new vs. old

It is easy to see that Cooper does not have too much respect for the Indians, but hey, at least they are better than the Irish, but in his letter, there are a few encouraging words for the lesser race. He describes the ones that work on the sea as highly reliable and good workers and describes Indians as a whole to not be known for thief unless those who live nearby who have been corrupted by white civilization.
This is weird contrast where he describes a race that he often refers to as uncivilized, being corrupted by civilized people. But years later, in the excerpt of Deerslayer, The Indians have become thieving and treacherous, while of course still being complete idiots. I believe that this was intentional in Cooper’s attempt to create the American Hero. For Cooper, the American Hero was the pioneer. It isn’t so much the thrill of living in the wild as it is leaving civilization to live in the wild. And with any great hero, there must be a villain and Cooper found it in the tribes that the obviously superior whites would encounter. I feel as if Cooper was truly playing into the spirit that would come to embody Manifest Destiny.