Additional Assignments

1. Before the eighteenth century, Creek identity and sovereignty rested mostly in town and clan. That is, Creek Indians primarily defined themselves not as Creeks but as members of particular towns and clans. They made their political decisions locally. One town could go to war without the agreement of others. A clan leader could lead a war party without the agreement of other Creeks. Alexander McGillivray believed this decentralized political structure was too weak to face the threats of his era. Reading his letters carefully, answer the following questions in essay format. What kinds of political organization did he advocate? What kind of polity did he want to belong to and lead?
2. In 1789, the American states would form a more effective political union under the U.S. Constitution. Under that stronger national government, in the first decades of the nineteenth century, the United States would spread west beyond the Mississippi River and forcibly remove the Creeks, Chickasaws, and other native peoples. This assignment asks you to imagine that this was not the future. First, construct a map of the eastern half of North America as it was in the 1780s. Remember that sovereignty could be overlapping, as in the case of Creek lands being under the protection of the Spanish empire. Now construct an imaginary map of the eastern half of North America in 1830 assuming that the United States did not hold together. What kinds of polities might coexist on the continent? Although your map is imaginary, you should be prepared to defend its likelihood based on evidence.