Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America

In his 2001 book Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America, historian Daniel K. Richter presents an account of early American history from a rarely seen perspective: that of the Indigenous peoples who were present in North America as the first European colonists arrived. Using primary sources and imaginative reconstruction, the book examines Cultural Accommodation, Racial Antagonism and Erasure, and The Influence of Resources and Materials on Historical Events, reorienting readers to see the arrival of European settlers, the growth of the colonies, and the founding of the American Republic as Indigenous people might have experienced them, creating a narrative of US history that does not assume that European dominance over Indigenous Americans was inevitable.

Note: In discussing the Indigenous peoples of North America, Richter alternately uses “Indians,” “Native Americans,” and “Natives,” often to reflect attitudes and language prevalent in the eras he is describing. The terms “European,” “Euro-American,” and “White” are similarly used. This study guide preserves the original phrasing in quotes.

Summary

Facing East from Indian Country is divided into six essay-length chapters chronicling the period between Indigenous people’s first awareness of Europeans until the American Revolution redefined “Natives” as a monolithic and undifferentiated enemy group. Indigenous people first learned about the existence of Europeans through rumors generated by the expeditions of Spain’s Hernando de Soto in 1539 and France’s Jacques Cartier in 1534. At first, the European presence took a backseat to bigger sociological changes, like the collapse of chiefdoms in the Mississippian complex of Cahokia. Prolonged contact with Europeans, however, created new challenges: biological, economic, and ecological.

Through trade relationships with the Euro-Americans and attempts to negotiate diplomatic treaties, Indigenous people showed resilience and inventiveness in the face of change rather than simply buckling under it. Richter recasts three key figures—Pocahontas, Kateri Tekakwitha, and King Philip Metacom—from an Indigenous perspective to illustrate how Indigenous people puzzled out how to live alongside European colonists. A period of relative peace, prosperity, and balance under the rule of the British crown weakened in the racial division that followed in the wake of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). Through narratives of Pontiac’s Rebellion and tales of the Paxton Boys, the author demonstrates how relations between whites and Indigenous people grew more strained as revolutionaries became fixated on expansion as a way of rebelling against the policies of the British crown.

Although friendly overtures were made by President George Washington’s administration, relations between the US government and Indigenous people deteriorated thereafter, and Indigenous people were recast as an enemy to be battled in every possible arena: militarily, socially, and culturally. The book ends with an Epilogue that explores a speech by William Apess, a 19th-century author of Pequot descent. The speech compares the Wampanoag leader King Philip Metacom favorably to George Washington, creating parallels between Indigenous resistance and the cause of the American Revolution and appealing to both Indigenous people and whites to reject racial division and live in harmony—a road regrettably not taken.

The book includes several maps that show the American colonies and the location of various Indigenous tribes and linguistic families, thus driving home the Indigenous-centered perspective that the book presents. Also included are drawings, paintings, and cartoons from the period, as well as a conjectural diorama reconstructing an Indigenous village.