Gender and Vigilantism on the Minnesota Frontier,
The essay “Gender and Vigilantism on the Minnesota Frontier,” by Sylvia D. Hoffert, describes how Jane Grey Swisshelm changes from a sympathetic supporter of civilizing the Native Americans of the Minnesota region, the Dakotas, to a supporter of the eradication of the Dakotas. Swisshelm was an editor of the paper, the St. Cloud Visiter, which was rare for a woman before the Civil War. Being the editor of the local paper put Swisshelm in a position of power, which she used to try to create public opinion instead of reflect it. Before moving to Minnesota, Swisshelm was an abolitionist whose idea’s of sympathy towards the weak reflects her early opinions about the Dakotas. The thesis of the essay states that Swisshelm’s change from sympathizer to eradicator is due to her inability to civilize the Dakotas herself, her misunderstanding of the Dakota culture, and the Dakota’s actions which began the US-Dakota Conflict of 1862. More reasons which contributed to Swisshelm’s change was her idea that some laws needed to be disregarded to protect the weak, her longing for the economic advancement of farmers in Minnesota and her community, St Cloud, and her participation as an abolitionist. Swisshelm’s gender was a large p
The most interesting point in changing Swisshelm’s view on the Dakotas was that she was a woman. When Swisshelm first came west she wanted to live with the Native Americans of the region and become their friend and mediator with the whites. Instead, Swisshelm moved in with her sister in the town of St. Cloud where she got the job as newspaper editor. Swisshelm was able to get the job as the editor in the paper because of the lack of workers in the frontier. During this time women were idealized as having higher values than men and therefore should try to teach morals. This was the reason for the compassion in her early writings in her paper. She wrote about toleration towards the Dakotas due to their need to be civilized. This preaching also showed in the way she advocated vigilantism for the extermination of the Dakotas. She used morals to try to convince people to attack and kill Dakotas. One way she used morals was to criticize the Dakota’s actions of killing white people. She insisted that murders throughout the country were hanged, so death should be the action towards the Dakotas. To try and get federal support, Swisshelm made a trip to Washington DC. Swisshelm was a member of the Republican Party and had used her position as editor to do many favors for her political friends. When Swisshelm spoke in Washington DC, she was ignored because she was a woman. Due to the lack of Federal support and her anger that her political friends had not helped her, Swisshelm advocated the idea of vigilantism to eradicate the Dakotas. Being a woman initially influenced Swisshelm to be sympathetic towards the Dakotas, but being a woman also influenced Swisshelm’s promotion of vigilantism. Swisshelm’s desire for economic advancement in Minnesota was a large factor towards the sudden change in opinion
Some topics in this essay:
St Cloud,
Washington DC,
US-Dakota Conflict,
Trail Tears,
Swisshelm Hoffert’s,
Minnesota Swisshelm,
Dakotas Hoffert,
Dakotas Swisshelm’s,
Republican Party,
Indians Indian,
towards dakotas,
us-dakota conflict,
cherokee removal,
view dakotas,
dakotas woman,
stearns county,
native americans,
st cloud,
washington dc,
washington dc ignored,
editor paper,
hoffert essay add,
us-dakota conflict 1862,
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Approximate Word count = 1232
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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