patriarchal, the complete opposite of the matriarchal society of the Cherokees. Women in the white culture have almost never been allowed to care for anything other than the household and children. In the Cherokee society, it is the place of women to do the farming, cloth-making, and essentially be the head of the household. Again, in this instance, the Cherokee Natives had done very well without the interference of the missions.
From what I have read, prior to and including the Cherokee Removal, I have noticed that it is a very American ideal to have things our way. We don't like that fact that someone else may .
control our lives, yet we continually oppress others, mostly, I believe, in order to prevent them from doing just that to us. Ironic, yes? I find it very ironic that we want people from other cultures to accept us, and believe what we do, and even love us, yet when they don't, we shun them and degrade them still, as did Elizabeth Taylor, in a letter to Abigail Parker. Miss Taylor wrote to her and said that "white people were once as degraded as this people," yet as Americans we pride ourselves on acceptance and diversity. It is a trend of our country as a whole even to this day.
Part of the reason that I feel the missions were so detrimental was because of the confusion and association between/with civilization and "Christianization." To the missionaries, not so much the Moravians as the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, the largest part of civilization was to believe in Elohim, Jesus, and the disciples. Almost undeniably, the greatest cause of harm, unrest, and tragedies in any society is religion. Religion is so controversial because of the faith it takes to believe in it and maintain that belief. To try and argue that point, or to force it upon someone is inevitably going to start a quarrel, or at the very least some form of unrest, whether it be through fighting or just a rejection of certain "doctines in preference to their own religious beliefs.
