'In 18th-century
America, colonial society and Native American society sat side by side. The former was buddingly commercial; the
latter was communal and tribal. As time
went by, the settlers from Europe noticed something: No Indians were defecting to join colonial
society, but many whites were defecting to live in the Native American one.'
'Benjamin
Franklin observed the phenomenon in 1753, writing, “When an Indian child has
been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our customs,
yet if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian ramble with them, there
is no persuading him ever to return.”
At the same
time, many European settlers were taken prisoner and held within Indian
tribes. After a while, they had plenty
of chances to escape and return, and yet they did not. In fact, when they were “rescued”, they fled
and hid from their rescuers.
As Hector
Crevecoeur wrote, “Thousands of Europeans are Indians, and we have no examples
of even one those aborigines having from choice become European.” '
Are we missing
something? To read more click, 'The American Indian Leap'
Covey Cowan, San Francisco, California
Covey Cowan, San Francisco, California
