American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Political factionalism in Native American communities has long proven a topic of interest to scholars. An observation by Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr., suggests one compelling reason for this enduring fascination. "[N]o student of Indian societies, " he writes, "doubts the ubiquity nor the importance of factions in Indian affairs past or present." As a political phenomenon, factionalism is central to much of Native American history. It occurs in numerous Native societies, at various points in time, and under a variety of social, political and economic conditions. Yet, as Berkhofer laments, "the study of . . . factionalism is little advanced beyond the superficial description given . . . in 1936." Factionalism, it seems, has been as poorly understood as it is important. One significant cause of the unsatisfactory understanding of factionalism is to be found in the theoretical framework with which scholars initially approached the study of factions. In their earliest formulations, scholars theorized that factions were a uniquely post-contact development. Edward H. Spicer, in summarizing this position, argued that Native American societies, their processes and principles of governance rooted in consensus decision-making, did not expect "as a constant feature of community life any basic differences of viewpoint." The permanent presence of Europeans or Euramericans "almost immediately introduced a serious issue for dissent." Simply by their presence, these outsiders introduced a second set of cultural alternatives to which Native peoples had to adjust. This challenge to cultural and political consensus struck Native societies at their weakest point. Native societies fractured over which European-derived elements they wanted to accept, or the degree to which they wished to become involved with the newcomers as trading partners or military allies. The one condition Native societies could not handle was diversity; the sustained presence of Europeans or Euramericans forced them into just this untenable situation. Factions erupted inevitably from this unresolvable dilemma.