”Indians’: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History’; , an essay written by Jane Tompkins, a professor of English at Duke University, outlines Tompkins dissatisfaction on how American Indians are portrayed throughout history. As children, we are taught that in ‘1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue’; , and that Peter Minuet bought all of Manhattan Island from the Indians for only twenty-four dollars worth of trinkets. In high school, we were taught that in World War II, the Germans were all heartless savages, and that the best course of action to end the war was to use the atomic bomb on Japan. It is seen that ‘the victor writes the history books.’ ; In other words, the dominant cultures and societies that conquer and overshadow lesser societies have the privilege of writing history. For example, if Germany won World War II, would the history books have mentioned the holocaust of the Jews? The problem with history is that history is defined in terms of the author’s point of view.
There is no scientific process by which history is written; therefore we must discern what is the real truth versus someone’s biases and point of view. ‘The problem is that if all accounts of events are determined through and through by the observer’s frame of reference, then one will never know, in any given case, what really happened,’ ; (Tompkins, 410).
Tompkins researched several historians’ works, and in her research, she identified several problems in the interpretive practices of these historians. Tompkins began her research of the misrepresentation of American Indians with Perry Miller’s book Errand into the Wilderness. In his book, Miller writes, ‘the massive narrative of the movement of European culture into the vacant wilderness of America.’ ; This passage from Miller’s book provokes a shocking response from Tompkins. Tompkins is shocked that Miller referred to America’s wilderness as ‘vacant.’ ; It is obvious that upon the arrival of European settlers to America, the settlers encountered the Indians at some point in time.
The Essay on Defining History American Indian
... Problem of History,' Jane Tompkins examines the conflicts between the English settlers and the American Indians. After examining several primary sources, Tompkins found that different history books ... on to another contradictory perspective, Tompkins examines the perspective of Francis Jenning's The Invasion of America written in the late sixties. Jennings ...
Thus, America’s wilderness wasn’t ‘vacant.’ ; Miller fails to observe the presence of the Indians. From his own personal experiences with the vast wilderness in Africa, Miller correlates that experience to the experiences that the settlers must have had when they arrived in America. It is clear that Miller’s own experiences have clouded his ability to give an unbiased and totally truthful account of history. ‘…
What is invisible to the historian in his own historical moment remains invisible when he turns his gaze to the past,’ ; (Tompkins, 412).
The book, New England Frontier: Puritan and Indians, by Alden Vaughan, reconciled Miller’s position on the presence of Indians in American history. Vaughan’s book describes the interactions between the Indians and the Puritans and how both societies dealt with each other. ‘The author’s fair-mindedness and equanimity seem everywhere apparent, so that when he asserts ‘the history of interracial relations from the arrival of the Pilgrims to the outbreak of the King Phillip War is a credit to the integrity of both peoples,’ one is positively reassured,’ ; (Tompkins, 412).
In that quote, Tompkins admits the unbiased manner in which Vaughan writes his book, however, later in his book, Vaughan states, ‘One [society] was unified, visionary, disciplined, and dynamic. The other was divided, self-satisfied, undisciplined, and static,’ ; (Tompkins, 413).
Vaughan refers to the Puritans to be the unified culture and the Indians as the divided culture. Tompkins argues that that comment was biased and inaccurate. She questions the degree to which the Puritans were unified. Certainly there must have been some problems within the Puritan community. Tompkins acknowledges Vaughan’s unbiased account (for the most part) of Indian presence in American history, however, Tompkins identifies Vaughan’s lack of accuracy and generalizations dealing with Puritan society. Tompkins has identified two major problems in the interpretive practices of historians, and illustrates these problems in the works of Miller and Vaughan.
The Essay on Puritan Indian Relations Native American
Culture Clash: Puritans amongst Indians In 1630, a group of Puritans fled from the Church of England to the Massachusetts Bay colony in search of the freedom to practice their "pure" form of Christianity, also known as Puritanism. The group of people known as the Native Americans (or American Indians) are the original inhabitants of the Northern and Southern American continents who are believed to ...
The first major problem is found in Miller’s essay. Miller’s own point of view and his own experiences cloud his portrayal of history. The second major problem is found in Vaughan’s book. For the most part, Vaughan remained unbiased, however Vaughan’s account was inaccurate. Inaccuracy and biased points of reference are the two major problems that Tompkins finds are detrimental to truthful historical accounts..
