Aboriginal America East of the Mississippi
- Title:
- Aboriginal America East of the Mississippi
- Alternate Title:
- Aboriginal America East of the Mississippi
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Bowden, James
- Other Creators:
- H. Clark, lithographer
- Date:
- 1844
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2429.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2429_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Subject:
- Ethnocentrism
Other Moral & Social
Politics & Government
Religion
Slavery/Race
Bias - Measurement:
- 16 x 11 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This is one of two 1844 maps documenting the removal of native Americans from their aboriginal lands to areas west of the Mississippi. The first map, ID #2429.01, sets out the location of tribes in “Aboriginal America East of the Mississippi.” It shows, for example, the large Cherokee Nation concentrated in what is now Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. The second map, ID #2429.02, sets out “the locations of the various Indian Tribes” in 1844. There are no Cherokees east of the Mississippi on this map; they appear only in Oklahoma. Legends on the map set out the remaining “number of Indians East of the Mississippi” (26,796) and the “number of Indians who have been removed from the east to the west of the Mississippi” (77,447) - including 15,000 Cherokees. (This map also shows the boundaries of the regional "Yearly Meetings of Friends" in the U.S.)
These maps appear in a Quaker work entitled “Some Account of the Conduct of the Religious Society of Friends towards the Indian Tribes in the Settlement of the Colonies of East and West Jersey and Pennsylvania: With a Brief Narrative of Their Labours for the Civilization and Christian Instruction of the Indians, from the Time of Their Settlement in America, to the Year 1843” [hereinafter, the “Account”]. This work was published in London in 1844 by the Aborigines’ Committee of The Meeting for Sufferings.
The Account is an historical survey of relations between native Americans and Quakers from the earliest settlement to 1794 and descriptions of certain regional American “Meetings” from 1795 to 1843. (For a broad overview, see generally Gallup-Diaz 2019, a series of essays intended to provide "a clear picture of the centuries-long, tangled history of interactions between Quakers and American Indians." Ibid. 2.) On the one hand, the Account reflects genuine concerns for the natives, “this much-injured and suffering class of our fellow-men.” Report of the New York Meeting, p. 210. The Introduction, p. iii, criticizes removals "by unjust and oppressive treaties . . . in direct opposition to [the natives'] own wishes." And the Account is filled with Quaker efforts to help native Americans resist relocation to the west. (For example, report of the Philadelphia Meeting, pp. 141-152.)
On the other hand, the title of the work itself makes clear the principal focus of Quaker activity: “Labours for the Civilization and Christian Instruction of the Indians.” And many of the discussions describe the reality that once removal "began rapidly to take place, . . . the labours of Friends for promoting their Christian instruction and civilization were in consequence gradually reduced to a very limited sphere of action." Report of the New York Meeting, p. 170. See Introduction, p. ii, describing relocation as "[o]ne of the obstacles . . . in the way of extending Christian instruction."
The “Meeting for Sufferings,” established in 1675, was and is a body of the London Society of Friends. Originally formed to protect Quakers from recurring persecution, its focus expanded in the 18th century to combat slavery and in the 19th century to oppose other forms of injustice around the world. The “Aborigines Committee” of the Meeting was established in 1837 by an influential London physician, Thomas Hodgkin. Following the title page of the Account is a list of nine publications of the Aborigines Committee from 1838-44, including reports regarding natives of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Aborigines’ Committee of The Meeting for Sufferings. 1844. Some Account of the Conduct of the Religious Society of Friends towards the Indian Tribes in the Settlement of the Colonies of East and West Jersey and Pennsylvania: With a Brief Narrative of Their Labours for the Civilization and Christian Instruction of the Indians, from the Time of Their Settlement in America, to the Year 1843. London: Edward Marsh.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.