The Good Word: Handsome Lake of the Seneca

While some Native religious revivals died out after their leaders did or revolts in their name were crushed, the Code of Handsome Lake survives today.  Handsome Lake (1735-1815) was born into a prominent Seneca family in 1735 on the Genesee River near present-day Avon, New York.  Cornplanter was his half-brother.  Among his cousins was Red Jacket, Blacksnake and Half Town.  Along with them, he was a signatory to the Treaty of Canandaiga in 1794, and accompanied
Cornplanter on a delegation to Washington in 1802. 

The Revolution had been cruel to the Iroquois, who had lost most of their land.  Deaths from combat, disease and conflict with Settlers had eroded families and destroyed morale.  Traders sold liquor to the Natives as their biggest-ticket item, not caring the devastation it brought through addiction.  Handsome Lake, like Red Jacket and some others in his family, developed an addiction to alcohol and became ill.  In 1799, during his most serious illness, he received a series of visionary messages informing him of what his people needed to do to reclaim their way of life.  His messengers didn't preach a complete rejection of European ways, but rather a need to learn English and be better educated to survive in a world dominated by the Settlers.  They also provided instruction for ceremonies and codes of conduct to revive old Iroquois practices and bring back morale and honor to the people. 

On his recovery, Handsome Lake began to preach these messages, which he called the Gaihwayo, or Good Word.  In addition to abstention from alcohol, they included prohibitions against domestic abuse, theft, factory farms, overconsumption in luxury goods and witchcraft.  Though some Native leaders were skeptical, because portions of the Code sounded like Quakerism, Handsome Lake's powerful relatives endorsed him.  The Code mandated a peaceful co-existence with the Settlers and didn't spark any religious uprisings.  Thomas Jefferson gave his approval to the Code of Handsome Lake in 1803.  At first transmitted orally and by means of wampum, the Code was written down in the 19th century and is still read or recited at Iroquois ceremonies today.

Interestingly, Handsome Lake also told a story of how America was discovered.  A young European met a mysterious man who asked him to collect money, cards, whiskey, a fiddle and other temptations and bring them to the New World, in return for which he would become wealthy.  The young man sought out Christopher Columbus and joined his crew to travel to the New World, where the things corrupted the Natives.  In the story, the stranger who tempted the young man turns out to be the Devil, who knew all along that what he was doing was wrong.

Handsome Lake continued to work among his people, building their morals and morale until his death in 1835.