Page 116 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Cherokee, and Shawnee, generally welcomed the refugees. Strangers were formally
adopted to replace relatives killed in battle or overcome by sickness. 4.1
The concept of a middle ground—a geographical area where two district cultures middle Ground A geographical
interacted with neither holding a clear upper hand—helps us understand how eigh- area where two distinct cultures
teenth-century Indians held their own in the backcountry beyond the Appalachian meet and merge with neither 4.2
Mountains. The Native Americans never intended to isolate themselves completely holding a clear upper hand.
from European contact. They relied on white traders, French and English, to provide
essential metal goods and weapons. The goal of the Indian confederacies was rather to 4.3
maintain a strong independent voice in these commercial exchanges, whenever pos-
sible playing the French against the British. So long as they had sufficient military
strength they compelled everyone who came to negotiate in the “middle ground” to 4.4
give them proper respect. Native Americans took advantage of rivals when possible;
they compromised when necessary. It is best to imagine the Indians’ middle ground as
an open, dynamic process of creative interaction.
However desirable they may have appeared, European goods subtly eroded tradi- 4.5
tional Native American authority structures. During the period of earliest encounter
with white men, Indian leaders reinforced their own power by controlling the character
and flow of commercial exchange. If a trader wanted a rich supply of animal skins, for
example, he soon learned that he had better negotiate directly with a chief or tribal
elder. But as more European traders operated within the “middle ground,” ordinary
Indians began to bargain for themselves, obtaining colorful and durable manufactured
items without first consulting a Native American leader. Independent commercial
dealings of this sort weakened the Indians’ ability to resist organized white aggres-
sion. As John Stuart, a superintendent of Indian affairs, explained in 1761, “A modern
Indian cannot subsist without Europeans; And would handle a Flint Ax or any other
rude utensil used by his ancestors very awkwardly; So that what was only convenience
at first is now become Necessity.”
The survival of the middle ground depended ultimately on factors over which the
Native Americans had little control. Imperial competition between France and Great
Britain enhanced the Indians’ bargaining position. But after the British defeated the
French in 1763, the Indians no longer received the same solicitous attention. Keeping
old allies happy seemed to the British a needless expense. Moreover, contagious disease Quick Check
continued to take a fearful toll. In the southern backcountry between 1685 and 1790, How did Native Americans
the Indian population dropped an astounding 72 percent. In the Ohio Valley, the num- manipulate the “middle ground”
bers suggest similar rates of decline. to their advantage?

conquering New spain’s Northern Frontier
In the late sixteenth century, Spanish settlers, led by Juan de Oñate, established
European communities north of the Rio Grande. The Pueblo Indians resisted the inva-
sion of colonists, soldiers, and missionaries, and in a major rebellion in 1680 led by
El Popé, the native peoples drove the whites out of New Mexico. The Spanish did not
reconquer this fiercely contested area until 1692. By then, Native American hostility
coupled with the failure to find precious metal had cooled Spain’s enthusiasm for the
northern frontier.
Concern over French encroachment in the Southeast led Spain to colonize
St. Augustine (Florida) in 1565. This was the first permanent European settlement in
what would become the United States, predating the founding of Jamestown and Plym-
outh by decades. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés brought some 1500 soldiers and settlers
to St. Augustine, where they constructed an impressive fort, but the colony failed to
attract additional Spanish migrants.
California also never figured prominently in Spain’s plans for the New World.
Early explorers reported finding only impoverished Indians along the Pacific coast.
Adventurers saw no natural resources worth mentioning, and since the area was dif-
ficult to reach from Mexico City—the overland trip could take months—California
received little attention. Fear that the Russians might seize the entire region belatedly
83