Indigenous “Texts” of Inhabiting the Land
George Washington’s Wampum Belt and the Canandaigua Treaty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v6i1-3.277Keywords:
Wampum belts, Native American treatiesAbstract
Wampum is symbolic, or iconic, of a long and enduring lineage of immigrant and indigenous relationships in North America throughout the colonial and into the American period. Wampum almost always represented co-habitation agreements for how diametrically different human communities—colonial and indigenous peoples—could live together on the same lands. A vivid example is the George Washington Wampum Belt created by the U.S. government to commemorate the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794. Vitally important for understanding this agreement is that wampum is a sacred and ceremonial material that has been utilized by the Haudenosaunee since time immemorial until the present day.
References
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Mohawk, John C. 1987. “Cultural Encounters: Europe Meets the Indian Mind.” Northeast Indian Quarterly 4 (1–2): 10–17.
———. 1992. “Indians and Democracy: No One Ever Told Us.” In Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations, and the U.S. Constitution, edited by Oren R. Lyons and John C. Mohawk, 43–72. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.
Schaaf, Gregory. 1990. Wampum Belts & Peace Trees: George Morgan, Native Americans, and Revolutionary Diplomacy. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing.
Tooker, Elisabeth, ed. 1979. Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands: Sacred Myths, Dreams, Visions, Speeches, Healing Formulas, Rituals and Ceremonials. New York: Paulist Press.
Traditional Teachings. 1984. Cornwall Island, Ontario: North American Indian Travelling College.
Venables, Robert W. 1992. “The Founding Fathers: Choosing to be the Romans.” In Indian Roots of American Democracy, edited by José Barreiro, 67–107. Ithaca, NY: Akwe:kon Press.
Wallace, Paul A. W. 1994. White Roots of Peace, The Iroquois Book of Life, illustrated by John Kahionhes Fadden, foreword by Chief Leon Shenandoah, epilogue by John Mohawk. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers. (Originally published by University of Pennsylvania Press, 1946).
Eliade, Mircea. 1954. The Myth of the Eternal Return, or Cosmos and History, Bollingen Series XLVI, translated by Willard R. Trask. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (original French: 1949. Le Mythe de l’éternel retour: archétypes et répétition, Paris: Librairie Gallimard).
Gibson, John Arthur. 1992. Concerning the League, The Iroquois League Tradition as Dictated in Onondaga by John Arthur Gibson, newly elicited, edited and translated by Hanni Woodbury in collaboration with Reg Henry and Harry Webster on the basis of A.A. Goldenweiser’s manuscript (dated 1912). Winnipeg, Manitoba: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, Memoir 9.
Grinde, Donald A., Jr. 1992. “Iroquoian Political Concept and the Genesis of American Government.” In Indian Roots of American Democracy, edited by José Barreiro, 47–66. Ithaca, NY: Akwe:kon Press.
Hill, Richard. 1992. “Oral Memory of the Haudenosaunee: Views of Two Row Wampum.” In Indian Roots of American Democracy, edited by José Barreiro, 149–159. Ithaca, NY: Akwe:kon Press.
Jemison, G. Peter and Anna M. Schein, co-editors. 2000. Treaty of Canandaigua 1794: 200 Years of Treaty Relations Between the Iroquois Confederacy and the United States. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.
Johansen, Bruce E. 1982. Forgotten Founders: Benjamin Franklin, the Iroquois, and the Rationale for the American Revolution. Ipswich, MA: Gambit Publishing.
Mann, Barbara A. 1995. “The Fire at Onondaga: Wampum as Proto-Writing.” Akwesasne Notes: A Journal of Native and Natural Peoples, 26th Anniversary Issue 1 (1): 40–48.
Mohawk, John C. 1987. “Cultural Encounters: Europe Meets the Indian Mind.” Northeast Indian Quarterly 4 (1–2): 10–17.
———. 1992. “Indians and Democracy: No One Ever Told Us.” In Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations, and the U.S. Constitution, edited by Oren R. Lyons and John C. Mohawk, 43–72. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.
Schaaf, Gregory. 1990. Wampum Belts & Peace Trees: George Morgan, Native Americans, and Revolutionary Diplomacy. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing.
Tooker, Elisabeth, ed. 1979. Native North American Spirituality of the Eastern Woodlands: Sacred Myths, Dreams, Visions, Speeches, Healing Formulas, Rituals and Ceremonials. New York: Paulist Press.
Traditional Teachings. 1984. Cornwall Island, Ontario: North American Indian Travelling College.
Venables, Robert W. 1992. “The Founding Fathers: Choosing to be the Romans.” In Indian Roots of American Democracy, edited by José Barreiro, 67–107. Ithaca, NY: Akwe:kon Press.
Wallace, Paul A. W. 1994. White Roots of Peace, The Iroquois Book of Life, illustrated by John Kahionhes Fadden, foreword by Chief Leon Shenandoah, epilogue by John Mohawk. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers. (Originally published by University of Pennsylvania Press, 1946).
Published
2012-06-27
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Arnold, P. P. (2012). Indigenous “Texts” of Inhabiting the Land: George Washington’s Wampum Belt and the Canandaigua Treaty. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 6(1-3), 277-289. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v6i1-3.277
