LIT 209/Gazzara 1
Unit 6: The Romantic Temper
(1800-1870) (important
passages highlighted)
Tecumseh: chief of Ohio
Shawnee
Vision of native peoples:
UNIFIED through a common
heritage and land intended for
them by Great Spirit
Said to William Henry
Harrison, governor of Indiana
Territory in August 1808, when
Harrison invited Tecumseh to
sit in a chair: “The Great Spirit
is my father, the earth is my
mother—and on her bosom I
will recline.”
Convinced that Native
American inheritance could not
be bartered away by treaty
Goal: to resist white settlement
and influence to reestablish
greatness and usher in era of
peace for themselves
Brother was Tenskwatawa (“the
Prophet”)both set up
Tippecanoe Creek (1808);
landscape embraced old
rituals/demonstrated how
revival could counter white
expansion
Tecumseh traveled throughout
the East with this message;
wanted divergent tribes to join
his crusade
Governor Harrison: tried to
repeatedly discourage
Tecumseh; that the US would
treat Indians fairly in land
dealings
Tecumseh was at Prophet’s
Town; when he left, Harrison
raised a force of 1,000 men to
attack it
--Indians routed this force, but
incident led to many battles:
whites and Indians perished;
began Harrison’s reputation as
an Indian fighter; created a rep
that aided his presidential
election
JUNE 1812:
*United Stated declared war on
Great Britain
**Tecumseh used war to unite
with Indians of Canada (who
sided with Brits)
***Tecumseh contributed a
large group of warriors to the
efforts of Colonel Henry
Proctor, to capture Detroit
****Tecumseh was absent:
when he WAS, Proctor
allowed/encouraged Indian
troops to kill and scalp
American captivesTecumseh
returned, heard of atrocities:
declared Proctor unfit to lead
British left Michigan; returned
to Ontario; Harrison, sought to
avenge killings, followed:
OCTOBER 5, 1813: Opponents
met on Thames River;
Tecumseh killed
--Within a few years: Indian
lands ceded to settlers in the
area West of Ohio
--two new states—Indiana
(1816) and Illinois (1818)—
added to Union
[The White Men Are Not
Friends to the Indians]: speech
made around 1812 to a group of
Osage Indians in Missouri
(politely but passively received)