3920. INDIANS, Genius.—
It is in North
America we are to seek their[the Indians']
original character. And I am safe in affirming,
that the proofs of genius given by the Indians
of North America place them on a level with
whites in the same uncultivated state. The
North of Europe furnishes subjects enough for
comparison with them, and for a proof of their
equality, I have seen some thousands myself,
and conversed much with them, and have found
in them a masculine, sound understanding.
* * * I believe the Indian to be in body and
mind equal to the white man.—
To General Chastellux. Washington ed. i, 341.
Ford ed., iii, 137.
(P.
1785)
