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Responses to a Government of Ideals

Housekeeping:

• Any issues? 

Agenda: 

• Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence.pdf 
• John Underhill "The Attack on Pequot Fort" News from America 
• William Apess "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man"  
• Red Jacket: Reply to the Missionary Jacob Cram   
•  At the Dark End of the Street.pdf    
• "Teaching Social Justice Through Young Adult Literature".pdf   

Apess and Conversations about Freedom

Images of Native American displacement (forced by the "Indian Removal Act") were prominent in the 1800s. 

"Shadow of the Owl" - John Guthrie

As Morgan Freeman states in the dramatic presentation of the Declaration of Independence, the American government of ideals did not create an ideal world. However, it did generate conversations about these ideals. William Apess exposes American hypocrisy and demands justice. 

William Apess's ordination as a minister in the Protestant Methodist Church preceded by only a few months the publication of his A Son of the Forest (1829), 
the first published autobiography -- and one of the earliest books of any genre wholly written -- by a Native American. In 1831 he was appointed a missionary 
to his people, the Pequots, and eventually settled with the Mashpees (the name was spelled Marshpee in the early nineteenth century), the inhabitants of the 
last remaining Indian town in Massachusetts. He quickly became a leader in their struggle to govern their town free of white guardians and to appoint a 
minister of their own choosing for the local church.

The Mashpee Revolt broke out in 1833, and Apess's name became briefly known throughout the United States: he was, in effect, the 
leader of one of the first Indian rights movements. In large part because of Apess's brilliance as a polemicist and a tactician, the 
Mashpees achieved most of their demands by 1834. Apess was once more in the public eye in January 1836 when he delivered his 
controversial Eulogy on King Philip in the largest hall in Boston. He died in New York City three years later. - Retrieved from "William Apess - Early Native American Poet"

Group Work:

Break into groups. Identify Apess' main points and list the evidence he uses to support his claims in the comment box below.

Discussion Questions: 

What do you think about Apess' rhetorical strategies? 

How does Apess speech to preachers position American racism?

Have you ever thought of racism as a religious issue? 

Other Declarations of Independence 

What did you think about the Harvard Lecture on "Other Declarations of Independence"? Did you find it convincing? Interesting? The lecture began with "Steal Away to Jesus." Listen to this song and think about how it relates to the meaning of the lecture. 

War and Religion:

In this class, we will look at both good voices and evil ones, because it is important to understand CONTEXT. Underhill's horrible account (which is found in the Norton Anthology - it's a part of the cannon of American Lit) is the backdrop for Apess personal history (and it informs his writing). This describes some of Underhill's actions during the war with King Phillip (Apess' ancestor). 

War and violence are traditionally tied to spiritual beliefs and practices, even though these things seem antithetical. War is a place where MANY people (at the same time) confront the reality of life and death and have to come to terms with it. Throughout history, many groups took their deities or representations of those deities to war with them. In the United States, soldiers carried saints' medallions and Bibles into battle.

Underhill uses religion in several places in this account. Underhill's conception of the Divine is probably not the same as anyone in this room (The Antinomians are not an active sect, like the Puritans. Although some people still talk about antinomianism in Christianity and other religions -just as they talk about puritanism- it is discussed as a trend not as a sect or self-identifying sect that I could find). So let's look at Underhill's use of religion as objectively as possible. What is religion DOING here? How does it work in the narrative? How does it work for the author. Break into groups and discuss it for 10 minutes.  

Religion as Rhetoric

Rhetorical Strategies:

Rhetorical strategies are argumentative approaches that you've used your entire life (we're just naming things you already recognize).

Pathos: appeal to emotion

• This could be anything that excites emotions (either positive or negative).
• For example, the ad that makes you feel insecure about your body image is appeal to your emotions (it generates insecurity and anxiety).  

Logos: appeal to rationality or reason (logic)

• This is anything that (appears to be) logical or rational.
• Logos often includes statistics, numbers and quantifiable data. 
• Logos and ethos often collide (the rational data is presented by someone who appears to have the credentials to make those claims). 

Ethos: appeal to authority or values (ethics)

• This could be celebrity appeal (the authority of a well now individual). 
• This could be an appeal to shared values, such as shared national pride (nationalism)
• This could also be moralistic or religious in nature (the authority of a shared moral/religious belief)  

Sex Appeal (this actually falls under ethos - the "value" of sexuality)

• Sex appeal uses sexuality to persuade the audience.  

More links for rhetorical appeals:

• Writing Commons Rhetorical Appeals
• Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (Greek Roots) 
• Purdue OWL 

Response to Cram

Red Jacket was another great Native American statesman and rhetor who used words (and religion) as a form of protest.

Discussion Questions:

What was his main point?

What evidence does he use?

How does his challenge function (rhetorically) in this response?

Group Work:

Google responses by international Christians to white imperialist Christianity. How does Red Jacket's response resonate with other international critiques? How has the Church grown despite the hypocrisy of people who claim to be Christians while they rob, steal and cheat?   

Native Americans and Europeans - Early Encounters"  

The texts we've been reading/discussing today are primary texts. These are secondary texts. What's the difference? 

Primary texts are original texts, creative works, relics, or artifacts. By contrast, secondary texts are ABOUT primary texts. See "Primary vs Secondary Sources."

Group Work: 

Break into groups and discuss Neil White's interpretation of the early encounters between Native Americans and Europeans. What are his main points? What evidence does he use to support these points? Write your answers in the comment box below.

Dark End of the Street

The "Introduction" to The Dark End of the Street bridges the ideas that Apess first addresses and Louis Sacchar expands upon in Holes: the way gender and sexuality are a part of the discussion of race and citizenship in the U.S.

Group Discussion Questions: 

• Where does Apess address sexual exploitation? Did you catch his allusion to anti-miscegenation legislation? What is that? 
• Go through the introduction and pick out THREE quotes that sum up the message and post them in comment box below. 

More Resources:

• Early Native American Literature