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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.msu.edu> > Date: November 7, 2018 at 11:29:51 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Midwest]: Jeffers on McDonnell, 'Masters of Empire: > Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.msu.edu> > > Michael A. McDonnell. Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the > Making of America. New York Hill and Wang, 2015. Maps. 416 pp. > $35.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8090-2953-2. > > Reviewed by Joshua J. Jeffers (Middle Tennessee State University) > Published on H-Midwest (November, 2018) > Commissioned by Patrick A. Pospisek > > In this deeply researched and engagingly written narrative, Michael > A. McDonnell returns the Odawa and their ancestors at Michilimackinac > to their rightful place in the history of the Great Lakes region. A > key location for controlling access to the American interior, > Michilimackinac was the political and cosmological center of > Anishinaabewaki, the Anishinaabe world. Like recent works looking at > Shawnee, Dakota, and Mandan history, McDonnell's book situates the > Odawa at Michilimackinac at the center of their own history, making > clear that we cannot understand the history of early America without > comprehending Indian Country on its own terms.[1] Moving beyond a > history of "mutual dependence between natives and newcomers to think > about a history ... that emphasizes strength and expansion in the > midst of empire," McDonnell argues that the Odawa at Michilimackinac > "helped precipitate critical turning points" that "reverberated > across the Atlantic and helped alter world history" (pp. 15, 19, 33). > > At the center of a vast network of kinship and trade, the Odawa at > Michilimackinac wielded enormous influence that extended into > surrounding Algonquian, Iroquoian, and Siouan peoples. "Though the > French liked to claim the role of peacemakers and mediators," writes > McDonnell, it was the Odawa who brokered peace and set the terms for > European access in the upper Great Lakes (p. 16). Thus, the French > were in the _pays d'en haut_ "because the Anishinaabeg wanted them > there" (p. 52). By allowing the French to maintain a post at the > straits in exchange for generous provisions, presents, and offers of > alliance, the Odawa purposely drew the French into their networks of > trade and alliance, and the French came to rely on Indigenous > connections and expertise "for their very subsistence" (p. 15). Close > relations with French traders offered the Anishinaabe access to > French trade goods and enhanced their status in the region. This > influence along with their strategic location made them integral to > "a sprawling but indigenous trading system," which enabled them to > insist on their own terms in dealings with missionaries, traders, and > colonial officials (p. 27). > > Perhaps the most enduring contribution of _Masters of Empire _is its > periodization of colonial North America and in particular the > interpretation of the causes and origins of the Seven Years' War. > While emphasizing the attack on the Miamis at Pickawillany as the > opening salvo of the war is not new, McDonnell's reinterpretation of > the events immediately following that attack, in particular the lack > of an English response, provides the context for a view from Indian > Country that offers a new perspective on how "Native Americans in the > _pays d'en haut _helped trigger and profoundly shape the contests > that would define the geopolitical landscape of North America" (p. > 273).[2] While Memeskia (Old Briton, Le Demoiselle) led a group of > Miamis that was more anti-French than pro-British, the lack of a > response from the English for this blatant attack on one of its > Indian allies was interpreted by many Natives living in the Ohio > Valley-Great Lakes region as both a sign of weakness and evidence > that the English coveted Native land and sought alliances merely as a > way to achieve that end. As a result, a wave of anti-British > sentiment spread across the region. Recognizing this shift in > attitude, pro-French leaders at Michilimackinac seized the moment to > argue for an all-out offensive against the English. Raids began as > early as 1753. Even more significant, however, during the early > summer of 1754, as George Washington stumbled his way toward the > annals of history at Jumonville Glen, "some twelve hundred delegates > from at least sixteen different nations from across the _pays d'en > haut_" met at Michilimackinac and declared the opening of what > McDonnell labels the "First Anglo-Indian War" (p. 165). By the > following summer, and especially after Braddock's Defeat on July 9, > 1755, Native war parties attacked settlements along the entire > Allegheny range, emptying the Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland > backcountries of European settlement. Pennsylvania was cleared of > white settlement all the way to Carlisle. Though Britain and France > would not officially declare war until 1756, as McDonnell makes > clear, "Native Americans made it inevitable" (p. 169). > > In this view, Native Americans fought in what we now call the Seven > Years' War or French and Indian War for reasons that did not always > overlap with those of the French. In many ways, what we now call the > French and Indian War was more like two parallel and concurrent wars: > one concerning European imperial aspirations and one concerning > Native efforts to temper and channel those ambitions to their own > ends. For Natives living in the _pays d'en haut_, the goals of the > First Anglo-Indian War were to curb the growing power and expansive > tendencies of the English, while restoring a balance of power between > the English and French. Having, in their estimation, achieved these > goals by 1758 and sealed their successes in the Treaty of Easton of > that year, the First Anglo-Indian War ended. With most Natives no > longer at war, however, the English were able to win a series of > victories ousting the French from North America. As the British > attempted to take the place of the French in the _pays d'en haut_, it > was British ignorance of Native power and politics in the region that > triggered the Second Anglo-Indian War, often referred to as > "Pontiac's War." This war was intended to rebalance power between > Native Americans and the English and "might be seen as the first war > of American independence in North America" (p. 216). The Second > Anglo-Indian War resulted in the Proclamation of 1763, which served > as "a declaration of Indian sovereignty, designed to appease the > Indians" (p. 231). This declaration would lead to a drastic > transformation of the relationship between the Crown and its > colonies, setting in motion a chain of events culminating in the > American Revolution. > > In taking us from _pays d'en haut _to the Old Northwest, _Masters of > Empire _also reorients our understanding of the regional history of > the Ohio Valley-Great Lakes. Not only does the work highlight the > region's historical diversity, but it also makes clear the Indigenous > context that informed regional development during this entire period. > While Richard White's_ Middle Ground _drew attention to the > communities of the _pays d'en haut _and offered a new perspective on > the sociopolitical development of the region, it also "alienated" the > Native communities of the _pays d'en haut_ "from their historical > context" (p. 333n6). Far from shattered peoples who needed French > "imperial glue" to keep them in "orbit," it was the council fires at > Michilimackinac that determined the role and extent of the European > presence in the _pays d'en haut_.[3] The French, the British, and the > Americans, each in their turn, stumbled into the region "only dimly > understanding its politics," and historians, McDonnell argues, "have > largely followed suit" by missing or underestimating the power, > influence, and central importance of the peoples at Michilimackinac > (p. 328). In their efforts to establish claims, French, British, and > later American governments drew and redrew boundary lines across the > region. As McDonnell points out, while these boundary-making > exercises belied the social and political relationships that > structured power in the region, they also subsequently translated > into historiographical boundaries that reified these artificial > European borders, thus further contributing to the elision of the > political influence emanating from Anishinaabewaki.[4] By "rely[ing] > less on European words and more on Native actions," McDonnell > provides a view from Michilimackinac built on "the longer-term > context in which [Europeans] interacted with their Native > counterparts" in the region (p. 14). Thus _Masters of Empire > _represents a valuable contribution to a historiography that is > breaking down what we might call the historiographical tribalism left > by the imperial past.[5] This historiographical heavy lifting aside, > McDonnell has provided a highly accessible and thoroughly researched > history that scholars of North America and especially anyone > attempting to understand the evolution of this region from _pays d'en > haut _to the Old Northwest to the American Midwest will be wrestling > with for some time to come. > > Notes > > [1]. Sami Lakomaki, _Gathering Together: The Shawnee People through > Diaspora and Nationhood, 1600-1870 _(New Haven, CT: Yale University > Press, 2014); Stephen Warren, _The Worlds the Shawnees Made _(Chapel > Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014); Michael Witgen, _An > Infinity of Nations: How the Native New World Shaped Early North > America _(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011); and > Elizabeth A. Fenn, _Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History > of the Mandan People _(New York: Hill and Wang, 2014). > > [2]. R. Douglas Hurt, _The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old > Northwest, 1720-1830 _(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996), > 35; and Fred Anderson, _Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the > Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 _(London: Faber > and Faber, 2000), 28-32. > > [3]. Richard White, _The __Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and > Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 _(Cambridge: Cambridge > University Press, 1991), 2, 159. > > [4]. For an insightful critique of these historiographical divisions, > see Robert Englebert and Guillaume Teasdale, eds., _French and > Indians in the Heart of North America, 1630-1815 _(East Lansing: > Michigan State University Press, 2013), xi-xxxiii. > > [5]. For another excellent example of this historiographical > development, see Alan Taylor, _The Civil War of 1812: American > Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies _(New > York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010). > > Citation: Joshua J. Jeffers. Review of McDonnell, Michael A., > _Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America_. > H-Midwest, H-Net Reviews. November, 2018. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=47451 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
