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Vaill's Letter To Gold Analysis

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Throughout Vaill’s previously mentioned letter to Gold, he consistently references the former controversy over Northrop-Ridge marriage. Although Vaill acknowledges that he admires Boudinot and recognizes he is a faithful Christian student, he also communicates his concern regarding another engagement between an “Indian” Foreign Mission School student and white agent, “…that so far as there is danger, so far it will be wrong” (93). In another letter to a family member, Vaill stresses once more that he does not advise against the intermarriage because of “dissimilarity of complexion, for that I care nothing about” (letter to Mary Gold Brinsmade, 2 August 1825). However, in order to ensure the survival and continuing legacy of the school, Vaill believes Boudinot ought to “prove himself faithful to Christ, & grateful to his Christian benefactors; & of great good to his Nation. …show more content…

Vaill, along with many other Christian missionary activists, believed the school’s foreclosure would hinder the Indians’ welfare and progress towards Euro-American civilization (Gaul 92). Religion and America’s development went hand in hand. Dominant Euro-American religions, such as Christianity in all of its forms, held similar moral truths regarding life and death. However, it is worth mentioning “that during the period of controversy over Harriet’s marriage, her sister Catherine met and married within the space of three months a man who was not a professed Christian, as Elias was, without any commentary from her brother-in-law” (34). Perhaps, this was because Catherine’s husband was “white,” however, racial boundaries were not yet hardened.. Here, the question of what “religions” were considered acceptable for the “progress” of America becomes

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