Avail Ourselves of Those Extensive Channels of Trade”: an Examination of Trade Practices and Political Dynamics Within the Great Lakes Region
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TO “AVAIL OURSELVES OF THOSE EXTENSIVE CHANNELS OF TRADE”: AN EXAMINATION OF TRADE PRACTICES AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS WITHIN THE GREAT LAKES REGION By Jessica Lynn Yann A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Anthropology – Doctor of Philosophy 2019 ABSTRACT TO “AVAIL OURSELVES OF THOSE EXTENSIVE CHANNELS OF TRADE”: AN EXAMINATION OF TRADE PRACTICES AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS WITHIN THE GREAT LAKES REGION By Jessica Lynn Yann The trade and exchange that was created by the influx of Europeans into North America as a means of harvesting the available resources grew to encompass many, if not all, of the Native American groups living there. Participation in this vast network during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (1760-1830) was regulated by various colonial political entities, however the tumultuous political scenario during this time created a situation in which Native Americans could use this economic network to their benefit. Using archaeological and archival information available for Native American villages and Euro-American traders present throughout the southern Great Lakes, this dissertation examines the specific nature of the economic relationships created, maintained, and expanded upon during this time period from a resource dependence perspective. Resource dependency theory was originally conceived of within business and organizational studies as a means of examining power between entities based on material transactions between the two. A resource dependency theory framework was applied to the data to determine the degree of economic dependence between Native American village organizations and the Euro-American traders who supplied them. These results were examined within the local historical context, where it was found that the traders were more dependent on the Native American groups than the Native Americans were on them. It was also observed that these economic relationships were related to the political alliances created during this time, as resource dependency theory suggested they may be, though on a very localized level. By further examining these relationships from a regional perspective, it is suggested that the economic network created by Europeans for resource extraction from the ‘new world’ allowed the Native groups they were trying to repress a means of alleviating the power differential and negotiating the situation to their benefit. This research demonstrates the applicability of a resource dependence perspective in providing a new focus and means of examining the relationship between the economic networks present and the political situation during the latter half of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth century in the southern Great Lakes region. Copyright by JESSICA LYNN YANN 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would never have been completed without financial support from a variety of sources. The archival information collected from the Newberry Library was complements of a Newberry Consortium in American Indian Studies Graduate Student Fellowship. This fellowship also allowed for dedicated time for writing, which resulted in much of chapter 3. Other travel to visit the various archives was complements of travel grants from the Michigan State University Department of Anthropology and the MSU Consortium for Native American Studies. Finally, a Dissertation Completion Fellowship through the Graduate School at Michigan State University allowed me the time and money to finally pull everything together into a cohesive work. I am thankful for this financial support in completing this research project. The information collected for this project came from a large number of repositories, and I give my sincere thanks to all for allowing me access/sharing their data: the Illinois SHPO for granting me site file access, the Indiana DHPA for site file and collections access, the Michigan SHPO for site file and collections access, the Northern Indiana Historical Society, Newberry Library, Indiana Historical Society, Grand Valley State University, Indiana University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Mike Strezewski, Rob Mann, Mark Schurr, and everyone else who responded to my many (and sometimes repeated) requests for information. I am also greatly indebted to the many friends and colleagues I’ve interacted with over these last 9 years, for conversations, comments, and critiques on my thoughts and ideas surrounding this project. I would specifically like to thank Dr. Dean Anderson, the (now retired) State Archaeologist of Michigan in the Michigan SHPO, for his years of assistance, interest, and mentorship. I also need to thank Dr. Heather Walder, who has always been much more excited v about my research than I was, and has always offered thoughtful comments and suggestions on the directions was research was taking. I would not have made it this far without the guidance and assistance of my committee: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman, Dr. William Lovis, Dr. Ken Lewis, and Dr. Susan Sleeper-Smith. Their comments have improved the quality of this document and my research in general. I have benefitted greatly from their expertise. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the general support I have received from all of the faculty and archaeological staff at Michigan State University in general; they have all been extremely supportive, and I would like to thank them for making this a worthwhile pursuit. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: European Encounters, Native Exchange ....................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................ 6 Research Questions and Hypotheses .......................................................................................... 7 Layout of this Dissertation ........................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2: The “Fur Trade” and Trade Studies: A Background ................................................... 12 Diversity of Trade in North America, 1650-1780 .................................................................... 12 Canadian Shield/Hudson’s Bay ............................................................................................ 15 The Albany Iroquois Trade ................................................................................................... 16 Montreal/Northern Great Lakes ............................................................................................ 17 Southern Great Lakes/Ohio River Valley ............................................................................. 20 Trade Outside the Limits ...................................................................................................... 26 Economics of the Trade, 1750-1830 ......................................................................................... 27 Prominent Trade Locales ...................................................................................................... 35 Fort Detroit/Detroit ............................................................................................................ 36 Michilimackinac ................................................................................................................ 37 Kekionga and Fort Wayne ................................................................................................. 38 Fort Dearborn and Chicago ................................................................................................ 40 Peoria/Fort Clark ................................................................................................................ 41 Fort Vincennes ................................................................................................................... 42 Fort Ouiatenon ................................................................................................................... 42 Types of Goods Being Traded .............................................................................................. 44 Where goods are coming from .............................................................................................. 52 Trade from 1760-1820 .............................................................................................................. 55 Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework: Resource Dependency Theory ............................................. 56 Origins and Definitions of Resource Dependency Theory ....................................................... 56 Archaeological Approaches to Trade and Resource Dependency Theory ............................... 61 A Note on Dependency ............................................................................................................. 61 Trade Network Studies ............................................................................................................. 62 Improving Models of Trade with RDT ..................................................................................... 67 Applying RDT to the Middle Ground ......................................................................................