Trade, Land, Power: The Struggle for Eastern North America

Introduction

Introduction I have long suspected, despite some fine examples to the contrary, that anyone who compiles a volume of his or her own essays is either afflicted by egotism, cursed with hubris, or excused by scholarly venerability.1 I prefer to believe that none of these conditions apply to me. With respect to the last, however, I must confess to having been at this business for three decades and to turn‑ ing, at least temporarily, toward new fields of inquiry. So the essays compiled here sum up a phase in my scholarly career. The pieces were written at various times, for various purposes, since 1983. As I composed them, I did not set out to explore any single interpretation but only to pursue my general interest in the interactions of Native people and Europeans in early America in gen‑ eral and in the mid‑​­ Atlantic region in particular. As I looked back on them, however, and as I thought about them roughly in the chronological order of the topics they explored, I discovered that three themes forcefully emerged, themes I call trade, land, and power. It seemed useful, then, to gather the es‑ says in one place.2 * * * To begin to understand how trade, land, and power entwined, we could do worse than to listen to a man who, in his own eighteenth‑​­ century lifetime, stood accused of no small measure of egotism, hubris, and premature old age: Teedyuscung, “King of the Delawares.” It was late July 1756, and Teedyuscung, along with a handful of other Indians and Euro‑​­ Americans, was desperately seeking a way out of the bloody violence of what we now call the Seven Years War, violence that he himself, in his frustration with Pennsylvanians, had helped to initiate. At a treaty conference in Easton, Pennsylvania—​­ where the Delaware leader lived up to his reputation for eloquence as well as for bluster, bravado, and, tragically, excessive drinking—​­he made a rambling speech out‑ lining his credentials and purposes. Asked if he had finished talking, he said “he had for the present,” depending on what the English had to say in return. 2 Introduction But “‘the main Thing,’ he added ‘is yet in my Breast.’” Hand over heart, “he repeated the Delaware Word, Whish‑​­shicksy . . . , with great Earnestness.”3 At that point in the proceedings, Pennsylvania’s longtime go‑​­ between with Native peoples, Conrad Weiser, “who knew the Word to have a very ex‑ tensive and forcible Sense” but had not previously met Teedyuscung, “desired the Interpreter to ask him what he meant by Whish‑​­shicksy on this particular Occasion.” Through that interpreter, the Delaware orator responded with an example: Suppose you want to remove a large Log of Wood, that requires many Hands, you must take Pains to get as many together as will do the Business; if you fall short but one, though never so weak an one, all the rest are to no Purpose. Though this be in itself nothing, yet, if you cannot move the Log without it, you must spare no Pains to get it. Whish‑​­shicksy; be strong; look round you; enable us to engage every Indian Nation we can; put the Means into our Hands; be sure [to] per‑ form every Promise you have made to us; in particular do not pinch Matters neither with us or other Indians; we will help you but we are poor, and you are rich; make us strong, and we will use our Strength for you and, besides this, what you do, do quickly; the Times are dan‑ gerous; they will not admit of Delay. Whish‑​­shicksy; do it effectually, and do it with all possible Dispatch.4 In the margin of one of several transcripts of Teedyuscung’s speech, someone later inserted a reference to Moravian missionary David Zeisberger. According to the unidentified annotator, Zeisberger said Whish‑​­shicksy or “Wischixi” means “be active, nimble.” Fellow Moravian John Heckewelder de‑ fined Wischiksik as “be ye vigilant, in earnest, quick! (about it).” Heckewelder further explained that “the word wischiksi or wischixi is by the white people interpreted as signifying ‘be strong,’ which does not convey the true meaning of this word: it comprehends more; it asks for exertions to be made, to fulfil the object.” Another Moravian dictionary—​­ probably based on Zeisberger’s—​­defines wischiki as “busily” and wischixin as “to be active, to be brisk, to be nimble; to exert one’s self.”5 Whatever the difficulties in translating Teedyuscung’s utterance into En‑ glish...