TENSKWATAWA
He was silent regarding the Indian men who were living with and married to white women. The double standard operated even to issues of blood purity. His view at the time is remarkably consonant with those of right wing fundamentalists at the time and today, the Nazi’s of Germany, and other non Indians.
Many whites applauded his views when they corresponded to Christian mores of the time.
Mao Tse Tung in a similar situation with steel dependency upon the West went in the opposite direction. Everyone learned to make steel, and every village to have a small smelter. The Eastern Iroquois learned to make and repair guns thereby avoiding dependency. But The Prophet chose the alternative of tradition and boycott. It was ineffective. The gun was a much better hunting device and the Indians knew that. The anti-modernity approach has never worked.
Tenskwatawa, though an Indian, used the same claims and approach that messiahs and prophets have in many different religions, times and places.
That is easy for the man to do. At the time, this Indian view was little different than that prevailing amongst religious Christian whites.
Tenskwatawa (also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was a younger brother of Tecumseh, a leader of the Shawnee. In his early years Tenskwatawa was given the name Lalawethika ("He Makes a Loud Noise" or "The Noise Maker"), but he changed it around 1805 and transformed himself from a hapless, alcoholic youth into an influential spiritual leader. Tenskwatawa denounced the Americans, calling them the offspring of the Evil Spirit, and led a purification movement that promoted unity among the Indigenous peoples of North America, rejected acculturation to the American way of life, and encouraged his followers to pursue traditional ways.
