ABSTRACT
Histories of the two movements for intertribal unity resonate with a distinction between the sacred and the profane. Each of the two movements has been keenly subdivided in our book-length histories into its religious and its secular dimensions. Each dimension is, in turn, personified in our histories by a leader. The interpretation that isolates Pontiac from Neolin hinges upon their differing perceptions of the French. Histories of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, far more than of Pontiac and Neolin, place a barrier between religion and realpolitik. The dramatic effect is to raise tensions, for not only does religion confront reason, but brother battles brother. To support his intertribal call, the Shawnee Prophet had at his disposal a concept of Indian identity that had been developing since at least the middle of the eighteenth century, a concept embodied in the notion of the separate creation of Anglo-Americans and Indians.
