The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650 - 1815

The lack of hierarchical or coercive control in Algonquian society led to a need for embedded face-to-face relations between Frenchmen and Algonquians negotiated within individual villages. The middle ground, therefore, emerged not just from official decisions but from the day-to-day encounters of individuals dealing with immediate issues. White provides two of the main issues that required constant negotiation: sex and violence. While sexual relations facilitated trade, violence posed a threat to it. Both aspects are crucial to understanding the cultural interactions in the pays d’en haut.

A critical factor in the sexual dynamics of the region was the scarcity of French women until the 1730s. This led French men to seek sexual relationships with Algonquian women. The French, however, struggled to understand these women’s status due to interpreting their roles through the lens of European marital norms. In the Algonquian social structure a woman's status was more influenced by their tribal identity, relationships with family members, and participation in ritual organizations than by marital status. Unmarried women possessed more sexual freedom than European women. Some Algonquian women chose not to marry but could engage in relationships. These relationships involved not just sexual interactions but also encompassed shared labor responsibilities. These traditions were inherently different in meaning than the European view of sexual-economic arrangements outside marriage as sex work. However, the introduction of Christianity into the region by Jesuits and the emphasis on chastity appealed to some young Algonquian women by giving them a new form of agency over their bodies. Despite being overlooked in history, women’s relationships affected the region’s politics and trade. The children of the relationships between Algonquian woman and French men resulted in the Métis people, who would have an essential role in the region.

White pivots to exploring how violence and interracial murders were closely intertwined with commerce in the region. For instance, violence often resulted from disputes over debt, gift exchanges, attempts to control the flow of weapons, and the expansion of the liquor trade. He emphasizes a lack of a common understanding regarding the cultural structures of exchange, which contributed to the conflict. The French and Algonquians also had different approaches to dealing with the resulting deaths. The French relied on a state-driven justice system, demanding the death of the murderer as compensation, while the Algonquians sought restitution by “covering” and “raising” the dead (a system of financial compensation or physical substitution). A series of conflicts in 1706 exposed breaches in the French-Algonquian alliance constructed by Sieur de Cadillac, allowing a flare-up of preexisting disputes among the involved tribes. The Ottawas, fearing an attack by the Miami, attacked first, which led to a series of violent events. These included the deaths of high status Ottawa men. These deaths and subsequent inaction by the French threatened the alliance. The negotiations that followed were shaped by the ceremonial forms of the Ottawa-French alliance, rooted in a patriarchal father-and-son framing. They also revealed misapprehensions in both sides’ understanding of the terms of the relationship. The French demanded a Christianized version of repentance and compensation for the deaths, with Cadillac demanding the surrender of the Ottawa leader, Le Pesant. The Ottawas, recognizing the impracticality of surrendering him, negotiated a compromise that maintained the appearance of compliance. Ritualized surrender and redemption became a staple of the cultural middle ground. It adapted elements from both cultures while never fully corresponding to either. However, the constant pressure for executions by the French while the Algonquians hesitated to surrender their accused kin continued to test the alliance.