Joseph Smith and Handsome Lake

[_RedJacket]

Another comparison this one from Red Jacket's 1822 speech the words preserve in relation to metal plates.

I have round my neck a silver plate, presented to me by General Washington, which he told me to preserve and wear so long as I felt friendly to him and the United States, as an evidence of his friendship for me.

1 Nephi 5:14
the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers... preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father, Jacob, and all his household from perishing with famine.

Jacob 1:3
For he said that the history of his people should be engraven upon his other plates, and that I should preserve these plates ...

Omni 1:1
I should write somewhat upon these plates, to preserve our genealogy...

Mosiah 28:11
Therefore he took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, and also the plates of Nephi, and all the things which he had kept and preserved...

Mosiah 28:20
the plates of brass... and commanded him that he should keep and preserve them...

Doctrine and Covenants 3:19
And for this very purpose are these plates preserved...

[_RedJacket]

I just re-read the Code of Handsome Lake-- I see a lot more than the first time through several years ago. I forgot that once literature guides me to a source, it usually takes two times through before I begin to see the parallels others have seen. The Book of Mormon and Mormonism hitch-hiked on nearly anything available in 1829. LOL. Now beginning a survey of Rick Grunder's work.

The Book of Mormon is such an obvious product of its environment. Rick Grunder's work is worth the read very comprehensive.

[_Always Changing]

I have already read some other very comprehensive works. Should be a piece of cake--- I keep trying to convince myself.

[_CaliforniaKid]

Here is my transcription of the newspaper report of Red Jacket's visit to Palmyra (probably on July 22, 1822):

Seneca Indians.—We were last week visited by the Seneca Chief, Red Jacket, together with four other Chiefs belonging to the Six Nations, to wit—Blue Sky, William Sky, Peter Snake and Twenty Canoes who arrived here on Monday, about sun set.

To answer the solicitations of our inhabitants, Red Jacket delivered a speech in the evening at the Academy, which was almost instantly filled with an attentive auditory. He speech, if it had been properly interpreted, no doubt would have been both eloquent and interesting. But as it was, merely enough could be understood to know his object, while his native eloquence and rhetorical powers could only be guessed at, from his manner and appearance. He commenced by representing the whole human race as the creatures of God, or the Great Spirit, and that both white men and red men were brethren of the same great family. He then mentioned the emigration of our forefathers from towards the rising of the sun, and their landing among their red brethren in this new discovered world. He next hinted at the success of our armies under the great Washington;—our prosperity as a nation since the declaration of our independence; mentioned Gen Washington’s advice to the red men, to plough, and plant, and cultivate their lands. This, he said, they wished to do, but the white men took away their lands, and drove them further and further towards the setting sun:—and what was worse than all had sent Missionaries to preach and hold meetings among them;—that the whites who instituted and attended these meetings, stole their horses, drove off their cattle, and taxed their land. These things he considered their greatest calamity—too grievous to be borne.

The principal object of this visit, by these Chiefs, was, we understand, to intercede with the Friends, in whose honesty they appear to place the most implicit confidence, to use their influence to free them from the Missionaries now inside their borders.

What are the real grounds of this opposition to the Missionaries among these our red brethren, we know not; but the cause of pure religion and christian philanthropy demand their speedy investigation and public explanation.

“Seneca Indians,” Palmyra Herald, Canal Advertiser [Palmyra, N.Y.], 2 no. 20 (July 31, 1822): 3.

[_Always Changing]

Thanks, Chris. So it seems that biggest parallel between that report of the speech and the Book of Mormon would be about whiney Lamanites saying that they are being treated unfairly.

[_CaliforniaKid]

Some of the language certainly resonates with the Book of Mormon. For instance, the idea of red and white men as brethren and children of the same Great Spirit. Or the language about whites landing in the new world, driving natives before them, and experiencing prosperity under George Washington. But of course, these were not uncommon ideas in Joseph Smith's neighborhood, and there's no reason to think he got them from Red Jacket.

I suppose the image of Red Jacket might have fired Joseph Smith's imagination to fantasize about Lamanite characters, especially orators like Samuel the Lamanite.

[_RedJacket]

Some of the language certainly resonates with the Book of Mormon. For instance, the idea of red and white men as brethren and children of the same Great Spirit. Or the language about whites landing in the new world, driving natives before them, and experiencing prosperity under George Washington. But of course, these were not uncommon ideas in Joseph Smith's neighborhood, and there's no reason to think he got them from Red Jacket.

I suppose the image of Red Jacket might have fired Joseph Smith's imagination to fantasize about Lamanite characters, especially orators like Samuel the Lamanite.

I didn't know what Red Jacket had talked about when he visited Palmyra. Is it possible that he was more charismatic than was reported by that one writer? Could it have inspired Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to look to other speeches made by Red Jacket?

What do you think about the similarities between Red Jacket's most famous 1805 speech and Oliver Cowdery's speech to the Delaware?

[Guest]

I don't think it was a lack of charisma on Red Jacket's part so much as a failure of his translator.

The bit about red men becoming black men is interesting, and certainly a useful glimpse of the racial sentiments of the day, but not conclusive. (Red Jacket, of course, was speaking of intermarriage rather than a miraculous change of skin color. Racial purity was a concern for many Native groups in the nineteenth century, because whites respected treaty obligations to mixed-bloods even less than obligations to full-blooded Indians. And the many native bands that intermarried with escaped slaves were particularly despised by whites.)

The rest of the similarities you highlight are certainly significant, but not exclusive to Red Jacket's speeches. Phrases like "great water," "Great Spirit," "toward the setting sun," "council," and "shedding of blood," were stereotypes that appear in virtually every nineteenth-century record of an Indian orator speaking to whites or of white missionaries speaking to natives. The instruction to stop fighting and plant crops was also on the lips of every missionary and government official. Smith's and Cowdery's use of these phrases is certainly a case of cultural borrowing. But they borrowed not from Red Jacket, but rather from a stereotyped discourse that every nineteenth-century American would have found familiar.

There is at least one other Red Jacket document—a letter to the governor of New York—in Palmyra's newspaper. That document uses some of the ideas and language you highlight in reports of his speeches. It's possible Joseph Smith read this document in the newspaper in 1821. But even if we could prove it, it wouldn't mean much, given the pervasiveness of these phrases and themes.

[_CaliforniaKid]

Here's the document in question.

“Red Jacket’s Letter,” Western Farmer [Palmyra, NY] 1, no. 5 (April 4, 1821): 3.

RED JACKET’S LETTER.
—
Copy of a letter from Red Jacket, the celebrated Indian Chief, to Capt. Parish, dated Canandaigua Jun. 18, 1821.

BROTHER PARISH—I address myself to you and through you to the Governor.

The chiefs of Onondaga have accompanied you to Albany, to do business with the Governor. I also was to have been with you, but I am sorry to say that bad health has put it out of my power. For this you must not think hard of me. I am not to blame for it. It is the will of the Great Spirit that it should be so.

The object of the Onondagas is to purchase our lands at Tonewanta. This, and all other business that they may have to do at Albany, must be transacted in the presence of the Governor. He will see that the bargain is fairly made, so that all parties may have reason to be satisfied with what shall be done; and when our sanction shall be wanted to the transaction, it will be freely given.

I much regret, that at this time, the state of my health should have prevented me from accompanying you to Albany, as it was the wish of the nation that I should state to the Governor some circumstances which show that the chain of friendship between us and the white people is wearing out, and wants brightening.

I proceed now, however, to lay them before you by letter; that you may mention them to the governor and solicit redress. He is appointed to do justice to all, and the Indians fully confide that he will not suffer them to be wronged with impunity.

The first subject to which he would call the attention of the Governor, is the depredations that are daily committed by the white people, upon the most valuable timber on our reservations. This has been a subject of complain with us for many years: but now, and particularly at this season of the year, it has become an alarming evil, and calls for the immediate interposition of the Governor in our behalf.

Our next subject of complaint is, the frequent thefts of our horses and cattle by the white people, and their habit of taking and using them, whenever they please, and without our leave.—These are evils which seem to increase upon us, with the increase of our white neighbors, and call loudly for redress.
Another evil arising from the pressure of the whites upon us, and our unavoidable communication with them, is the frequency with which our chiefs and warriors, and Indians, are thrown into jail, and that too for the most trifling causes. This is very galling to our feelings, and ought not to be permitted to the extent to which, to gratify their bad passions, our white neighbors now carry this practice.

In our hunting and fishing too, we are greatly interrupted by the whites: our venison is stolen from the trees, where we have hung it, to be reclaimed after the chase; our hunting camps have been fired into, and we have been warned that we shall no longer be permitted to pursue the deer in these forests, which were so lately all our own. The fish, which, in the Buffalo and Tonewanta Creeks, used to supply us with food, are now by the dams and other obstructions of the white people, prevented from multiplying, and we are almost entirely deprived of that accustomed sustenance.

Our great father, the President, has recommended to our young men, to be industrious, to plough, and to sow. This we have done, and we are thankful for the advice, and for the means he has afforded us, of carrying it into effect. We are happier in consequence of it.—But another thing, recommended to us, has created great confusion among us, and is making us a quarrelsome and divided people: and that is the introduction of preachers into our nation. These Black Coats contrive to get the consent of some of the Indians, to preach among us: And whenever this is the case, confusion & disorder are sure to follow; & the encroachments of the whites upon our lands, are the invariable consequences. The Governor must not think hard of me for speaking thus of the preachers. I have observed their progress, and when I look back to what has taken place of old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they were the forerunners of their dispersion; that they always excited enmities and quarrels among them; that they introduced the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and plundered of their property; and that the Indians were sure to dwindle and decrease, and be driven back, in proportion to the number of preachers that came among them.

Each nations [sic] has its own customs, and its own religion. The Indians have theirs, given to them by the Great Spirit, under which they were happy. It was not intended that they should embrace the religion of the whites, and be destroyed by the attempt to make them think differently on that subject, from their fathers.

It is true, these preachers have got the consent of some of the chiefs, to stay and preach among us; but I and my friends know this to be wrong, and that they ought to be removed. Beside, we have been threatened by Mr. Hyde, who came among us as a school master, and a teacher of our children, but has now become a black coat, and refuses to teach them any more, that unless we listen to him preaching, and become Christians, we will be turned off our lands and not allowed to plague us any more; we shall never be at peace while he is among us.

We are afraid too, that these preachers, by, and by, will become poor, and force us to pay them for living among us, and disturbing us.

Some of our chiefs have got so lazy, and instead of cultivating their lands, themselves employ white people to do so.—There are now, eleven white families, living on our reservation at Buffalo; this is wrong, and ought not to be permitted. The great source of all our grievances is, that the white men are among us.—Let them be removed, and we will be happy and contented among ourselves.

We now cry to the Governor for help, and hope that he will attend to our complaints, and speedily give us our redress.

RED JACKET

[Guest]

I don't think it was a lack of charisma on Red Jacket's part so much as a failure of his translator.

That's what I meant. Whereas the newspaper reporter may have been disappointed Joseph Smith or others in the audience might have been quite impressed. Communication isn't just verbal.

The bit about red men becoming black men is interesting, and certainly a useful glimpse of the racial sentiments of the day, but not conclusive. (Red Jacket, of course, was speaking of intermarriage rather than a miraculous change of skin color. Racial purity was a concern for many Native groups in the nineteenth century, because whites respected treaty obligations to mixed-bloods even less than obligations to full-blooded Indians. And the many native bands that intermarried with escaped slaves were particularly despised by whites.)

From the speech Red Jacket seemed to be saying that Native Americans thought that they would be accepted and become white figuratively by adopting the Christian religion. Instead they became black. It obviously isn't the same as skin color actually changing which is what happens in the Book of Mormon. I agree that the association talked of was marriage and diminished the Natives' claims.

The rest of the similarities you highlight are certainly significant, but not exclusive to Red Jacket's speeches. Phrases like "great water," "Great Spirit," "toward the setting sun," "council," and "shedding of blood," were stereotypes that appear in virtually every nineteenth-century record of an Indian orator speaking to whites or of white missionaries speaking to natives. The instruction to stop fighting and plant crops was also on the lips of every missionary and government official. Smith's and Cowdery's use of these phrases is certainly a case of cultural borrowing. But they borrowed not from Red Jacket, but rather from a stereotyped discourse that every nineteenth-century American would have found familiar.

The biggest similarity I see is from Red Jacket's 1805 speech that was widely circulated that asks directly why God never gave the Native Americans the book (the Bible) and why God never gave the Christian religion to Native Americans. As a Native American apologist who was opposing the adoption of Christianity his arguments seem to be directly addressed by Oliver Cowdery. Cowdery appears to mirrors Red Jacket's speech even offering "the book" that Red Jacket was seeking.

I think you have a good point that the language used was the stereotypical language used.

There is at least one other Red Jacket document—a letter to the governor of New York—in Palmyra's newspaper. That document uses some of the ideas and language you highlight in reports of his speeches. It's possible Joseph Smith read this document in the newspaper in 1821. But even if we could prove it, it wouldn't mean much, given the pervasiveness of these phrases and themes.

Thanks for sharing that newspaper article. Another article Red Jacket put his mark to about Native Americans and that was published in the Palmyra Register in 1818 and in a book called "Sketches of the History, Manners, and Customs, of the North American Indians, with a Plan for Their Melioration. Volume I." in 1824 in New York is quite interesting too.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY DE WITT CLINTON, ESQ. GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, FEB. 14, 1818.

Father, — We learn from your talk delivered at the great council fire in Albany, your opinion of the condition and prospects of your red children.

Father, — We feel that the hand of our God has long been heavy on his red children. For our sins has he brought us low, and caused us to melt away before our white brothers, as snow before the fire. His ways are perfect; he regardeth not the complexion of man. God is terrible in judgment. All men ought to fear before him. He putteth down and buildeth up, and none can resist him.

Father, — The Lord of the whole earth is strong; this is our confidence. He hath power to build up as well as to pull down. Will he keep his anger for ever? Will he pursue to destruction the workmanship of his own hand, and strike off a race of men from the earth, whom his care hath so long preserved through so many perils?

Father, — We thank you that you feel so anxious to do all you can to the perishing ruins of your red children. We hope, Father, you will make a fence strong and high around us, that wicked white men may not devour us at once, but let us live as long as we can. We are persuaded you will do this for us, because our field is laid waste and trodden down by every beast; we are feeble and cannot resist them.

Father, — We are persuaded you will do this for the sake of our white brothers, lest God, who has appeared so strong in building up white men, and pulling down Indians, should turn his hand and visit our white brothers for their sins, and call them to an account for all the wrongs they have done, and all the wrongs they have not prevented that was in their power to prevent, to their poor red brothers who have no helper.

Father, — Would you be the father of your people, and make them good and blessed of God, and happy, let not the cries of your injured red children ascend into his ears against you.
Father, — We desire to let you know that wrong information hath reached your ears. Our western, brothers have given us no land. You will learn all our mind on this subject, by a talk which we sent our Great Father, the President of the United States. We send it to you, that you may see it and learn our mind.

We know that Joseph Smith was fascinated by Native Americans even before the Book of Mormon came along from his mother recounting:

During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would to with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life with them.

Nothing I have seen so far has conclusively proven that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery did borrow from Handsome Lake and Red Jacket in his Book of Mormon but I find it all fascinating.

Edited to add an interesting book that includes the speech is Emanuel Howitt "Selections from letters written during a tour through the United States, in the summer and autumn of 1819 ; illustrative of the character of the native Indians, and of the descent from the lost ten tribes of Israel (1820)".