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Article: Taming the "Savagery" of Michigan's Indians.
- Article from:
- Michigan Historical Review
- Article date:
- September 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Clarke Historical Library. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When immigrants from New England and western New York began streaming into Michigan ha the late 1820s, they voiced great alarm about the perceived barbarism and wildness of the territory's first inhabitants. Although Michigan's Native Peoples had developed complex, sophisticated cultures, Yankee-Yorkers viewed them as primitive savages who existed without ethical or spiritual boundaries, worshipped false gods, drank excessively, delighted ha violence, and lived like animals. Consequently, Yankees insisted, Native Peoples failed to achieve the technical, moral, or intellectual progress that distinguished civilized from savage societies. Michigan's French residents seemed ...