American commentators read the 1857 uprising as a religious awakening of Islam against Britain

Evidence

Meanwhile, at least one commentator in the United States drew a larger lesson from the rebellion. D.H. Wheeler, president of the Chautauqua Institution, despaired in 1885 that Britons had ignored “the religious source” of the uprising and continued their twin practices of arming some Muslims and slaughtering others. “[England] is uniting Islam, and teaching Islam how to make war…A Moslem victory is proclaimed in every Arab tent, and in every Indian village.” While decrying the European atrocities, Wheeler preferred that Islam “should be locked fast in the iron arms of the British empire” for the sake of Christendom. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 66

Categorization

• XREF: Wheeler’s blend of decrying European atrocities while wanting Islam imprisoned by the Empire parallels later paternalist-imperial positions toward colonized peoples. — connects to: Nineteenth-century Anglo-American observers feared a globally unified Islam centered on the Ottoman caliph — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear:…, 67; Although Britons in India differed from Americans because of the active (if exaggerated) threat to their political order, both shared a conviction regarding two alleged qualities of Islam that made it a perennial menace: the proclivity of Muslims to spread their religion and to do so violently. In their reflections on the proselytizing power of Muslims – an issue among Europeans since at least the eighth century when predominantly Christian north Africa and Spain converted almost entirely to Islam – Americans and Britons almost universally explained mass conversion as the result of coercion.; Anglo-American observers explained Muslim expansion as caused by inherent religious fanaticism. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear:…, 85 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Although Britons in India differed from Americans because of the active (if exaggerated) threat to their political order, both shared a conviction regarding two alleged qualities of Islam that… #qualifies (0.60)
• Both Americans and Britons held Islam a perennial menace by its proselytizing and violence #expands (0.55)
• Anglo-American observers explained Muslim expansion as caused by inherent religious fanaticism. #expands (0.50) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 85