A New Order of Things
Property, Power, and the Transformation of the Creek Indians, 1733–1816

A New Order of Things chronicles the changing world of the Creek Indians.

Claudio Saunt (Author)

9780521669436, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 August 1999

314 pages, 4 b/w illus. 2 maps 1 table
22.9 x 15.4 x 2 cm, 0.43 kg

'Saunt's well-researched and well-written book is a very substantial contribution to the on-going study of this great transformation.' Mary Helms, University of North Carolina

The story told here is a critical yet unknown chapter in the creation of the American Republic. Claudio Saunt vividly depicts a dramatic transformation in the eighteenth century that overturned the world of the powerful and numerous Creek Indians and forever changed the Deep South. By 1800, some Creeks, whose most valuable belongings had once been deerskins, owned hundreds of African-American slaves and thousands of cattle. Their leaders, who formerly strove for consensus, now ruled by force. New property fostered a new possessiveness, and government by coercion bred confrontation. A New Order of Things was the first book to chronicle this decisive transformation in America's early history, a transformation that left deep divisions between the wealthy and poor, powerful and powerless.

Part I. Power and Prosperity Before the New Order 1733–1783
1. Fair persuasions: power among the Creeks
2. 'Martial virtue, and not riches': the Creek relationship to property
Part II. The New Order Emerges 1784–1796: 3. Alexander McGillivray: Mestizo yet Indian
4. Forging a social compact
5. Blacks in Creek country
Part III. The 'Plan of Civilization' 1797–1811: 6. New roles for women and warriors
7. Creating a Country of Laws and Property
8. The power of writing
9. The hungry years
Part IV. The New Order Challenged 1812–1816: 10. Seminole Resistance
11. The Redstick war
12. The negro fort.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]