Editing The Devil and Daniel Webster (section)

===Treatment of aboriginal Americans===
The story may be seen as sympathetic to the plight of the [[Native Americans in the United States|aboriginal Americans]]. Webster states "If two New Hampshiremen aren't a match for the devil, we might as well give the country back to the Indians." The stranger/Satan remarks that "When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there," which implies the author's acknowledgement that aboriginal Americans were sometimes wronged.  "[[Metacomet|King Philip]], wild and proud as he had been in life, with the great gash in his head that gave him his death wound" is noted as a notorious villain of American history (the historical King Philip ([[Metacomet]]), died from a gunshot to the heart, not a gash to the head).

Yet later on, Daniel Webster's appeal to the jury on "what it means to be American" specifically includes King Philip among "the Americans." This is an anachronism, as the historical Daniel Webster would have been unlikely to express such an opinion.  The narrator also expresses sympathy for King Philip when he tells us that one juror "heard the cry of his lost nation" in Webster's eloquent appeal.