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Claudio Saunt
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A New Order of Things: Property, Power, and the Transformation of the Creek Indians, 1733–1816 (Studies in North American Indian History)

by Claudio Saunt (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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. As the Creeks amassed a fortune in cattle and slaves, new property fostered a new possessiveness, and government by coercion bred confrontation. A New Order of Things is 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.
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  1. ISBN-10
    052166943X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0521669436
  3. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  4. Publication date
    August 28, 1999
  5. Part of series
    Studies in North American Indian History
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 0.79 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    314 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Claudio Saunt's new book is the best interpretation of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Creek and Seminole history extant. With rare insight and flashes of brilliance, Saunt has given us an idea of the Creeks in a period of momentous historical complexity that is riveting, sensible, and compelling. Without a doubt, however, Saunt's is a well written, fascinating, and important book. I welcome it, and him, to the debate and know that our understanding of this rich and complex history will only be enhanced." American Historical Review

"Saunt offers a fine-grained and persuasive analysis of relationships between cultural change and political conflict within the Creek Nation in a critical period of transition." Georgia Historical Quarterly

"[Saunt's] analysis is brilliant. He also masterfully weaves gender and race, topics often segregated and marginalized even by scholars who include them in their works, into his compelling narrative of economic and political disparity. This book, in other words, contains many gems..." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This is a splendid book. Claudio Saunt has written a thought-provoking ethnohistory of the Creek Indians focusing on the three decades following the American Revolution. He has offered fresh and compelling insights into the effects of colonial expansion in the Deep South and how Native Americans reacted and were swept away by it...This reviewer highly recommends A New Order of Things." Alabama Review

"We have long known that Creek life underwent a profound reorganization following the American Revolution. A New Order of Things presents a sophisticated and challenging retelling of this story." Western Historical Quarterly

"A well-written analysis from the valuable perspective of the native culture itself." Choice

"This book is a must-have for every scholar with an interest in the Creek people and the early South." Kathryn Holland Braund, The Journal of American History

"Saunt does an excellent job of documenting the mestizo acceptance of the European- American economic system...Claudio Saunt's monograph significantly expands our current understanding of the intricate intra- and inter- group relationships...Beacause it is well documented and succinctly argued, scholars will find this book useful and enlightening, and the general public will enjoy its fluid and uncomplicated." Indigenous Nation Studies Jrnl Fall 2000

Book Description

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

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 28, 1999
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 314 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 052166943X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521669436
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.79 x 9 inches
  • Part of series ‏ : ‎ Studies in North American Indian History
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1830L
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

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Claudio Saunt

Claudio Saunt

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Claudio Saunt, the Russell Professor of History at the University of Georgia, teaches and writes about early and Native American history. His most recent book is Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory. On May 28, 1830, Congress authorized the expulsion of indigenous peoples in the East to territories west of the Mississippi River. Over the next decade, Native Americans saw their homelands and possessions stolen through fraud, intimidation, and murder. Unworthy Republic received the Bancroft Prize, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Gary Poyssick
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Genocide
    Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    All the talk of the holocaust and other horrendous acts of terror and horror inflicted from men onto other men, this story of the Creek Indians will give you a glimpse into a past when riches went from a painted deer skin taken with stone tools to am army of creek Indians taking Florida Natives - the ones who survived the smallpox, the dysentery, the fevers and the bible into the darkness of slavery. A must read for the true historian on a southern America long gone.
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  • Dreams of History
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2014
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    A wonderful book! Saunt's research is superb and his conclusions - even when I disagreed with them - were thought-provoking. This is quite simply the best book in print on the 18th and 19th century transformation of the Creek Nation.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Lehigh History Student
    4.0 out of 5 stars Solid start to undrestanding the Muscogee Nation
    Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    This book provides a unique look at how the Muscogee Nation (called Creek by the Europeans) developed into a culture after the arrival of Europeans. The author provides an excellent start to the research available on this subject by looking at the aspects that affect Creek culture following not only the coming of Europeans but the United States as well. Saunt looks at religion, trade, the role of women, and the most importantly how private property changed the conception of what the Creek believed. European viewpoints became infused with Indian ones creating a "new order" that changed the Indians lives. The final part of the book looks at the response to the New Order through the redstick war and the British support during the war of 1812. This is popularly remembered in American history as Andrew Jackson's war against the Creeks. The war was vicious and the slaughter was great on both sides. Saunt does an excellent job of capturing the significance of the war and not getting caught up in the gory details. Although as other revierws point out the book lacks a conclusion it is a great start to the understanding of the people that make up the Muscogee Nation.

    This book comes after years of hard work looking at primary sources. The current trend especially with the creek is for those who read not only the British and American sources but the Spanish as well. The Spanish kept excellent records that were well preserved and have offered many valuable insights into Indian culture. When writing an enthnohistory such as this it is always very difficult to capture the Indian voice and not sound like everything is coming from a European and Saunt does this well. The reader feels as though they are included in what the Indians were thinking and going through.
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Billielee
    5.0 out of 5 stars very detailed information
    Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    book was in fair condition very informative lot of info about creek Indians and seminole Indians my ancestor little prince is mentioned several times
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  • Phil Fox
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good seller
    Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Good book
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  • T. phillips
    3.0 out of 5 stars Read with caution
    Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    A well respected historian and I have been discussing this book of late and this is what I wrote to him recently. I will attempt to explain what I wrote.

    "I think Saunt has written an important book with very impressive research but as most books its flawed and this one is filled with almost venomous predjudice and a lack of fairness to many players involved. In his writing I hear the voice of an angry, poor, alienated, and bitter Creek Indian who claims innocence for his own bad choices. This attitude clearly colors his descriptions of people like McGillivray and Hawkins and gives us a distorted view of them and who and what they represented.
    He is dreaming that the world of the Creeks would not change and the male warriors could go on forever hunting deer with bows and arrows to assert their male gender roles and the females would go on forever in their female roles making food, pottery, clothes, and tanning hides in the same fashion. In other words...the culture does not change.
    In short, his view is one sided and naive." ( end of my letter)

    Again, This is an important book done with very impressive research.
    It is about the final , convulsive years of the Creek Nation in the Southeast roughly from the time of death of Chief Alexander McGillivray (1793) and the final days of the Creek Civil Wars (1812-1814) which results in its sad dispossession of lands and removal to West of the Mississippi. Saunt's thesis is that a New Order brought down the Creek Nation. He gives an impressive presentation of how a "New Order" came about.

    I recommend you buy and read this book but suggest that you read with care. I respect anyone who does this much research and work. I dont agree with a lot of his suggestions especially those about Alexander McGillivray and Benjamin Hawkins. I especially dont like this explanation of the causes of the Fort Mims Massacre and his "male gender" theory, as well as a general indictment of Mestizo people vs full bloods. I give a suggested list of reading on the general subject. I apologize for the length of this review but the book deserves a lot of discussion.

    Scholars are still wrestling with the causes of the Creek civil war which was the downfall of the Creek Nation. Saunt adds to this body of research and discussion. There is no simple answer.

    END OF MY BOOK REVIEW

    If you care to see my own personal outline of this book and my objections to it read the following:

    Saunt gives us a straight forward proposition that there was created a "New Order" in the Creek world in the late 1790s that primarily involves "power and property" (see his introduction page 1).
    This "overturned Creek lives in the three decades following the American Revolution". This " New Order" involves what Saunt calls an unfair distribution of wealth in favor of Mestizos which in turn gives these people an
    inordinate level of political power over the less wealthy Creeks. He speaks of this as "Power and Property". This leads to the Creek civil war and the end of the Creek Nation in the Southeast over the next twenty years.

    He defines property primarily as cattle and slaves as land cannot be sold or treated as an asset within the bounds of Creek territory. He connects ownership of property to wealthy Mestizos and shows how they come to own a disproportionate share of wealth and the ordinary hunter/warrior is left with nothing. Thus, he develops..the communal living and sharing dies off. This is followed by a National Council (what Saunt calls "Power") that he describes as almost a Police State Gestapo style group. With a shortage of deer to hunt for, the typical warrior is now poor. If he goes and steals horses on the Ga border he is punished by the Council. Thus, his life is now ruined by the wealthy Mestizos and their police state. his male gender role is crushed by "the bad guys" and he can no longer steal cattle or murder Georgia intruders.

    Then, "By the second decade of the nineteenth century, in contrast, a "national council" composed of a dozen men asserted its rule over every Creek person" Page 1."The council executed those who disobeyed its orders" page 1.

    Saunt then writes about property primarily in the form of cattle and slaves. he writes (page 2) "Creeks who were familiar and comfortable with the market economy, coercive power, and race slavery of colonial settlements were disruptive"

    He writes there is a "strong correlation exists between the response of Creeks to the new order and their family background". He goes on to say that the mixed blood, Mestizo, Metis children with Indian mothers and white trader fathers were the ones who best adapted to this "new order" which involves accumulation of wealth and the power that goes with it.

    Chapter 2 Saunt writes that the traditional source of power for male Creeks was "martial", as opposed to wealth, and he reviews that Creeks held things communally and they shared with others in need. This is all correct. He then covers the idea of cattle ranching being introduced into Creek country and its evils.Unfenced cattle did have a tendency to run over and eat the corn of Indian villages. He then correlates cattle ranching to Mestizos, although some full bloods did own cattle and slaves and were wealthy. Cattle did prove to be a good food source alternative to deer and a good cash crop to sell in places such as Pensacola and St Augustine. Of course, cattle ranching was a big change in roles from hunting deer for the Creek males.

    page 46-- "The emergence of mestizos attuned to the commercial practices of European colonists corresponded with the encroachment of colonialists and cattle on Creek lands."
    "Cattle presented an equally serious environmental threat by driving off bear and deer and destroying the canebrakes and grasses that attracted indigenous animals"

    Saunt develops the story of cattle and slavery in Creek country and that the owners were primarily Mestizo. He is speaking of second generation people circa late 1700s with primarily white fathers and Indian mothers.

    Chapter 3 focuses on Alexander McGillivray who he paints as the epitome of a second generation mestizo who owns cattle and slaves.He covers the entire career of McGillivray and takes every shot he can at his weaknesses and failures. He clearly names McGillivray a "fraud" . Saunt crosses the line here.

    I strongly disagree that McGillivray can be written off as a fraud who was totally self-serving. He goes so far as to say that McGillivray lied to his own party of over 20 chiefs that attended the treaty of New York of 1790 in New York City, then the US Capitol.
    Everybody including Geo Washington knew that McGillivray was anti-American and pro-British first and pro-Spanish second. However both Washington and McGillivray knew this had to change sooner or later and some kind of peace had to be made especially to stop Georgians from creating major problems for Creeks as well as the Federal Government. The state of Ga was out of control when it came to the Yazoo land sales which turned out to be fraudulent, not just individuals but the state itself. This treaty also allowed the Creeks to evict white settlers who had settled on Creek lands.

    Saunt accuses McGillivray of misinterpreting the language of the treaty which of course would have to involve the interpreter. Simply,Saunt indicates, he cheated his friends. This is a powerful and unwarranted accusation . There was one bone of contention in the treaty as to where the upper boundaries were to be marked on the Oconee River in Northern Ga. The difference in this interpretation amounted to about a 10% difference in the lands ceded. Saunt suggests that McGillivray simply lies to his fellow chiefs about the boundary line. There was a secret clause in this treaty done at the insistence of Washington and Jefferson squirmed plenty trying how to figure out how to do it legally.McGillivray knew that the Creek Nation needed this Treaty of 1790 badly as it bought time for the Creeks to find European partners other than Spain which was rapidly becoming a bad and weak partner for the Creeks. This treaty stopped Georgia dead in its tracks from invading Creek territory with impunity and it killed the Yazoo Land Sales which was a critical issue. McGillivray turned down large bribes from the Yazoo land developers selling huge tracts of land in modern day north Alabama and Mississippi. Geo Washington did this for McGillivray willingly and took a lot of heat from the state of Ga. This treaty had time delay features in it that gave the Creeks time to look for more options to just survive. McGillivray was in very poor health at the time and knew that if he didnt do it then..it would never get done. There was still hope that England would come back to the Gulf Coast as Creek Partners and the truth is they attempted it a few years later.
    This was all a heavy responsibility that took tremendous political skills. McGillivray dies shortly after this and the Creeks suffer badly for it. This is the man Saunt names a "fraud". One has to access the Creeks political situation in 1790 and carefully to make these kind of judgements. It was a real coup to get Geo Washington to recognize the Creeks as a Nation and to protect them from states such as Georgia. As for pure speculation, McGillivray probably knew he could never live up to the terms of this treaty but it bought time for his Nation. He stated many times he did not believe the US would survive as a nation ( not a totally unreasonable assumption) and was strictly an experiment but he had to deal with the situation at hand in 1790.

    Thus, the conclusion to the logic of Saunt is that McGillivray is a mestizo, a man of wealth and a fraud and thus a very bad guy who in effect helps bring the downfall of the Creek Nation.

    Skipping over to the career of Benjamin Hawkins who is sent to live among the Creeks to create an agency (soon after the death of McGilivray) to help them and "civilize" them, Saunt quickly paints him as a bad guy and an embezzler.

    Page 180-"The hierarchy of the National Council permitted Hawkins to bribe and cajole the limited number of prominent Creek politicians--"
    "Nothing I see will restrain the Creeks but the fear of punishment" to quote Hawkins. I disagree here. Hawkins was not a mean spirited man intent on punishing Creeks nor was he a person who would bribe anyone. I defy you to find Hawkins described this way in any other writings of note.

    Saunt writes how the annual payments to the Creeks under the past treaties were handed out unevenly and ended up in the hands of wealthly chiefs
    page 220- "Funneling money toward favored towns amounted to one form of embezzlement". He associates the venerable Hawkins with embezzlement.

    Coming to the final chapter on the "Redstick War" Saunt claims that the Redsticks clearly target McGillivray (dead for 20 years) and his family ------page 259 "Redsticks targeted the legacy of Alexander McGillivray, mestizos who supported the new order" Technically by the Matrilineal system this is the family of Sehoy I-II-III and most of this family such as William Weatherford (Red Eagle) participates on the Redstick side (all Mestizo)

    This is the clincher; in the final chapter on Redsticks and their civil war and later war with the US which becomes the end of the Creek Nation in Alabama and Georgia......Saunt explains the violent attacks at Fort Mims Massacre (250 men, women, and children dead ) and at other places in this way --- "a warrior's response to "civilization", an assertion of Creek masculinity against the sedentary and pacific identity imposed by the U.S. agents." In other words...the warriors had a good excuse to mass murder.They had to assert their "male identity" and "gender roles". I find this bizarre. This attack on Fort Mims proved to be a terrible decision and the downfall of the Creek Nation in the Southeast and this theory of gender roles does not give us a good explanation of the hows and whys of Fort Mims. See Waselkov "Fort Mims".

    I urge you to read this book carefully and ask yourself if it is balanced. if you don't know the background of people like Alexander McGillivray and Benjamin Hawkins investigate them yourself. He does not paint an accurate picture of either. He also goes out on a limb of racism talking about mestizo people in general. There were both good and bad mestizos, pure bloods..whites and blacks.One cannot argue that "Mestizos" infected and ruined the Creek world. The events that led to Fort Mims and the ruination of the Creek world in the Southeast is a 100 year story begining with european trade out of Mobile and Charleston in the late 1600s. There is a slow and continual acculturation and trans-acculturation that changes both whites, blacks, and full blooded Indians profoundly. This accelerates in the 1790s upon the loss of the Creek leader McGillivray and the imposition of a US agent into the daily life of the Creeks, along with more and more pressure from Georgia to acquire Creek Lands. There is no secret that the surrounding states of Ga and Tn wanted all of the Creek lands long before Hawkins comes on the scene in the late 1790s, as well as Spanish Florida.

    The beginnings of a national council in the Creek Nation begins slowly in the early 1700s and by the time McGillivray becomes chief around 1780 there is already a national council. This does not begin with Benjamin Hawkins in the late 1790s. McGillivray routinely brought in chiefs from over 20 upper and lower Creek towns to discuss Creek policy and trying to get a consensus. Over a decade later, the US agent begins to attend these national councils and strongly urges them to reduce tension on the Tn and Ga borders and does asks the chiefs to exercise some kind of control over the younger warriors.

    As horse theft and raids on white settlements by younger Creek Warriors got worse in the late 1790s the Creek leaders had no choice but to limit this kind of friction with the people of Georgia. Benjamin Hawkins was a reasonable and honorable man who did advise the national council of Creeks to stop the raids and pillaging on the Georgia border. He did not become a Super Cop. Hawkins was the agent of Washington and Jefferson with the job to provide knowledge in farming techniques and textiles and to provide whatever guidance he could. This was not his idea this came directly from Washington,Knox, and Jefferson and the outlines of a civilization plan for Creeks can be found in the writings of both Adair and Bartram in the 1770s. This all evolved just as did the power of the national council of Creek Chiefs over a long period of time. A New Order evolved over a 100 year time span. there were lots of good actors and bad actors but you cant paint them all with a black or white paint.

    Yes technology and their direct participation in world trade drastically changed the lives of the Creeks over the 100 year span from 1700 to 1800. The Creeks welcomed trade with Europeans with open arms and each village wanted to have its own trading store. This addiction to trade goods and the political entanglements that evolved ended in disaster. Both sides are to be blamed and the Creeks are by no means totally innocent. This is not how Saunt paints the picture. He falls into the trap of good guy-bad guy- white hat-black hat.We cannot take sides and place value judgements on events of the past nor color people and things to fit a thesis.

    For a balanced view of the Creek World at this time... see
    1- Deerskins and Duffels -- Kathyrn Holland Braund ( see first paragraph of Chaps 2-7)
    (thorough and objective coverage of Anglo-Creek trading)
    2-Lachlan McGillivray- Indian trader-- Edward J Cashin (Life of Lochlan McGillivray especially as a Creek trader)
    3-McGillivray of the Creeks- John Walton Caughey ( primarily a collection of his letters) done in the 1930s but not dated. His commentary is excellent.
    4-The Collected Works of Benjamin Hawkins--H Thomas Foster II editor (his journals)
    5-A Conquering Spirit- Fort Mims- Gregory A Waselkov (Fort Mims and causes of Creek Wars)
    6-The McGillivray and McIntosh traders- Amos J Wright (family history of Lochlan McGillivray and his son and grandson)
    7-The Politics of Indian Removal--Michael D Green- see page 36 Re: McGillivray-
    "McGillivray tried to strengthen Creek government in order to preserve the Nation's independence."
    8-Creek Country-The Creek Indians and Their World--Robbie Franklyn Etheridge -
    "Among the Creeks,Hawkins had little legislative, administrative, or coercive power, either in his office or his person" his leadership was "based on persuasiveness, leading by example,and building consensus and coalitions." page 19 in paperback
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