The Earliest DaysPre-history to 1750

Origins and Encounters

Native Americans

Central Traditions-land is sacred- a living entity to be respectedNo one can own land-lives are organized around cycles of nature, not concepts or past, future and progress-traditions are passed verbally through folktales, fables and sacred stories-speechmaking and storytelling are important aspects of life

Native American Tribes

Native American Literature

Oral literaturemythscreation myths- how the world and human life came to existorigin myths- explain how natural phenomenon came to be or why a society has certain beliefs and customstricksteranimal charactersdefy authority and create trouble and chaoscurious, creative and reveal wisdom

Creation Myth

How the World Was Made• Cherokee• Forest of the Great Smoky

Mountains• Written down by

anthropologist in 1891

The Sky Tree• Huron• Northern New York • Written down in 1991

Active Reading: Cause and EffectWhat Exists? What Caused It To Be?

Wisdom of the Native Americanshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evh-trlGAlw

Who does he credit his “wisdom” to?Is he grateful? Why?

What has he learned?What have you learned?

Iroquois ConfederacyLeague of Five Nations

• Mohawk-Oneida-Ondondaga-Cayuga-Seneca

The Iroquois Constitution

• Tribes continually fought with one another– Vulnerable to attack

• Denkanawida– 1550-1600 (vanished)– Destined to “stop the shedding of blood among

human beings”– Worked with Hiawatha to establish the

Confederacy

“We are a powerful Confederacy; and by your observing the same

methods our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire such

strength and power”

Canassatego

Tone

• Attitude that a writer expresses toward his or her subject

• Word choice (diction) and sentence structure (syntax)

• http://satdude.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/tone-questions-on-sat-critical-reading/

DictionDiction (choice of words) – Describe diction by considering the following:

– Words may be monosyllabic (one syllable in length) or polysyllabic (more than one syllable in length). The higher ratio of polysyllabic words, the more difficult the content.

– Words may be mainly colloquial (slang), informal (conversational), formal (literary) or old-

fashioned.

– Words may be mainly denotative (containing an exact meaning), e.g. dress, or connotative (containing a suggested meaning), e.g. gown.

– Words may be concrete (specific) or abstract (general).

– Words may be euphonious (pleasant sounding), e.g. butterfly, or cacophonous (harsh

sounding), e.g. pus.

Syntax

• Examine the sentence length• Are the sentences telegraphic (shorter than 5 words

in length), medium (approximately eighteen words in length), or long and involved (thirty words or more in length)?

• Does the sentence length fit the subject matter, what variety of lengths is present?

• Why is the sentence length effective?

Cannassatego

• Leader of Onondaga people• Served as a representative of the United

Iroquois at meetings with British colonists• Urged British colonies to unite to form a

strong centralized government like that of the Iroquois

• Rallying cry of the patriots---United we stand, divided we fall

Offer of Help

• European settlers rarely respected the cultures and traditions of the Native Americans

• Cotton Mather-”We, God’s chosen people, must conquer the earth…”

• Superiorty led to “generosity”• Representatives from Virginia invited to send a

group of Native Americans to attend college for free

Analyzing Literature

• How would you describe the tone of Canassatego’s speech? Cite words or sentences that you feel indicate tone

• In your opinion, why did Canassatego choose this particular tone?