The Insistence of the Indian : Race and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century American Culture

Exploring literary, political and legal sources, the author argues that the "Indian question" was intertwined with the ways in which 19th-century Americans viewed their nation's past and envisioned its destiny.

The book shows how the Indians provided a crucial site of reflection upon national identity, and yet, by being denied the natural rights upon which the constitutional principles of the United States rested, they also challenged American convictions of moral ascendancy and national legitimacy.

It is from this gap between principles and practice, according to the author, that the nation emerged.