"There Is an Indian Nature": Ethnography, Skepticism, and the "Theory of the Peace Congress" in Melville's Confidence-Man

Abstract:This article contextualizes satirical comments in The Confidence-Man about the "theory of the Peace Congress" on "Indian nature." I suggest that George Copway, an Ojibwe writer who spoke at an International Peace Congress, may be one of Melville's points of reference. As a popular ethnographer, speaker, and the inspiration for Longfellow's epic poem depicting indigenous pacifism (Hiawatha), Copway was a key public figure in discussions of "Indian nature," assimilability, and pacifism. I explore two ways Copway's work can be read as a subtext: first, as a model of counter-ethnography that may have influenced Melville's dialogue, which exposes the critical problems with representing 'Indians' as a monolith through similar inversions of racial tropes of description. Secondly, I suggest that Melville's satirical nod to the "theory of the Peace Congress" might be a subtle critique of Copway's hypocrisy; while he represented "his race" at a congress devoted to universal benevolence, by the time of The Confidence-Man's composition, Copway had become known for his work with the racist Nativist Know-Nothing party. These contexts can help us understand Melville's skepticism not a turn away from politics but a critique of the racial imaginary of reform discourse and its sources of epistemic authority.