Missionary work, arising from a sense of pity, helped convince the British that they were a benevolent people. Stevens relates this to the rise of the cult of sensibility, when philosophers argued that humans were inherently good because they felt sorrow at the sign of suffering.

The Poor Indians
British Missionaries, Native Americans, and Colonial Sensibility

Laura M. Stevens

2004 | 272 pages | Cloth $39.95 | Paper $22.50
History | Native American Studies

Table of Contents

Introduction: "The Common Bowels of Pity to the Miserable"

1. Gold for Glass, Seeds to Fruit: Husbandry and Trade in Missionary Writings
2. "I Have Received Your Christian and Very Loving Letter": Epistolarity and Transatlantic Community
3. "The Reservoir of National Charity": The Role of the Missionary Society
4. Indians, Deists, and the Anglican Quest for Compassion: The Sermons of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
5. The Sacrifice of Self: Emotional Expenditure and Transatlantic Ties in Brainerd's and Sergeant's Biographies
6. "Like Snow Against the Sun": The Christian Origins of the Vanishing Indian

Conclusion

Notes
Index
Acknowledgments