Lewis H. Morgan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lewis H. Morgan
Born	(1818-11-21)November 21, 1818 Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, US
Died	December 17, 1881(1881-12-17) (aged 63) Rochester, New York, US
Occupation	Anthropologist politician
Spouse(s)	Mary Elizabeth Steele ​ (m. 1851)​
Children	Lemuel Morgan Mary Elisabeth Morgan Helen King Morgan
Parent(s)	Jedediah Morgan Harriet (Steele) Morgan

Lewis Henry Morgan (born November 21, 1818 – died December 17, 1881) was an important American anthropologist and thinker about society. He also worked as a lawyer for railroads. He is famous for his studies on how families are organized (called kinship) and how societies change over time. He also wrote about the Iroquois people.

Morgan was very interested in what keeps societies together. He believed that the first human family groups were based on the mother's side (called matrilineal clans), not the father's side. He also studied how societies change, especially how technology influences progress. Famous thinkers like Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud were influenced by his ideas. Morgan was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and led the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1880.

He was also a politician, serving as a Republican member of the New York State Assembly in 1861 and the New York State Senate in 1868 and 1869.

Biography

Morgan's Family History

Lewis Henry Morgan's family came from Wales. His ancestor, James Morgan, moved to Boston in 1636. Later, James's family moved to New York State after the American Revolutionary War. This happened when the new U.S. government took land from the Iroquois people, who had been allies of the British. The government then sold this land or gave it to soldiers. Lewis Henry Morgan's family was part of this movement into New York.

Growing Up and School

Lewis's grandfather, Thomas Morgan, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he moved his family to New York's Finger Lakes region. He bought land near Aurora and started a farm.

Lewis's father, Jedediah Morgan, was a clever inventor. He created a new type of plow and built a factory. He also helped build the first Masonic lodge in Aurora. As a state senator, he supported building the Erie Canal, which was a very important waterway.

Jedediah died in 1826, leaving money for Lewis's education. Lewis studied subjects like Latin, Greek, and math at Cayuga Academy. He then went to Union College in Schenectady, finishing in just two years. He was very interested in science, especially the work of French naturalist Georges Cuvier.

The New Confederacy of the Iroquois

Masonic temple, built in Aurora in 1819. Lewis Morgan's group, the Gordian Knot, met here in the 1840s.

After college, Morgan studied law in Aurora and later moved to Rochester to become a lawyer. In 1841, he and some friends started a secret club called the Gordian Knot. Later, they changed its name to the Order of the Iroquois, and then the New Confederacy of the Iroquois.

This group wanted to learn about and honor the Iroquois people. They tried to learn Iroquois languages, took Iroquois names, and organized their club like Iroquois tribes. They even used the upper floor of the Masonic temple in Aurora for their meetings. Morgan was very passionate about the Iroquois, saying that "Poetry still lingers around the scenery."

Meeting the Iroquois People

The Finger Lakes region in upstate New York.

In 1844, Morgan began researching old treaties involving the Cayuga people in Albany. At the same time, the Seneca people were also in Albany, trying to protect their land.

After the Revolutionary War, the U.S. government had forced some Iroquois tribes to give up their lands. But they set aside small reservations for their allies, like the Onondaga and Seneca. In the 1840s, a company called the Ogden Land Company tried to claim the Seneca's Tonawanda Reservation using a dishonest treaty.

Morgan met a 16-year-old Seneca boy named Ely Parker in a bookstore. Parker was there to interpret for his grandfather, Jimmy Johnson, a Seneca chief. Morgan was fascinated by Parker's knowledge of the Iroquois. Parker invited Morgan to meet the Seneca leaders. Morgan learned a lot from them and used this information to improve his New Confederacy club.

Grant's staff. Ely Parker is sitting on the left.

Morgan and his friends invited Parker to join their club. They even helped pay for Parker's education at Cayuga Academy and later at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ely Parker later became a brigadier general in the American Civil War and worked for President Ulysses S. Grant.

The Ogden Land Company Problem

The Ogden Land Company tried to trick the Iroquois into selling their lands. Iroquois law required all chiefs to agree to sell land, but the company tried to buy votes from individual chiefs. They got a majority vote at one meeting and took their treaty to the U.S. Congress. Even though President Martin Van Buren said the treaty was dishonest, Congress approved it in 1838. The Seneca were supposed to be forced off their land.

The Seneca people were very upset. Morgan's New Confederacy group stepped in to help them. They held meetings, gathered signatures, and spoke to members of Congress. Morgan even went to Congress in 1846. As a result, the Seneca were allowed to buy back some of their land, creating the Tonawanda Reservation. The dishonest treaty was canceled.

To honor his help, Morgan was adopted into the Hawk Clan of the Seneca Tribe in 1847. He was given the name Tayadaowuhkuh, which means "bridging the gap" between the Iroquois and European Americans. After this, Morgan became less involved with the New Confederacy club.

Marriage and Family Life

In 1851, Morgan published his first important book, League of the Iroquois, which was one of the first books about ethnology (the study of cultures). In the same year, he married his cousin, Mary Elizabeth Steele. He gave her a special copy of his new book, which he dedicated to his friend and helper, Ely Parker.

Morgan and Mary had three children: Lemuel, Mary Elisabeth, and Helen King. Sadly, their two daughters died young from scarlet fever in 1862. This was a very difficult time for the family.

The Morgans were active in the First Presbyterian Church of Rochester and supported many charities.

Supporting Education

Morgan was always interested in learning and writing. In 1852, he and other smart people in Rochester started a group called The Club, where they read and discussed their research papers. Morgan gave papers to The Club for the rest of his life.

Morgan also helped found the University of Rochester. He believed that men and women should have equal opportunities for education. He was disappointed when a college for women he supported, the Barleywood Female University, didn't get started. Later, he became a founding trustee for Wells College in Aurora. He and Mary also left their money to the University of Rochester to create a college for women in memory of their daughters.

Business Success

In 1855, Morgan invested in the growing metal industry in Michigan. He became a lawyer and director for the Bay de Noquet and Marquette Railroad Company, which transported iron ore. The American Civil War created a huge demand for metals, making his company very successful. Morgan became very wealthy and was able to stop practicing law.

In 1861, Morgan was elected to the New York State Assembly. He hoped to be appointed as the Commissioner of the new Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which managed relations with Native American tribes. However, President Abraham Lincoln chose someone else for the job. Morgan then returned to his studies of Native Americans.

Becoming a Field Anthropologist

After 1856, Morgan decided to study kinship systems (how families are related) in different cultures. He funded his own research and also received support from the Smithsonian Institution. From 1859 to 1862, he went on four expeditions to study tribes in Kansas, Nebraska, and along the Missouri River. He collected information on 51 different kinship systems from tribes like the Winnebago, Crow, Yankton, and Omaha.

The Civil War and Later Business

During the American Civil War, Morgan and his wife did not actively participate in the war or the movement to end slavery. However, their friend Ely Parker served as a general under Ulysses S. Grant.

Morgan's company, the Morgan Iron Company, did very well during the war because of the high demand for metals. This success made him independently wealthy.

Studying Beavers and Politics

After his daughters' deaths, Morgan stopped his long expeditions. He became interested in beavers while fishing in Michigan. In 1868, he published a book called The American Beaver and his Works, describing how beavers build dams and change their environment.

In 1868, Morgan became a state senator again. He was still hoping to be appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs. During this time, he also became involved in a major issue about monopoly (when one company controls an entire industry). He believed that monopolies were bad because they stopped wealth from flowing to everyone. He argued that the government needed to control the power of large corporations.

Grant's Native American Policy

Morgan still wanted to be Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He and Ely Parker had developed a policy that President Grant later adopted. They believed that Native Americans should learn American ways and join American society. However, Grant chose Parker, not Morgan, for the Commissioner role.

Implementing this policy was very difficult. The system of Indian agents was often corrupt, and Native Americans were moved to poor lands. This led to conflict and warfare. In 1871, Congress changed the system, and Parker resigned. Native Americans were not granted full citizenship until 1924.

Later Career and Travels

After not getting the Commissioner job, Morgan tried for other government positions, like being an ambassador, but was rejected. So, he decided to travel to Europe on his own.

For a year (1870-1871), Morgan traveled through Europe. He met famous scientists like Charles Darwin and important British anthropologists. He visited Sir John Lubbock, who had created the terms "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic" for different stone ages. Morgan used some of Lubbock's ideas in his own work.

Morgan continued his research independently, even though he wasn't connected to a university. Other leading ethnologists respected him greatly. In 1878, he went on one last trip to the American Southwest to study ancient ruins.

Death and Legacy

In 1879, Morgan finished building a library as an addition to his home in Rochester. He celebrated its opening with a dinner for 40 important people from Rochester. He died in this house in December 1881. He also built a mausoleum (a large tomb) for his daughters, where his whole family was later buried.

Morgan's wife, Mary, died two years after him. They both left their estate to the University of Rochester. Their will stated that the money should be used to create a college for women, as a memorial to their daughters.

Morgan's work was very important. He started the study of kinship (family relations) in anthropology. He also showed how material culture (like tools and houses) is connected to social structure. His ideas influenced many later thinkers.

Morgan's Ideas

Studying Cultures (Ethnology)

In the 1840s, Morgan became good friends with Ely S. Parker of the Seneca tribe. With Parker's help, Morgan studied the culture and structure of Iroquois society. Morgan noticed that the Iroquois used different words than Europeans to describe family relationships. He realized this was important for understanding how their society was organized. He called European terms "descriptive" and Iroquois terms "classificatory." These terms are still used by anthropologists today.

Morgan and Parker wrote The League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois (1851). This book was a groundbreaking study of the Iroquois, showing how complex their society was.

Morgan then expanded his research to many other Native American tribes. He believed that Native Americans originally came from Asia. He thought he could prove this by studying kinship terms used by people in Asia and North America. He wanted to show that all humans came from a single origin.

To do this, Morgan sent questionnaires to scholars, missionaries, and military officers around the world to collect data on kinship systems. He also traveled to the "Wild West" for his research.

In 1871, he published his major work, Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. This book was very important for anthropology. In it, Morgan argued that all humans are connected. He also showed how family structures and social groups change over time in a specific order.

Theory of Social Evolution

Morgan's ideas about how societies change over time became known as his theory of social evolution. He saw society as a living system that develops.

In his most famous book, Ancient Society (1877), Morgan explained his theory in more detail. He linked social progress to technological progress. He believed that family and property relations were central to society. He showed how technology, family life, property, government, and intellectual development all influence each other as societies evolve.

Morgan described three main stages of human development: savagery, barbarism, and civilization. He defined these stages by technological inventions:

• Savagery: Using fire, the bow, and pottery.
• Barbarism: Domestication of animals, agriculture, and metalworking.
• Civilization: Developing the alphabet and writing.

This was his way of creating a structure for North American history, similar to how European pre-history was divided into the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages.

Even though some parts of Morgan's evolutionary theory have been changed by later anthropologists, his achievements are still impressive. He created the field of kinship studies. Anthropologists are still interested in the connections he found between material culture and social structure.

Morgan was a champion for Native Americans, but he believed they should adopt American ways through education and Christianity. He did not support keeping their traditional cultures separate.

Influence on Marxism

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, two very important European thinkers, read Morgan's book Ancient Society. Morgan's ideas about social structure and technology greatly influenced Engels's theory of dialectical materialism, which he wrote about in The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (1884).

Some people, based on Morgan's work, believed that early Native American societies were like communist-like societies. However, later research showed that Morgan had some misunderstandings about the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) society and his theory of social evolution was not entirely correct. Still, the Haudenosaunee society, with its communal land ownership and low crime rates, remains interesting for those studying communism and anarchism.

Honors Named After Morgan

• An annual lecture at the Anthropology Department of the University of Rochester is named after Morgan.
• Rochester Public School #37 is named "Lewis H. Morgan #37 School."
• The Lewis Henry Morgan Institute (a research group) at SUNYIT in Utica, New York.
• The Lewis H. Morgan Rochester Regional Chapter of the New York State Archeological Association.

Lewis Morgan's Writings

Lewis Morgan wrote many letters, papers, articles, and books throughout his life. Here are some of his most important published works:

Images for kids

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  Lewis Henry Morgan, a pioneering American anthropologist.

See also

In Spanish: Lewis Henry Morgan para niños

• Cultural evolution
• Sociocultural evolution
• Ethnology
• Unilineal evolution
• Origins of society
• List of important publications in anthropology