In the 1780s and 1790s a devoted group of nationalists set out to promote both a feeling of union among a diverse population and the values upon which they believed the survival of the republic depended. Images of Native Americans offered an ideal way to accomplish this task because these peoples were seen as intellectually and physically equal to Europeans but nonetheless trapped in a state of barbarity and savagery. Identifying the weaknesses of Indian society allowed historians to illustrate what Americans must do if they hoped to build a stable and prosperous republic in the New World. These authors agreed that Indian peoples were not saddled with oppressive governments, or with a corrupt and vice ridden population, in fact in the last area they outshone the allegedly superior whites. Native American society, they argued, was held back by its lack of clearly defined patriarchal families, its inability to transform the land to produce surplus, and its irreligion. Consequently, the survival of the United States depended first and foremost on its citizens' actions with regard to family, the transformation of the land, and religion, and not on their interest or activities in political or military affairs.