Imagine a life in which everything from the land your ancestors owned to the culture they valued, was being systematically stripped away from the entire nation they lived in. In a speech titled "Reply to Missionary Jacob Cram," a Seneca Indian speaker and wordsmith by the name of Sagoyewatha, who is also known by the nickname Red Jacket, eloquently delivers a very poignant speech directed at missionary, Jacob Cram. Sagoyewatha received the nickname Red Jacket from the British for his assistance during the Revolutionary War. The speech given in 1805 was in response to an address Cram had given to the Seneca Indians at an earlier time. He explained to the Seneca people there was one way to serve God and if the Seneca were not willing to convert…show more content… As stated in the previous paragraph, Sagoyewatha explains that their forefathers used to own all of the lands in what is now the United States in order to build his ethos. At the same time, he uses this to acquire sympathy from Cram; these lands were once there's and through time and circumstance they have been taken from them (451). Sagoyewatha states that all of their physical property has been taken from them and now they are being asked to give up their culture, ideas, and beliefs to be assimilated into the new American society (452). All appeals to pathos were an attempt to use Cram's Christian sense of right and wrong. He is also again trying to make a connection with Cram and receive his sympathy by saying that these lands were created for the Indians by the one God. Sagoyewatha explains how the Indians lived relatively peaceful on this land having minor disputes over hunting territory until the day the first white people came (451). They had explained how they were fleeing their land due to religious oppression and how the Indians accepted them as friends (451). This is rather ironic due to the fact that their later descendants would force very similar religious oppression upon the
