Pam,

I've been chomping at the bit but I swore I would not talk about the book "A Conquering Spirit" until I finished it but this string touches on a subject within this fine work. According to the author and his sources the British Colonial Governments and the later American States Governments had promoted the civilizing of the native peoples of American through assimilation by marriage and the mixing of blood and culture up until the wars of 1812-15 throughout the South. It was considered a good and natural way of keeping the peace and growing the population quicker in the new territories.

Problems began with the Creek culture of maternal rights, the women inherited all land and property, children were considered from the blood line of the mother not the father and in mixed blood peoples if the mother was indian the children were considered indian by the tribe but considered white by American government when the father was white. This caused problems by 1812 due to the overwhelming population of mixed blood Creeks that banded together and lived by the laws and customs of basically two cultures, bringing on a civil war between traditionalist Creeks and the non-conforming Creeks.

David