Schoolcraft's Analysis and Theories of the First Inhabitants
In his book, Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley, Henry Schoolcraft, describes his adventures through the Mississippi’s river regions during the early 1800s as he observes the land’s geology, geography, wildlife, and native population. While the majority of his observations focus on the natural elements of his surrounds, his encounters with Indians and unknown artifacts are particularly telling of discrimination toward Native Americans during this time period, and reinforce several topics brought up in Skull Wars, by David Thomas. Several passages refer to racial superiority and reference the idea that Native Americans lack the ability to form a sophisticated and high-tech society. For one, he critically analyzes biological features of the natives, a common practice amongst anthropologists seeking reasoning behind racial differences. In addition, he mentions and contemplates the thrilling possibility of an original ancient race that preceded the current Native Americans.
During Schoolcrafts’ journey, his team comes across a fossilized footprint. Analyzing the imprint, they identify it as “not the impressions of feet accustomed to the European shoe; the toes being much spread, and the foot flattened, in the manner that is observed in persons unaccustomed to the close shoe” (Schoolcraft, 174). Interestingly they compare the impression to a European shoe, perhaps inferring the individual’s inferiority to a more civilized human, and speculate about the person’s biological features. The detailed description corresponds with the common racial and biological evaluation of this time period. Researchers often emphasized biological differences between Native Americans and Europeans in order to establish a racial hierarchy, a “developmental ladder” (Thomas, 47). In the 1830s, for example, Samuel George Morton began studying skulls, believing that “race could be correlated with [cranial capacity] and, by extension, with various levels of human intelligence” (Thomas, 38). From his results, Morton concluded, “caucasians were the superior race… [and that the brain of an Indian] was so deficient… that the race would be impossible to civilize” (Thomas, 41). Sadly, the flawed biological reasoning accepted at the time, justified and labeled Indians as inferior intellects.
Thomas also discusses the popularized theory of the time that another more sophisticated race once inhabited the American lands prior to Native Americans. This concept emerged after the discovery a large mound found in the Mississippi River Valley. Thus prompted the “myth of the American Moundbuilders” (Thomas, 127), who built such high-tech monuments? At the time, people believed “the thousands of earthworks and mounds…suggested that a vanished civilization – highly intelligent and almost certainly white – had inhabited the country before Indians arrived” (Thomas, 127). Powerful leaders including President Jackson even promoted and popularized the idea as both scholars and the public accepted the “epic creation story” (Thomas, 128). The idea of a “glorious race” (Thomas 129) excited individuals and captivated them to develop theories behind the Moundbuilders; perhaps they were Celts, Aztecs or Siberian. Schoolcraft himself comes across one of the large mounds during his excursion, commenting on its grand presence in such a flat landscape (Schoolcraft, 330-331). While Schoolcraft does not hypothesize about the Moundbuilders, he does ponder the origins of other artifacts, acknowledging the possibility of a different original race.
When analysis the fossilized footprint, for instance, the team ponders when these prints were made and by whom. Contemplating their origin, Schoolcraft mentions, “If genuine, at what period of the world were they impressed? Whether by the present race of Indians, or by any other nations who have inhabited this continent during its primeval age!” (Schoolcraft, 178). Further, through his use of exclamations, Schoolcraft emphasizes his and his team’s enthusiasm surrounding their finding as well as their excitement for the possibility of a different original ancient race. For many who saw Native Americans as inferior, they held high hopes that a different, more European, developed society existed in the very beginnings of the Americas. Schoolcraft also makes note of this theory when finding ancient pottery stating, “the monuments of some ancient race of men (whether of European, Asiatic, or Indigenous stock,) whose origin, whose history, and whose annihilation, live only in conjecture!” (Schoolcraft, 203). Once again, Schoolcraft excitedly contemplates the idea of a whole different race inhabiting the region.
Overall, in just a few samples of Schoolcrafts’ observations from his excursion through the Mississippi Valley, he reveals common anthropological techniques and theories from the 1800s that Thomas pinpointed. Some of Schoolcrafts’ short phrases and comments reveal the common attitudes toward Native Americans during this time and the way in which anthropologists and the public strove to prove Natives uncivilized and unsophisticated. Through the use of incorrect scientific analysis and hypothetical thinking, public influencers demeaned the Indian population creating a lasting impression of Native Americans as inferior in the minds of the public for decades to come.
Bibliography
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1793-1864. Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising Observations on Its Mineral Geography, Internal Resources, and Aboriginal Population. New York: Collins and Hannay, 1825. Web. 3 Dec. 2016.
Thomas, David Hurst. Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology, and the Battle for Native American Identity. New York, NY: Basic, 2000. Print.