Francis Jennings

“ Empire of Fortune is vintage Jennings. He writes with as much flair and involvement as his predecessors, while challenging their assumptions and research at every turn. No one has done more to demystify the early American ‘wilderness’ or worked harder to dynamite the anglocentric folktales of colonial history.” ―Peter H. Wood, Duke University The third volume of the "Covenant Chain" trilogy, this work restores the Indians to the history of colonial America as human beings and shatters the myth of their savagery. It also revises the popular images of Wolfe and Montcalm.

Studies the cultural devastation of Atlantic coastal Indian tribes by European civilization, particularly New England Puritans, and the creation of an ideology to justify the cruelty

US History

In the standard presentation of the American Revolution, a ragtag assortment of revolutionaries, inspired by the ideals of liberty and justice, rise to throw off the yoke of the British empire and bring democracy to the New World.In place of this fairy tale, Francis Jennings presents a realistic alternative: a privileged elite, dreaming of empire, clone their own empire from the British. Jennings shows that the colonists intended from the first to conquer American Indians. Though subordinate to the British crown, the colonists ruled over beaten native peoples. Some colonists bought Africans as slaves and rigidly ruled over them, and the colonists invented the concept of racial gradation to justify conquests and oppression. Jennings reveals as war propaganda the revolutionary rhetoric about liberty and virtue.Including the whole population in this meticulously documented history, Jennings provides an eloquent explanation for a host of anomalies, ambiguities, and iniquities that have followed in the Revolution's wake.

"We have lived upon this land from days beyond history's records." These are the words of a Pueblo man, words that describe the experience of Native Americans. They underlie the long work and philosophy of Francis Jennings―the scholar who has done the most to change our view of the relationship of Native Americans and the European settlers. Jennings describes the experience of the first pioneers of the North American continent, who migrated from Siberia across what is now Beringia―nomadic people who traveled over the continents and islands of the Americas, establishing networks of trails and trade and adapting the land to human purposes. He tells of the rise of imperial city states in Mexico and Peru, and of the extension of cultures from Mexico into North America; he describes the multitude of cultures and societies created by the Native Americans, from simple kin-structured bands to immense and complex cities. Jennings shows that Europeans did not "discover" America; they invaded it and conquered its population. We grew up on history written from the point of view of the victor. Here now is the rest of the story, by the acknowledged dean of American Indian history. It is strong, eye-opening, and timely.

"No historian surpasses Francis Jennings in uncovering the seamier intrigues that brought wealth and power to some of our colonial forebears. Here is the secret history of an egomaniacal Benjamin Franklin's ruthless pursuit of political dominance in pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania―a fascinating follow-up to Jenning's fine works on colonial Indian affairs." ―Anthony F. C. Wallace A distinguished historian of early America sees Franklin's influence on the course of the revolutionary movement in a new light. Benjamin Franklin was a man of genius and enormous ego, smart enough not to flaunt his superiority but to let others proclaim it. To understand him and his role in great events, one must realize the omnipresence of this ego, and the extent to which he mirrored the feelings of other colonial Pennsylvanians. With this in mind, Francis Jennings sets forth some new ideas about Franklin as the "first American." In so doing, he provides a new view of the beginnings of the American Revolution in Franklin's struggle against William Penn. By striving against Penn's feudal lordship (and therefore against King George) Franklin became master of the Pennsylvania assembly. It was in this role that he suggested a meeting of the Continental Congress which, as Jennings notes, flies in the face of historical opinion which suggests that Boston patriots had to drag Pennsylvanians into the revolution. Franklin's autobiography omits discussion of his heroic struggle against Penn and, in so doing, robs history of his true role in the making of the new country. It is through an accurate accounting of what Franklin did, not what he said he did in his autobiography (which Jennings likens to a campaign speech), that we understand the author's use of the term "first American."

This is a comprehensive collection of essays and reference material on the historical and ethnological aspects of Iroquois diplomacy, on its rituals and formulas, and on the treaties and alliances in which it was involved.

Nous avons vécu sur cette terre depuis des milliers d'années avant le début des temps historiques. Si cette phrase d'un Indien pueblo résume la véritable histoire des Indiens d'Amérique, elle illustre aussi le long travail de recherches et la philosophie de Francis Jennings l'historien qui a le plus fait, et de la plus intelligente des façons, pour modifier notre vision habituelle des relations entre les indigènes américains et les envahisseurs européens. Cet ouvrage novateur décrit, depuis l'époque précolombienne jusqu'à nos jours, l'histoire, la vie, le destin des premiers habitants du sous-continent nord-américain. Pour l'auteur, les Européens ne " découvrirent " pas les terres inexploitées de l'Amérique : ils les envahirent puis massacrèrent et soumirent des peuples plus avancés qu'eux dans l'urbanisation et l'art de l'agriculture. Ces peuplades colonisèrent toutes les terres et toutes les îles des deux Amériques ; cependant, les rendant propices à la survie de l'homme en les couvrant d'ingénieux réseaux de pistes, de voies commerciales et de différents centres urbains, les Indiens, bien malgré eux, créèrent les infrastructures qui offrirent aux nouveaux venus toutes les facilités d'invasion et de conquête. Dans cette logique, l'auteur prend également en compte les structures tribales intrinsèques dont la nature excluait tout concept d'union et de stratégie de résistance. Fréquemment, par le biais des relations commerciales qu'ils nouèrent avec eux, les Indiens furent des pions utilisés par les envahisseurs. Pour atteindre leurs objectifs, ces derniers fabriquaient des inter-frontières et, se servant des tribus, s'octroyaient des territoires pour leurs Couronnes respectives. De fait, quand le nouvel empire des États-Unis se constitua et s'étendit vers l'Ouest, les populations indiennes furent absorbées par la force et broyées par cette nouvelle entité politique. Sachant éviter le romantisme mensonger et les outrances du néocolonialisme militant, Jennings, en allant jusqu'aux mondes indiens d'aujourd'hui, fait prendre au débat une hauteur peu commune sans tenter de faire entrer les faits dans des moules préconçus.

BY Jennings, Francis ( Author ) [{ The Ambiguous Iroquois The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies By Jennings, Francis ( Author ) May - 17- 1990 ( Paperback ) } ]