Thomas Jefferson and Europeans

Indian Interactions

In reading about the first-hand reactions and interactions that Merriweather Lewis had with the Shoshone Indians, one can glean what Lewis and his men thought about the Indians, how they reacted to them and how they perceived them. It is widely known and perceived that the Europeans vastly mistreated and subjugated the Indians and this really did start with Columbus. Even so, the totality of the interactions and back/forth between the Europeans and the Indians was by no means monolithic and solely violent and the details about how the groups perceived each other upon their initial meeting and thereafter is useful to see. While the more violent and sordid parts of the story of the Indians and the European is important, any other details or facets that can be looked at are important as well.

Analysis

Lewis had about fifty men that were with him. While the instructions from Thomas Jefferson and the guidelines for evaluating the documents are important, the bread and butter, so to speak, when it comes to assessing these documents are the entries themselves. As one example, a journal entry in mid-August of 1805 notes that Lewis felt that the Shoshone were very "detached" when it came to the way that they spoke and communicated with the white people that were there. Lewis was quick to attribute this to smallpox or some other disease and that the detached nature of the interaction was borne of some sort of disease side effect or something else along those lines. Also in that first journal entry, Lewis spoke about the weapons and tools that the Indians had including their bow, shields and lances. He also spoke about how they fished and hunted. He was very much taking an inventory of the daily tasks and tools that the Indians made use of (Macmillan)(PBS).

In the second journal article entry, which is much briefer, Lewis talks about their "disposition" and personality. He notes that they are kind and generous and that their mood is generally mild and sincere. He notes that Indians having conversations would generally treat each other as equals rather than there being a clear hierarchy or ranking when it came to who was involved in the conversation. This apparently included boys and girls unless a council meeting was in progress. The final journal entry makes note that the Indians made heavy use of all of the materials that they got a hold of and this included materials from other Europeans. An example of the latter was the briddlebits and stirrups from the Spaniards (Macmillan)(PBS).