Modernity Through Letter Writing : Cherokee and Seneca Political Representations in Response to Removal, 1830–1857

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Title: Modernity Through Letter Writing : Cherokee and Seneca Political Representations in Response to Removal, 1830–1857
Description: In Modernity through Letter Writing Claudia B. Haake shows how the Cherokees and Senecas envisioned their political modernity in missives they sent to members of the federal government to negotiate their status. They not only used their letters, petitions, and memoranda to reject incorporation into the United States and to express their continuing adherence to their own laws and customs but also to mark areas where they were willing to compromise. As they found themselves increasingly unable to secure opportunities for face-to-face meetings with representatives of the federal government, Cherokees and Senecas relied more heavily on letter writing to conduct diplomatic relations with the U.S. government. The amount of time and energy they expended on the missives demonstrates that authors from both tribes considered letters, memoranda, and petitions to be a crucial political strategy. Instead of merely observing Western written conventions, the Cherokees and Senecas incorporated oral writing and consciously insisted on elements of their own culture they wanted to preserve, seeking to convey to the government a vision of their continued political separateness as well as of their own modernity.
Authors: Claudia B. Haake
Resource Type: eBook.
Subjects: Seneca Indians--Politics and government--19th century, Cherokee Indians--Politics and government--19th century, Cherokee Indians--Correspondence, Seneca Indians--Government relations--History--19th century, Cherokee Indians--Government relations--History--19th century, Seneca Indians--Relocation, Cherokee Indians--Relocation, Seneca Indians--Correspondence
Categories: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Native American Studies, HISTORY / United States / 19th Century
Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Description
Abstract:In Modernity through Letter Writing Claudia B. Haake shows how the Cherokees and Senecas envisioned their political modernity in missives they sent to members of the federal government to negotiate their status. They not only used their letters, petitions, and memoranda to reject incorporation into the United States and to express their continuing adherence to their own laws and customs but also to mark areas where they were willing to compromise. As they found themselves increasingly unable to secure opportunities for face-to-face meetings with representatives of the federal government, Cherokees and Senecas relied more heavily on letter writing to conduct diplomatic relations with the U.S. government. The amount of time and energy they expended on the missives demonstrates that authors from both tribes considered letters, memoranda, and petitions to be a crucial political strategy. Instead of merely observing Western written conventions, the Cherokees and Senecas incorporated oral writing and consciously insisted on elements of their own culture they wanted to preserve, seeking to convey to the government a vision of their continued political separateness as well as of their own modernity.
ISBN:9781496215673
9781496222954
9781496222930