A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815 (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) [Paperback]

Gregory Evans Dowd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0801846099 | ISBN-13: 978-0801846090

In the early 1800s, when once-powerful North American Indian peoples were being driven west across the Mississippi, a Shawnee prophet collapsed into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he told friends and family of his ascension to Indian heaven, where his grandfather had given him a warning: "Beware of the religion of the white man: every Indian who embraces it is obliged to take the road to the white man's heaven; and yet no red man is permitted to enter there, but will have to wander about forever without a resting place."

The events leading to this vision are the subject of A Spirited Resistance, the poignant story of the Indian movement to challenge Anglo-American expansionism. Departing from the traditional confines of the history of American Indians, Gregory Evans Dowd carefully draws on ethnographic sources to recapture the beliefs, thoughts, and actions of four principal Indian nations—Delaware, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Creek. The result is a sensitive portrayal of the militant Indians—often led by prophets—who came to conceive of themselves as a united people, and launched an intertribal campaign to resist the Anglo-American forces.

Dowd also uncovers the Native American opposition to the movement for unity. That opposition, he finds, was usually the result of divisions within Indian communities rather than intertribal rivalry. In fact, Dowd argues, intertribal enmity had little to do with the ultimate failure of the Indian struggle; it was division within Indian communities, colonial influence on Indian government, and the sheer force of the Anglo-American campaign that brought the Indian resistance movement to an end. An evocative history of long frustration and ultimate failure, A Spirited Resistance tells of a creative people, whose insights, magic, and ritual add a much-needed dimension to our understanding of the American Indian.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A fresh and thorough review of the role of prophets and religion in Native American relations with Europeans and Americans during a critical period of contact. Reassessing conventional wisdom about Indian prophets and the basis for native uprisings against the colonists--a wisdom that viewed nativism as a retrograde, isolated phenomenon arising sporadically throughout the 18th and 19th centuries--Dowd (History/Univ. of Notre Dame) concentrates on linking the messages carried in the prophecies. What emerges is a solid portrait of a pan-Indian imperative that waxed and waned in the colonial era and beyond. With the Shawnee, Delaware, Creek, and Cherokee serving as the basis for analysis here, the experiences and contexts of prophets ranging from the Delaware Neolin in the 1760's to Tecumseh's brother Tenskwatawa in the early 1800's make clear that the visions of these figures were closely associated with the more secular intentions of warriors and chiefs. The pan-Indian movement, however, with its rejection of everything whites had to offer- -especially Christianity and alcohol--was never embraced wholeheartedly by Native Americans, and dissension in the ranks plus steady encroachment on tribal lands by settlers and their unrelenting racism--which resulted in the slaughter of countless friendly as well as hostile Indians--kept any possibility of a unified challenge to the invaders from bearing fruit. Persuasive and provocative, and a fitting contribution to the commemoration of the Columbus legacy. (Eight b&w photos; three drawings.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Angrily reject[s] the Eurocentric assumptions of works that center on big-chief-hero or on isolated tribes... [and] departs from such atomized approaches to describe the attempt to combat colonialism through a religiously charged, pan-Indian militant movement... [Dowd] is sophisticated and exceptionally self-aware, recognizing how indebted even his counter-history is to European assumptions, and he tells an important and persuasive story.

(James R. Kincaid New York Times Book Review )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801846099
• ISBN-13: 978-0801846090
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Expansion of a Traditional Topic, September 23, 2004

By 

Holly Adiele (Sunnyside, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815 (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) (Paperback)

Public school teachers like Tecumseh. He's one of those "Noble Redmen" (along with Chief Joseph, Cochise, Osceola, etc.) that social studies teachers and textbooks always include. However, most elementary, junior high, even high school teachers know little of Native American history in any serious depth. We tend to jump from the culture group to the heroic individual and the terminal event (e.g., battle, treaty) with no stops inbetween. "A Spirited Resistance" provides a excellent context for events of the late colonial, revolutionary, and early national eras of U.S. history. In a modest 200 pages, Dowd provides an intellectual background that makes possible a deeper understanding of figures such as Tecumseh & Black Hawk and events such as the battles of Fallen Timbers & Tippecanoe. I strongly recommend the book, not only to teachers but to history buffs in general.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Revisionist History of the Native Quest for Unity & Power, September 5, 1997

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[e-mail] (Provo, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815 (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) (Paperback)

In his book, A Spirited Resistance, Gregory Evans Dowd sheds new light on a familiar subject, the Native American plight during Colonial and early American history. Through reinterpretation of historical events and a close examination of native spirituality, Dowd argues that Native Americans struggled for and nearly achieved intertribal unity in their fight against Anglo domination from 1745-1815. While most scholars, and even the general public, consider Native Americans to be an extremely religious people, historians focus on more secular factors to define native motivations and the underlying causes of events. Dowd builds on the work of other historians who focus on a narrow subject to create a new broader view that he categorizes as a "New Cultural History" (Dowd xxiii). In so doing, Dowd's work becomes an excellent companion text for classic works such as Jennings' three-volume masterpiece.

Dowd concludes that nativist movements ultimately succeeded and failed because of opposition by accomodationist factions. He supports this seemingly contradictory statement through extensive research and persuasive examples. Nativist prophets and adherents gained followers because they could point to the failures of accomodationist policies. While the movement started on the fringes of various tribes, it spread until it almost achieved dominance. The natives fulfilled some of their aims, but they remained unable to eliminate the opposition within. As Anglo efforts increased, the accomodationists restrengthened their monopoly on Native American followers. As Dowd says, the opposition doomed the nativist movement. The great tragedy, of course, is that both movements failed to safeguard the native lands and lifestyles.

While intertribal unity may have eluded the natives during the time and regions that Dowd's book covers, the work foreshadows later efforts--both the failed Great Plains movement to expel the whites during the late nineteenth century and the current native activists' efforts for equality and improved conditions. Beginning in the 1960's, the American Indian Movement (AIM) began massive efforts to unite Indians all across the nation to regain their lost power. Dowd's text illustrates how important intertribal unity is for the sacred power to return. (Rebecca McMurrin)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The rise of indians...., March 29, 2008

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Lehigh History Student (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815 (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science) (Paperback)

Gregory Dowd provides an interesting look at how native Americans banded together against Europeans and the United States in his book A Spirited Resistance. This book tracks the major gatherings and prophets that met to try and unify Indians across familial and tribal lines. While many were not successful there was interregional collaboration which provided a new dimension to Indian affairs. One of the unique aspects of this book is that it shows the European classification of each tribe as a nation may not have been necessary as the Indians began to redefine their own place in society. While the book places the majority of the reasons for pan-indianism as religious it is very clear that they were primarily realpolitik calculations. They would be almost entirely realpolitik calculations expect for the almost unexplainable fact that they continued to fight with bows and arrows despite the access to guns. Dowd tracks the major events well in this book and if you are starting out looking at Indians and the government than this is a very good place to start. While it is not ideal for looking at individual tribes (see my other reviews for books on tribes portrayed in the book) it does provide an excellent view of how the Indians found common ground with one another.
The book is easy to read and covers a wide range of years in a short amount of pages. If you are looking at the correlation of disparate tribes coming together than this will help tremendously in gaining an understanding of how culturally different peoples come together. It tracks tribes from the great lakes to the gulf coast and is truly an amazing feat given what is necessary to understand all of these groups. Overall I think more attention could have been paid to other explanations than religion which is why the book is a four out of five. Still very interesting and well worth a read.