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Background Missionary Work Legacy Writings and Excerpts

 A singular freak of nature is witnessed amongst the Seminoles, who are increasing, in the fact that although there are Indian and negro half-breeds, there are no white half-breeds . . .

- John Maclean

An inventory of Maclean's large body of written work has yet to be made. His observations, reports and popular writing is extensive, although somewhat inaccessible within libraries and archives.

While his views may have been ahead of their time, today they are only of interest from a historical perspective. Maclean's observations as an anthropologist are replete with an appreciation for the depth and variety of Aboriginal culture.  His opinion that different philosophical inclinations stemmed from different environments and therefore created divergent rates of conversion offered food for thought for his contemporary theologians who were exploring the connection between landscape and faith. Yet, at the end of the 19th century his writings were given little regard.

Citation Sources
Maclean, John. The Native Tribes of Canada. Toronto: Briggs, 1896.

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