Weekly Blog #10: Way to go, Benny

After a week or so reading articles that, in my opinion, could be classified as "just okay", I found Benjamin Franklin's piece "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" to be an interesting and refreshing change. His viewpoint seemed to counter those of the other authors we read regarding the same or a similar subject without being harsh or uncivil, and I was definitely a fan of that.

I thought it was really fantastic that Franklin was finally able to make it known how decent, tolerant, and respectful the Native Americans could be, thus making a huge yet subtle point in a calm and rational way. He made the elitist and racist ideals of early colonists look ridiculous and left little room for argument against his statements. Crafting this argument essentially required almost no effort on his part simply because it was an undeniable byproduct of choosing to write about the truth, and it is because of this fact that his argument was made even stronger.

I especially loved the recount of the interaction between the Swedish minister and the chiefs of the Susquehanah Native Americans. It was such a good point and a perfect reflection of the ignorance of the times to include the Native American's quote: "My brother, it seems your friends have not done you justice in your education; they have not well instructed you in the rules of common civility. You saw that we, who understand and practice those rules, believed all your stories; why do you refuse to believe ours?"

Speaking of education, it was also a truly beautiful thing to me that Franklin included the portion about how the early colonists offered to take Native American children into their schools to teach them how to be "worthy men", yet they rejected the Native Americans' offer to take white children into Native American society to learn how to be "worthy men" by their standards. This explanation of the occurrence did a wonderful job of highlighting the unfair way that colonists refused to hold the Native American customs as high as their own--to reciprocate the respect of differences that the Native Americans had offered to them.

On a whole (wow. . .how clichéd can I get?), this article was really enjoyable for me because Franklin finally addressed the facts that others writing about this topic failed (intentionally) to shed any light on. It was a much needed expression of the truth and helped to give Native Americans some of the credit that they were so often denied. I am sure that if I'd read this piece when it was originally created, I would have had my thoughts completely altered (assuming that they did not already follows these lines), and I am convinced that there is no way it didn't have an affect on the opinions of anyone who really did read it during that time.