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This book tells the story of the late colonial and early reservation history of the Seneca Indians, and of the prophet Handsome Lake, his visions, and the moral and religious revitalization of an American Indian society that he and his followers achieved in the years around 1800

Includes bibliographical references

1. The religion of Handsome Lake today -- pt. I. The heyday of the Iroquois -- 2. The Seneca nation of Indians -- Villagers, warriors, and statesmen -- The Iroquois "matriarchate" -- The ideal of autonomous responsibility -- Iroquois polity : the philosophy of peace -- Iroquois warfare : the strategy of threat and retaliation -- 3. The rituals of hope and Thanksgiving -- The calendar of Thanksgiving -- Dreams and the wishes of the soul -- 4. The rituals of fear and mourning -- The importance of love and friendship -- The faces of the gods -- The cult of death -- pt. II. The decline of the Iroquois -- 5. The last wares in the forest -- The play-off system -- Pontiac's conspiracy -- A dark and bloody ground -- The Iroquois and the revolution : the neutrality policy -- The Oswego council -- The first battles -- Sullivan's raid -- The final campaigns -- 6. The collapse of the confederacy -- Federal and state Indian policies and the "conquest theory" treaties -- The rise of the western confederacy -- The Treaty of Fort Harmar -- The war for the Northwest Territory -- The splitting of the Iroquois confederacy -- The establishment of the Cornplanter Seneca -- American concessions to the New York Iroquois -- The Treaty of Big Tree -- 7. Slums in the wilderness -- Cornplanter's town -- Depopulation -- Loss of confidence -- Social pathology : alcohol, violence, witch fear, disunity -- Paths to salvation -- The ragged conquerors -- The friendly people -- The cruel spring -- pt. III. The renaissance of the Iroquois -- 8. Preaching to repentance : the first, or apocalyptic, gospel -- The first vision of Handsome Lake -- The sky journey -- The third vision -- The apocalyptic gospel -- The great witch hunt -- 9. The politics of evangelism : the second, or social, gospel -- Concessions to the progressive faction -- The visit to Washington -- The Quaker model -- The social gospel -- Political defeat -- 10. Renaissance -- Temperance -- Technology -- Religious observance -- The death of Handsome Lake -- The years of trouble -- The formation of the Handsome Lake Church

Print version record

Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library

Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002

digitized 2010

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