What, but education, has advanced us beyond the condition of our indigenous neighbours? and what chains them to their present state of barbarism & wretchedness, but a besotted veneration for the supposed supe[r]lative wisdom of their fathers and the preposterous idea that they are to look backward for better things and not forward, longing, as it should seem, to return to the days of eating acorns and roots rather than indulge in the degeneracies of civilization
I think this is a very important part of the document. The authors of the document are using the "barbaric" ways of the Native Americans as a selling point for educations. The Native Americans are referred to as barbaric, wretched, uncivilized, and indigenous (which is especially ironic because they were here first.) However, the are overlooking the fact that the Native Americans are wise and educated in their own ways. This phrase shows the lack of cultural appreciation during this time, that anything other than the "American" way of education was uncivilized and barbaric. The authors are claiming that education is the future, but that there is only one way to be educated. How does this phrase add onto the recurring theme of close-mindedness in this document?