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Benevolent imperialism: George Catlin and the practice of Jeffersonian geography

2004; Elsevier BV; Volume: 30; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jhg.2003.09.001

1095-8614

Gareth E. John,

American History and Culture

Abstract In this paper I locate George Catlin's paintings and descriptions of the 1830s Upper Missouri within the context of early 19th century American geographical thought and practice. Following a period that saw the nation double its territory, the emergent art and science of geography constituted an instrument by which western flora, fauna, geology, landscapes and native peoples were to be conceptualized, ordered and made presentable as knowledge. Catlin's western portfolio—particularly his paintings and descriptions of the Mandan Indians—is emblematic of this early American geographical tradition. Relating Catlin's painted images and written texts to broader political and scientific contexts suggests the importance of a theologically grounded and benevolently conceived expansionist and imperialist teleology in the early 19th century gathering of knowledge about western territory and the Native Americans who inhabited it. Accordingly, western Indians were understood as unavoidably subject to the inevitable and providentially ordained process of westward expansion and the ‘civilization’ bestowed upon them through Thomas Jefferson's preferred policy of gradual assimilation would necessarily improve their material condition and ‘enlighten’ the corridors of their ‘dark’, ‘benighted’ existence.