsylvania – 1757-1775 • One of the greatest and most famous men of his time: author, business man, diplomat, politician, scientist and inventor • A product of the Enlightenment

23. Franklin • Multifaceted genius: Inventor, scientist, author, business man, diplomat and philosopher • Franklin’s harmonica was a standard instrument in European orchestras in the 18th century • Franklin Stove – efficient use of fuel • Ligtning Rod • Urinary Catheter • Bivocals • Electricity, Ocean Currents, Meteorology, Light Theory • Influential delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention

24. Way to Wealth • Poor Richard’s Almanack • Father Abraham lecturing his children • No Gain without pain; Time is money; Early to bed early to rise ….; Get whay you can and what you get hold; One today is worth two tomorrows • Theme – uniquely American – hard work frugality lead to godliness and success

25. Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758 The Great Awakening

26. George Whitfield (Whitefield)

27. Basic Beliefs • Born and educated in England, Whitfield was a great speaker with a powerful voice and an eloquent style. • Edwards said that when he first heard Whitfield he was moved to tears. • Franklin was far less impressed but estimated that 30,000 people listened to a sermon in Philadelphia. • Both men believed that the colonies had strayed from their religious roots

28. Awakening Cont. • Both men urged piety and a return (awakening) to former religious values. • Both advocated a democratic church • Whitfield supported slavery • They had a profound impact on 18th century colonial America.