Faith and Factionalism among the Senecas

A dramatic decade in Seneca history provides the starting point for an analysis of factionalism in that tribe. In the early 1790's the Senecas were still bargaining for favors from two White contestants struggling for control of a portion of the North American continent. Earlier in the 18th century the conflict had been between England and France; later the straggle was between England and some of her former colonies. The Senecas still continued, however, to wheedle the two sides for advantages. With the battle of Fallen Timbers, won by General Anthony Wayne in northwest Ohio in August of 1744, and the Jay Treaty, between England and the United States signed in November, 1794, the Senecas learned that the English would not support their claims against the upstart Yankees. In 1796 the British troops withdrew from Fort Niagara, New York, and in the next year the Senecas were placed upon reservations for the first time in their history. Within a few short years, they had moved from a position of coexistence with the Whites to one of being controlled by the Americans. In 1798 Quakers arrived in Seneca Chief Cornplanter's village on the Allegheny River to commence training Red men to become like White men in the arts of social and economic life. Thirteen months later, Cornplanter's stepbrother, Handsome Lake, awoke from a two-hour trance and uttered the first of his good words that launched the religion named after him. In the succeeding two years, his religion spread to other Seneca reservations. Quaker work was also extended to another reservation in the early years of the new century, while Presbyterian missionaries began their labors among the tribesmen at this time

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• The Political Context of a New Indian History

  R F Berkhofer•Pacific Historical Review•1971

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• Social Structure, Revitalization Movements and State Building

  Duane Champagne•American Sociological Review•1983

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• Factionalism as Argumentation

  Robert S Littlefield, Jane A Ball•Argumentation and Advocacy•2004

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