Shelley Quema

Professor Johnston

History 7A

3 May 2018

Document Interpretation #1

The article, Micmac Chief’s Observation of the French, is written by Chrestien Le Clercq

in 1676. It talks about how relates the response of a Micmac chief to French criticisms of his

people's' way of life. The Micmac Chief discusses the perception of their way of living through

the eyes' of the Europeans, vs the Europeans' way of life. Throughout the document, the Micmac

Chief tells us how the Europeans are trying to persuade them to live like how they do. They start

off by trying to change the style of their houses as seen through the quote, "...persuade us to

convert our poles, our barks, and our wigwam into those houses of stone and of wood which are

tall and lofty, according to their account, as these trees". He even describes how the Europeans

see the Native Americans as the most miserable and unhappy of all men" because of their way of

life. They say this because they lack religion, social order, and just rules in general. But on the

contrary, the Micmac Chief says that they are happy and content with the way they are. He states

that the though Europeans, "labours without ceasing and only obtains, and that with great

trouble, enough to live on" they can not enjoy the things they have since they are working so

much to obtain just their living standards. Overall, the Micmac Chief believes that the simplistic

life of theirs is better.

I think that his response to the French does match up with what we are traditionally

taught about Native Americans. When I was younger, I was taught that Native Americans made

do with what they have, which is very different from developed civilizations elsewhere. Native
Americans did not really settle, they were constantly moving. They are hunters and gatherers

unlike the Europeans who stayed in one place. The Micmac Chief even states that there houses

are built the way it is because [they] carry their houses and their wigwams with them so they

may lodge wheresoever they please." Because their society was not as developed as other

societies, they did not have a set religion, social order, and even societal rules. Through this

document, we see how the Micmac Chief tries to preserve their way of living and heritage.

The concept of the "Other" argues that the world is shaped by two different things, polar

opposites. I think that this document portrays this concept. The Native Americans and the

Europeans are both polar opposites. The Europeans see the Native Americans as "the other" and

sees them as inferior in comparison to themselves. The Europeans are trying to persuade the

Native Americans by saying their way of life is better than theirs. The Europeans are using their

standards to judge the Native Americans standards. The Micmac Chief speaks of the Europeans

as "the other" by comparing and contrasting each ways of living. Both the Europeans and Native

Americans had to understand that each societies way of living was considered to be sensible

from their own perception.