Formalizing native councils would destroy chiefs’ legitimacy in their communities

Evidence

Antonetti argued that the institution of councils as designed by Merlin could actually backfire. “Just as our authority would stand to gain from decisions based upon reasonable opinions [expressed by the chiefs],” he wrote Merlin, “it would stand to lose from requesting consultation and then ignoring the advice proffered.” And, inevitably, Antonetti continued, chiefs would make complaints that the French would not be able to redress. Transforming chiefs and their councils into formal administrative bodies would cause them to lose immediately their legitimacy in the eyes of the population. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 726

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the theme from the religion-and-culture vs law pieces already in the library, and generally to ‘institutions that substitute formal roles for lived legitimacy destroy social capital’ (Coleman).