PRIMARY SOURCE ASSIGNMENT

Primary Source Assignment



Primary Source Assignment

1. In what ways does Catherine Beecher call on the moral authority to legitimize their taking a stand on the issue of Indian removal?

The U.S. government adopted Protestant Christianity as a tool for assimilating American Indians when it passed the Civilization Act of 1819. The act called on “benevolent associations” to teach Indian men to farm and Indian women to spin and weave cloth, thereby diminishing women's traditional roles in raising food for their families (Kidwell, 1995). In 1829, Catherine Beecher responded to this issue of Indian removal by publishing a circular that ...