An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States Ortiz

The Last of the Mahicans and Andrew Jackson's White Republic 107

"adventures" subsequently was published as "The Adventures of

Col. Daniel Boone" in the American Magazine in 1787 , then as a

book. Thereby a superstar was born-the mythical hero, the hunter,

the "Man Who Knows Indians,'' as Richard Slotkin has described

this US American archetype:

The myth of the hunter that had grown up about the figure

of Filson's Daniel Boone provided a framework within which

Americans attempted to define their cultural identity, social

and political values, historical experience, and literary aspira­

tions .... Daniel Boone, Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson

were heroes to the whole nation because their experiences had

reference to many or all of these common experiences. "The

Hunters of Kentucky,'' a popular song that swept the nation

in 1822-28, helped elect Andrew Jackson as President by as­

sociating him with Boone, the hero of the West. 25

Yet the Leatherstocking's positive twist on genocidal colonialism

was based on the reality of invasion, squatting, attacking, and colo­

nizing of the Indigenous nations. Neither Filson nor Cooper created

that reality. Rather, they created the narratives that captured the

experience and imagination of the Anglo-American settler, stories

that were surely instrumental in nullifying guilt related to genocide

and set the pattern of narrative for future US writers, poets, and

historians.

COMMANDER AND CHIEF

Andrew Jackson is enshrined in most US history texts in a chapter
titled "The Age of Jackson," "The Age of Democracy," "The Birth
of Democracy," or some variation thereon. 26 The Democratic Party
claims Jackson and Jefferson as its founders. Every year, state and
national Democratic organizations hold fund-raising events they call
Jefferson-Jackson Dinners. They understand that Thomas Jefferson
was the thinker and Jackson the doer in forging populist democracy
for full participation in the fruits of colonialism based on the oppor­
tunity available to Anglo settlers.