![\"06-04-06](\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/06-04-06-READ-14642.-Philip-Marchand-Ghost-Empire-\u2015-How-the-French-Almost-Conquered-North-America-pic-2.jpg\")
<\/a>As he points out, there was a con\u00adcerted effort in the Nine\u00adteenth Cen\u00adtury to view the huge area between the Appalachi\u00adans and the Rock\u00adies as a pris\u00adtine wilder\u00adness, with only a few scat\u00adtered Indi\u00adan tribes to be pushed aside by rugged pio\u00adneer set\u00adtlers. In real\u00adi\u00adty, the entire region was a net\u00adwork of sta\u00adble towns and agri\u00adcul\u00adtural set\u00adtle\u00adments. For exam\u00adple, when Amer\u00adi\u00adcan troops moved into Green Bay, Wis\u00adcon\u00adsin , in 1816, they found a well-estab\u00adlished town of farm\u00aders and traders. The French-speak\u00ading inhab\u00adi\u00adtants were told that they would not be allowed to engage in trade unless they were Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cit\u00adi\u00adzens. When they applied for cit\u00adi\u00adzen\u00adship, most were refused. Those who were allowed to stay in busi\u00adness could no longer engage in free trade, but only deal with the state-sup\u00adport\u00aded monop\u00adoly of the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Fur Com\u00adpany, which rapid\u00adly forced them into bank\u00adruptcy. The new regime stripped most farm\u00aders of their prop\u00aderty, refus\u00ading to rec\u00adog\u00adnize land titles. Marc\u00adhand only touch\u00ades on this briefly, but I am famil\u00adiar with the process from many his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal sources, and what he hints at could be expand\u00aded into an entire book. The French-speak\u00ading soci\u00adety that stretched from Michi\u00adgan to Mon\u00adtana to the mouth of the Mis\u00adsis\u00adsippi was sub\u00admerged by force and law, as well as by num\u00adbers. Those who didn\u2019t van\u00adish into mar\u00adginal pover\u00adty, or aban\u00addon their lan\u00adguage and reli\u00adgion, fled to West\u00adern Cana\u00adda. There, French-speak\u00ading M\u00e9tis cul\u00adture shaped Cana\u00addian his\u00adtory in dra\u00admatic ways.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat hor\u00adri\u00adfied the new\u00adcom\u00aders, and made it pos\u00adsi\u00adble to ren\u00adder this his\u00adtory invis\u00adi\u00adble, was the defin\u00ading dif\u00adfer\u00adence that under\u00adlies and bifur\u00adcates North Amer\u00adica . West of the Appalachi\u00adans and north of the Great Lakes, there was a soci\u00adety in which peo\u00adple of Native, French, Scot\u00adtish, and African descent inter\u00admar\u00adried, worked and lived togeth\u00ader. Across the huge arc from the Mar\u00aditime Provinces of Cana\u00adda to Louisiana, pol\u00adi\u00adtics con\u00adsisted of a com\u00adplex set of alliances between native tribes and habi\u00adtants<\/em>, in which inter\u00admar\u00adriage was not mere\u00adly tol\u00ader\u00adated, but encour\u00adaged. Such mar\u00adriages wer the pri\u00admary method of mak\u00ading alliances, secur\u00ading trade routes, and cre\u00adat\u00ading viable com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties. The founder of Chica\u00adgo , for exam\u00adple, was a Black trad\u00ader born in the New World, but edu\u00adcated in France. Charles Langlade, who fought Brad\u00addock and Wash\u00ading\u00adton in 1755, was a per\u00adfect fusion of Native and French blood and cul\u00adture. The Scots and Orkney\u00admen who entered the sys\u00adtem fol\u00adlowed the same rules. When the British cap\u00adtured this vast ter\u00adri\u00adtory [France trad\u00aded away its claim to it, in exchange for a sin\u00adgle Caribbean island], they were pro\u00adfoundly con\u00adtemp\u00adtu\u00adous of this mul\u00adti\u00adlin\u00adgual, mul\u00adtira\u00adcial soci\u00adety, but with only a hand\u00adful of troops to con\u00adtrol it, they were forced to rec\u00adog\u00adnize the sta\u00adtus quo. Native peo\u00adple and polit\u00adi\u00adcal insti\u00adtu\u00adtions remained an inte\u00adgral part of Cana\u00addian life for at least anoth\u00ader cen\u00adtury (and still retain some influ\u00adence to this day). Influ\u00aden\u00adtial native fam\u00adi\u00adlies remained part of the social and polit\u00adi\u00adcal elite. The impov\u00ader\u00adish\u00adment and cul\u00adtural suf\u00adfo\u00adca\u00adtion of native com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties, which is Canada\u2019s great\u00adest shame, large\u00adly occurred in the mid\u00addle of the Twen\u00adti\u00adeth Century.<\/span><\/p>\nAt the end of the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion, the British aban\u00addoned the huge ter\u00adri\u00adtory south of the Great Lakes to its own devices. For awhile, the scat\u00adtered towns con\u00adtin\u00adued to gov\u00adern them\u00adselves by their local coun\u00adcils, con\u00adtin\u00adued to trade and farm (and par\u00adty, dance, fid\u00addle and make love with a cheer\u00adful aban\u00addon that enraged the new rulers). But even\u00adtu\u00adally, a tide of set\u00adtlers swept over the Appalachi\u00adans , most of whom were fanat\u00adi\u00adcal Indi\u00adan haters, and there is noth\u00ading that angers eth\u00adnic cleansers more than \u201cmis\u00adce\u00adgena\u00adtion.\u201d Ulti\u00admately, the fierce war\u00adriors of the plains would be roman\u00adti\u00adcized as Noble Ene\u00admies and then as mys\u00adti\u00adcal sym\u00adbols of new age hocus pocus. But not the m\u00e9ti\u00adsized, fran\u00adcoph\u00adone cul\u00adture. For for more than a cen\u00adtury there were thou\u00adsands of nov\u00adels, com\u00adic books, and movies pro\u00adduced in which sin\u00adis\u00adter, dirty, French-speak\u00ading \u201chalf-breeds\u201d slinked around twirling their mus\u00adtaches, stab\u00adbing blond heroes in the back, and sell\u00ading poi\u00adsoned whiskey. I recent\u00adly saw a 1950\u2019s Hol\u00adly\u00adwood film in which one of my own direct ances\u00adtors was por\u00adtrayed some\u00adwhat like Smea\u00adgal, in Lord<\/em> of<\/em> the<\/em> Rings<\/em>. Even the Euro\u00adpeans, who roman\u00adti\u00adcize Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cul\u00adtures to a degree of high fan\u00adtasy, have nev\u00ader shown any inter\u00adest in M\u00e9tis society.<\/span><\/p>\nBut all was not imme\u00addi\u00adately sup\u00adpressed. While doing research in Kansas City , I came across some curi\u00adous nar\u00adra\u00adtives from the French peri\u00adod in Mis\u00adsouri . Some of the old fran\u00adcoph\u00adone fur trad\u00ading fam\u00adi\u00adlies of that State pre\u00adserved their pros\u00adper\u00adity and local pre-emi\u00adnence until just before the Civ\u00adil War. Catholi\u00adcism in the great \u201cpays d\u2019enhaut<\/em>\u201d had always been folk\u00adloric and impro\u00advi\u00adsa\u00adtional, the Church no more able to enforce its rules than the French Crown had been able to enforce obe\u00addi\u00adence. Sev\u00adered from even the last ves\u00adtiges of eccle\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adti\u00adcal influ\u00adence, the mid-nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtury fran\u00adcoph\u00adone bour\u00adgeois of Mis\u00adsouri made a fash\u00adion of being chil\u00addren of the Enlight\u00aden\u00adment, pass\u00ading their leisure hours read\u00ading Voltaire and Jef\u00adfer\u00adson (in trans\u00adla\u00adtion). This became so noto\u00adri\u00adous that a catch\u00adphrase evolved: \u201cDieu ne crois\u00adera jamais le Mis\u00adsi\u00ads\u00adsippi<\/em>\u201d \u2015\u2015\u201dGod will nev\u00ader cross the Mis\u00adsis\u00adsippi \u201d. Cler\u00adgy\u00admen fumed bit\u00adterly on the oth\u00ader side of the riv\u00ader, but it took them a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion to work up the nerve to launch a cru\u00adsade. Marc\u00adhand, unfor\u00adtu\u00adnately, didn\u2019t hit on this vein.<\/span><\/p>\nThat doesn\u2019t sur\u00adprise me. Marc\u00adhand is fas\u00adci\u00adnated by Catholi\u00adcism, and his own upbring\u00ading in Catholic school in New Eng\u00adland . I under\u00adstand the phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon. I\u2019ve always noticed the strange inten\u00adsity of being Catholic in the Unit\u00aded States. Cana\u00addian Catholics don\u2019t expe\u00adri\u00adence it. I went to French lan\u00adguage catholic schools, staffed with nuns and broth\u00aders. But we nev\u00ader had more than twen\u00adty min\u00adutes of reli\u00adgious instruc\u00adtion per week, and that was as bland and innocu\u00adous as a Uni\u00adtar\u00adian ser\u00admon. Not a syl\u00adla\u00adble of hell\u00adfire, and cer\u00adtainly no tirades against sex. Where I grew up, Catholi\u00adcism meant nor\u00admalcy, speak\u00ading French and play\u00ading hock\u00adey. Any exces\u00adsive inter\u00adest in the\u00adol\u00adogy was regard\u00aded as fanati\u00adcism, some kind of men\u00adtal ill\u00adness typ\u00adi\u00adcal of Protes\u00adtants. Rea\u00adson\u00adably demure Angli\u00adcans, and such, were okay, but any\u00adone who talked about the Bible and sin was obvi\u00adously a kook. But Catholic French Cana\u00addi\u00adans in New Eng\u00adland felt besieged, and they hud\u00addled around their parish priests and catholic schools like a cir\u00adcle of cov\u00adered wag\u00adons. There, the faith became some\u00adthing quite dif\u00adfer\u00adent. Marchand\u2019s book breathes this experience.<\/span><\/p>\nAnoth\u00ader ele\u00adment: the book is haunt\u00aded by Fran\u00adcis Park\u00adman, the first pop\u00adu\u00adlar his\u00adto\u00adrian of the French era in Amer\u00adica, and the lens through which the sub\u00adject has been seen ever since. Some of the best writ\u00ading in the book is about Parkman\u2019s char\u00adac\u00adter and influ\u00adence. Oth\u00ader fine seg\u00adments involve con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtions with his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal re-enac\u00adtors. Marchand\u2019s book is well-writ\u00adten, and extreme\u00adly enter\u00adtain\u00ading. It offers tid-bits and sug\u00adges\u00adtions rather than a sys\u00adtem\u00adatic his\u00adtory, but that is the best way to edge into an unfa\u00admil\u00adiar sub\u00adject. For most Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, this aspect of their his\u00adtory is a very<\/em> unfa\u00admil\u00adiar subject.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is not, strict\u00adly speak\u00ading, a his\u00adtory. It\u2019s more of a med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion on a theme. Marc\u00adhand, a jour\u00adnal\u00adist raised in a New Eng\u00adland French Cana\u00addian fam\u00adily, retraces the route trav\u00adeled by Robert de La Salle in the sev\u00aden\u00adteenth cen\u00adtury. Along \u2026<\/p>\n
Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bu-reading-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9659,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/9659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>