American Colonial & British Policy Viewpoints
The viewpoints and worldview ideologies of many respected citizens in the American Colonies were as mixed and formed as much of a melting point as the different types of people who settled there. Where Native Americans and religion are concerned, the views of John Heckewelder, Benjamin Franklin and Hector St. John de Crevecoeur show the different attitudes and perspectives of individuals with quite different backgrounds and beliefs. Heckewelder was pious Protestant Minister which accounts for his appreciation of the universal, natural values of goodwill, duty and reciprocity contained inherently in the ideology of the Native Americans. Within his description of the Native American viewpoint we see that the English (imperialistic, capitalistic and devoted to the concept of private property-even if it were stolen) would have made for a natural clash of ideologies upon meeting, “They think that he made the earth and all that it contains for the common good of mankind; when he stocked the country that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not for the benefit of a few, but of all. Every thing was given in common to the sons of men” (Unger 57). By converting Natives to the Christian faith in its abstract form there was nothing disrespectful on behalf of the actions of the English, but by using Christianity to rob them of their lands, fence in their property and kill all dissenters there was as much disrespect as the Crusades, another pillage and plunder campaign cloaked in the robes of Christian values.
Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most revered sages and man of inordinate decency and common sense, saw the actions of those who attacked otherwise peaceful, kind and respectful Natives as standing against everything the new Continent hoped to secure. Being a Quaker, Franklin had respect for self-sufficiency coupled with community, elements he realized were inherent in th...