Blog Post #2
“So this is where they coined Merciless Indian Savage.”
Our tour group had just entered the Assembly Room of Independence Hall escaping the humid heat of Philadelphia. Maneuvering through the 30 or so other visitors in our tour, I approached the gate that separated us from the tables that the Founding Fathers used. I’ve always been interested in historical furniture and architecture so I quickly found myself analyzing the grooves in the chairs and curious about the techniques that created the crown modeling. Although the construction of the building was not something discussed on the tour, we could assume who it was built by. My attention was then drawn to a large poster version of the Declaration of Independence pulled out by the guide from a box of other documents and pictures. The guide went through the box describing each poster placing emphasis on democratic values that ensure equality in the United States. Like the construction of the building itself, these values of equality were not constructed by the Founders.
“At the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania in 1744 and the Albany Congress in 1754, Benjamin Franklin invited Iroquois Nation representatives to help promote three core concepts of their constitution-peace, equity, and justice-as foundational principles for unifying the colonies.”
The above quote comes from a paper I wrote for my American Politics Seminar called “The Overturning of McGirt v. Oklahoma: Discussing the Implications of Tribal Sovereignty on US Federalism”. In spaces like Independence Hall, where we know the hidden truths of what it took to found this country and what it takes to maintain it, I think of this fact because it serves as a reminder that our communities knew and practiced democracy way before it was “founded”. During our exploration of all the historical markers in Philadelphia, I kept this in mind, even in the American Philosophical Society Library where we conducted our archival research.
Immediately into my research, it became apparent the level of involvement and effect Indigenous peoples had on colonists. I first examined Barton’s papers detailing his botanical observations of the Philadelphia region. In these writings, he repeatedly mentions the burial grounds of Indigenous peoples and through correspondence with his colleagues we learn that they (Indigenous peoples) migrated during a yellow fever epidemic. Yet if we go back further than those journals, we see the impact of Indigenous agricultural systems that provided substance to the first colonists. Thus, spurred the experimentation of maize (referred to as ‘Indian corn’) by John Bartrom and James Logan leading to a mass growth of the vegetable, relied upon by revolutionary war soldiers. This chain of events only goes on from there.
There is a profound connection between Indigenous peoples and the founding of the United States, yet a skewed version of its construction leaves various communities behind. Returning back to our overall tour experience, there was no mention of Indigenous peoples, only iconography. It was not that the tour guides did not have this information, as they had answered our questions about Indigenous delegations during our private tour. Rather it seems like it was a choice to omit such facts because it was not of interest to the broader public. What is this important? The construction of the founders’ documents is just as important as the stories we tell about them.
