An Analysis Of Benjamin Franklin's Remarks Concerning The Savages Of North America

Much of European criticism of Native American was based on differences in religion, land use, and gender relations. Most Europeans reasoned that Indians needed to be converted to the “true religion” of Christianity (Give Me Liberty, 11). In fact, Verrazano concluded that the Indians had “no religion or laws” (Voices of Freedom, 10). The Europeans did not understand the Indians’ use of the land and thus justified overtaking it, reasoning that they did not truly “use” it. Some Europeans criticized gender relations, claiming that women lacked freedom due to their work in the fields (Give me Liberty, 12-13). Others, like Verrazano, criticized the Indians for having “absolute freedom” in which they did not abide to any laws due to ignorance (Voices of Freedom, 10). Regardless of

college because the Indians felt that the white man had no moral values when it

All of the enlightenment thinkers had a variety of different opinions concerning their views on people of other races. Through an array of examples, we can see the various opinions very clearly. The more respected the other races were given the more intelligent and advanced they appear. The philosophers have an array of experience and reasoning for interacting with other races which truly influences how people of races appear at the time.

Europeans tore through America in the 1700s and destroyed the lives of Native Americans, and yet their culture remained principled with a high level of respect and honor. This is shown in a meeting that was held by the six nations of the Iroquois, where Chief Red Jacket gave a speech on the Native Americans view on missionary stations that the Europeans wanted to set up. Red Jacket explained their past with the first settlers, “We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return” (1). These first Europeans set the tone for how these new colonist treated the natives. They took what they wanted and left a trail of death and destruction in their path. However, the natives acted in return with upstanding respect and treated these missionaries

The Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida, they inherited all of these lands from their ancestors who cultivated for generations. According to Elias Boudinot the natives considered themselves to be just as equal as the Whites, he states, “What is an Indian? Is he not formed of the same materials with yourself?” (Boudinot, 1826) The natives saw themselves to be no different from the Whites, in fact they cared for one another as a whole, they lived in kinships, where there was never an Indian left alone without a family. They followed a society based off of the concept of interdependence, they had in their mind that everything is dependent of something. The Indians were very advanced, and were able to prosper in their society, although the Whites believed otherwise, and believed that the natives were uncivilized.

Many works written at the time of settling America, depict Native Americans poorly. They are referred to as savages and are driven from the lands owned by their forefathers. In Benjamin Franklin's "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America", the reader is shown a new viewpoint of Native Americans. Franklin writes "If a white man, in traveling through our country, enters one of our cabins, we all treat him as I treat you;" (247), by saying

During American colonial times, the native peoples of the new world clashed often with the English settlers who encroached upon their lifestyle. Many horror stories and clichés arose about the natives from the settlers. As one might read in Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative, often these disputes would turn to violence. To maintain the process of the extermination of the natives alongside Christian moral beliefs, one of the main tenets of colonial life was the belief that the natives were “savages”; that they were morally and mentally inferior to the English that settled there. As is the case with many societies, certain voices of dissent began to spin. These voices questioned the assertions

When the colonists came to America, they classified the Native Americans as complete brutal savages. But was that a correct assumption? The Native Americans lived a life that was a complete opposite from the way that the Europeans were accustomed to. The Native Americans believed that the land was shared by everyone and not one person could own it. The Native Americans also had a polytheistic religion which completely went against the beliefs of the colonists. The colonists viewed the Native Americans as savages and barbarians because their ways of living were different.

Europeans lived a much more modern way of life than the primitive lifestyle of Native Americans. Europeans referred to themselves as “civilized” and regarded Native Americans as “savage,” “heathen,” or “barbarian.” Their interaction provoked by multiple differences led to misunderstanding and sometimes conflict. These two cultures, having been isolated from one another, exhibited an extensive variation in their ideals. Europeans and Native Americans maintained contradictory social, economic, and spiritual practices.

American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,”

Every colonist that came to America had their own perceptions of its inhabitants. The majority of these people believed the Native Americans were savages because their culture differed from the colonists. To the colonists, everything needed to be proper. The way they dressed, whether or not they went to church, or how they raised their children needed to be up to code. If not, their fellow colonists looked differently at them. The natives were entirely different. Their goal was simply to survive, and they were conducting survival the best way they knew how to. The differences between the two cultures led to many severe problems. Mary Rowlandson and Benjamin Franklin had two entirely different views of the Native Americans, based upon their encounters with them.

?savagery? (Takaki, 44). The natives were then considered to be an unimprovable race. They were incapable of being changed, their traits were inherent and their descent caused them to be this way. The thinking of the Americans was that the Indians had to removed off their lands. One of the leaders in this movement was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was a man who pushed for the advancement of his

Benjamin Franklin’s Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America, is a message that people should view the Native Americans with respect and not view them simply as savages. The Native Americans have customs and traditions that are just as polite if not more than our own. Franklin also points out that some of the hatred against the savages is based on ignorant prejudice, because the people simply do not know the culture of their people. Since Native Americans were first called Indians by Christopher Columbus, it shows how littler the British really knew or cared to understand about the people they conquered. Benjamin Franklin is showing respect to the Native Americans by saying they are civil in their own way (Franklin).

Franklin showed us in this essay the hospitality and politeness of the Indians. The word of an Indian, who said “if a man enters one of our cabin we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, we allay his hunger and thirst; we demand nothing in return. And if I enter any home in Albany and ask for food or drink, they won’t give me anything without money in return” It just shows how different two cultures work, while existing one near each other and not have the chance to avoid the influence of the other society.

The colonists, by saying that the Native Americans were primitive and savage because of their differing and seemingly illogical attitudes, were able to do things that they could never have done to people they believed to be equals. Whether this was a conscious or subconscious method on the part of the