During the late 1730s, a German emigrant and mystic, Gottlieb Priber, became profoundly disillusioned with the materialism and inequalities of colonial society. Defecting to the Cherokee, Priber promoted a visionary scheme, called the Kingdom of Paradise, to unite the Indians into a confederacy that would draw strength from the colonies by welcoming runaway servants, slaves, and debtors. Alarmed, South Carolina officials demanded that the Cherokee arrest and surrender Priber. The Cherokee refused, but their Creek rivals captured Priber in 1743 and surrendered him to the colonists, who held the
...more
