Was America “A City Upon the Hill” for Native Americans?

Religion is a matter which lies

solely between Man and his God
Jefferson, 1800.

The American republic was founded on a set of Puritan ideas such as American
exceptionalism, charity, community, and unity; as well as democratic and liberal values such as
individual rights and liberties, which were challenged throughout the nineteenth-century
westward expansion. Native Americans who had lived in those territories for over ten millennia
were removed to reservations allowing new settlers, the American military, and the American
capital to take over their lands. Was religion important in that primarily commercial enterprise?
Yes, since it was the rhetoric and rationale that underpinned American expansion as well as the
bastion of Indian resistance. The aim of this essay is to analyse major public policies regarding
Native Americans’ religious freedom during the westward movement under the light of the
American ideals embodied in John Winthrop’s sermon and the constitutionally guaranteed
Freedom of Religion to demonstrate whether America was “a city on the hill” for Native
Americans.

In 1630, Puritan John Winthrop spoke “A Model of Christian Charity” (Locke and Wright)
on the ship Arbella, before he and his fellow settlers arrived in New England. This sermon is
credited with establishing the American dream of being a “shining city upon a hill” and an
example for other countries. The sermon's themes can be broken down into the following
categories: (i) American exceptionalism, in which Winthrop explains how God selected the
settlers to accomplish His mission and reveals how he expected Massachusetts Bay to differ
from the rest of the world; (ii) Charity, in which Winthrop suggests giving to those in need; (iii)
Communalism, in which Winthrop suggests sharing and having everything in common as the
primitive Christians did; and (iv) Unity, suggesting that the community should be kept together
as a knit, “in the bond of peace”.

Which were American Indians’ set of values? Although Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws,
Choctaws, Seminole, and Ponca nations, among others, have distinctive lifestyles, in the most
general terms, they shared a “theonomous culture”, which meant that religion and daily life were
deeply intertwined (Staeger). They believed in animism, according to which animals and objects
have divine qualities. For instance, Corn was Corn Mother; the river was Long Man around which
Cherokees’ spiritual life revolved; the sun was worshipped as a gift from God; and the buffalo
was sacred because “Through the corn and the buffalo we worship the Father,” as the Pawnees
used to say (Grinnell). They had a spiritual rather than an ownership relationship with nature
and land. Certainly, there were rivalries between tribes and allegedly barbarian forms of
worship, however, the tenets of communalism and serving God by respecting nature and all
aspects of it ruled their lives.

More than a century after Winthrop’s sermon, the importance of religion to human,
social, and political flourishing is reflected in the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution, in 1791. According to that, the freedom of religion entails (i) prohibiting the
government from establishing a religion; and (ii) preventing the government from interfering in
the free exercise of religion. Under the Constitution, Indian peoples were considered sovereign
and treated as foreign nations, which was ratified by the courts. Moreover, at the outset of the
American expansion, the Indians’ freedom to exercise their religion was safeguarded. For
example, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803) guaranteed that the inhabitants of the acquired
territory would have “the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and the Religion which they
profess” until being incorporated as citizens (National Archives).

In 1845, Winthrop’s exceptionalism turned into America’s “Manifest Destiny” meaning

that the westward and southward expansion was not only inevitable but divinely ordained
(Norton et al.). In the quest of going bicoastal, the restrictions that protected Native Americans’
religious freedom were ignored. The Indian Removal Act (1830) marked the beginning of a
process of relocation, repossession, assimilation, revenge, and, ultimately, the annihilation of
Native Americans. Because of that law, the army moved Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws
westward to live on isolated reservations where land and resources were shared among
different tribes. The Cherokees joined them later, after unsuccessfully fighting removal in the
courts, which adopted an ambivalent position toward their status as an Indian nation
(Aboukhadijeh). They marched about 1,600 kilometres through land and water to Oklahoma in
the so-called Trail of Tears. How could Native Americans admire a nation which failed to
enforce the law equitably and forced them to abandon their lands where their religion was
rooted?

The cultural assimilation process entailed converting the Native Americans to

Christianity and American civilization almost simultaneously. Christian missionaries, in charge of
the reservations (1869), would persuade Native peoples to adopt European-American customs
abandoning polygamous marriage, dressing styles, gendered division of labour, and traditional
ceremonies. The assimilation was intensified by the promulgation of the Code of Indian Offenses
(1883) which openly forbid Native religion, in particular the practice of the sun dance (Heise). A
Shoshone Chief, Dick Washakie, explained that the sun dance did not differ so much from white
men’s religious ceremonies since both pray to God and in both cases, there is a mediator, a
medicine man or a clergyman in the white men’s case. According to him, barbarian forms of
worship had been discarded long ago (Moquin and Doren, 74). The result of the assimilation,
particularly in boarding schools, was that Native children felt ashamed of their identity,
traditions and religion and embraced white customs (Norton et al.).

Certain federal policies such as promoting the slaughtering of buffalos -an animal which
was the “staff of life” and reverenced by most Plain tribes- attempted to eradicate the “Indian
problem”. The Battle of Wounded Knee (1890) is the most paradigmatic one since it significantly
contributed to the decline of Indians’ religion. By that time, the Ghost Dance was spread among
the people of the Great Plains to attract buffalo herds, restore their traditions, and form a bond
with their ancestors. Because the whites felt menaced by that dance, believing that it was a
preparation for war, the army was sent and massacred 200 Sioux men, children and women who
were peacefully dancing (Norton et al.). The “city on the hill” failed not only “to give to those
in need” but to understand them. In the words of a Native American leader, “The white man
does not understand the Indian for the reason that he does not understand America. (…) The
roots of the tree of his life have not yet grasped the rock and soil. (…) The man from Europe is
still a foreigner and an alien. And he still hates the man who questioned his path across the
continent” (Standing Bear).

Having revised those governmental policies, Native Americans could not have seen
America as a “shining city on the hill” stronghold of religious freedom since it was full of
contradictions: communalism clashed with the American Protestant notion of individualism and
private property; unity and “brotherly affection” (Locke and Wright) clashed with white
supremacy and the adoption of “civilized” customs; religious freedom not only clashed with the
separation between church and state but it seems to admit only one religion to freely profess.
Far from looking after the American culture, Native Americans offered brave resistance and tried
to retain their traditions and identity by adapting to the American demands they faced until
cultural assimilation prevailed. Unfortunately, American exceptionalism and ruthless capitalism
overshadowed the ideals stated not only in Winthrop’s sermon but also in Jefferson’s thoughts
embodied in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
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