James Adair (historian)
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James Adair (c.1709–1783) was a native of
County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, who went to North America and became a trader with the Native Americans of the
Southeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the nor ...
.


Life

From 1735 he resided there for 40 years and was almost entirely cut off from the outside world. From 1744 he resided chiefly among the
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classified as ...
. In 1751, Adair moved to
Laurens County, South Carolina Laurens County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 67,539. Its county seat is Laurens. Laurens County is included in the Greenville-Anderson- Mauldin, SC Metropolitan Statistical ...
. In the 1740s he led a British trade mission to the Eastern Choctaw tribe at the height of
King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...
in an effort to win this nation over from French influence. He dealt extensively with Chief Red Shoes, the leader of the pro-British faction of the Choctaw. This eventually erupted into a fierce civil war amongst the Choctaw that led to Red Shoes' assassination in 1749.''History of the American Indians'' by James Adair, pg 143-148. Adair went forward under the direction of
James Glen James Glen (1701 – July 18, 1777) was a politician in the Province of South Carolina. He was appointed Royal Governor of South Carolina in 1738, but did not arrive in the province until December 17, 1743. He served as governor until June 1, 175 ...
, governor of
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
, but then vehemently blames him for the mission's failure and the loss of his personal fortune. In the 1760s he led a contingent of Chickasaw Warriors against the French in the French and Indian Wars which resulted in 1763 with most French territory east of the Mississippi being ceded over to the British colonies at the
Treaty of Paris (1763) The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Kingdom of France, France and Spanish Empire, Spain, with Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal in agree ...
.


Book: ''History of the American Indians''

In 1775, stimulated by the encouragement of a few intimate friends, such as
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...
, Colonel
George Croghan George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became a key early figure in the region. In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governin ...
,
George Galphin George Galphin (1708–1780) was an American businessman specializing in Indian Trade, an Indian Commissioner, and plantation owner who lived and conducted business in the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina, primarily around the area known t ...
, and
Lachlan McGillivray Lachlan McGillivray (–1799) was a prosperous fur trader and planter in colonial Georgia with interests that extended from Savannah to what is now central Alabama. He was the father of Alexander McGillivray and the great-uncle of William McIntos ...
, Adair determined to throw his notes into the form of a book. He mentions a string of disadvantages under which he laboured, notably the jealousy, secrecy, and closeness of the Indians, but hoped to be able to correct the very superficial notions that prevailed as to their civilisation. His book was called ''The History of the American Indians . . . containing an Account of their Origin, Language, Manners, . . . and other Particulars, sufficient to render it A Complete Indian System . . . with A New Map of the Country''. The value of Adair's work as showing the relations between the Indians and the English traders was recognised, and a German translation appeared at Breslau in 1782. It must be admitted that a very disproportionate space is given to the hypothesis that the American Indians are descended from the lost ten tribes of Israel.
Thomas Thorowgood Thomas Thorowgood (died 1669), B.D., was a Puritan minister and preacher in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. He was the first English author to argue in 1650 that American Indians were descended from the Lost Ten Tribes of the biblical ancient Isr ...
, adopting an old idea of the Spanish Las Casas, had first maintained this theory in English in 1650 in his ''Jewes in America.'' Both
Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
and Jonathan Edwards seemed rather inclined to favour the view, which, as elaborately set forth by Adair, has since found champions in
Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...
(''Star in the West,'' 1816) and in
Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough (16 November 1795 – 27 February 1837) was an Irish antiquarian who sought to prove that the indigenous peoples of the Americas were a Lost Tribe of Israel. His principal contribution was in making availab ...
. Among the points of similarity between the Jews and Indians, Adair emphasised the division into tribes, worship of a great spirit, Jehovah, notions of a theocracy, of ablutions and uncleanness, cities of refuge, and practices as regards divorce and raising seed to a deceased brother. The bias imparted by this theory to many of Adair's remarks led Volney to condemn the whole book in his ''Tableau du Climat et du Sol des Etats-Unis''. The second half of the book is more strictly ''An Account of the Katahba, Cheerake, Muskohge, Choktah, and Chikkasah Nations.'' Lord Kingsborough reprinted the whole of the first part of Adair's work in the eighth volume of his sumptuous ''Mexican Antiquities'', with an appendix of notes and illustrations from inedited works by French and Spanish authors, 'affording the most satisfactory proofs of Adair's veracity in the minutest particulars.' Adair's map of the American Indian nations is partially reproduced in Winsor's ''History of America''.


References

;Attribution


Sources

* *''Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896.'' Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1967.


External links


The History of the American Indians (Internet Archive)James Adair Profile and Videos
- Chickasaw.TV {{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, James 1709 births 1783 deaths 18th-century Irish people 18th-century Irish historians Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Writers from Greenville, South Carolina People from County Antrim 18th-century American historians Historians of Native Americans American historians