The New Nation’s Relations with
Native Americans
1
1. Why did William Apess think that whites
were responsible for the way his
grandparents treated him?
2. What name did William Apess think his
people should be called?
2
Before and after
the Seven Years’ War (1756-63)
3
Proclamation of 1763
-No colonists wests of the Appalachians
-Only authorized traders in Indian territory
-Land sales must be approved by British
superintendents
Source: National Atlas of the United States of America (1970).
4
Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea)
Portrait by George Romney, 1776.
National Gallery of Canada
5
Standards of international law – 18c.
• Right of discovery
• Right of conquest
• Treaties between sovereign nations
– Indians treated as inferior
6
Geographic expansion
• Republican theorists: political independence
depends upon land ownership
7
Northwest Ordinance 1787
8
Northwest Indian Wars
(1785-1795)
‘Western confederacy’
Treaty of Greenville (1795)
9
Indian Land Cessions
http://college.cengage.com/history/primary_sources/us/indian_land_cessions.htm
10
Alexander McGillivray
Scottish father, Creek mother
Became officer of British army during the Revolution
Wealthy trader and influential Creek leader
Florida Historical Society
11
U.S. Constitution (1787): Congress had exclusive
right to negotiate treaties with Native Americans
Treaty of New York (1790): U.S. promised to
protect Creeks from Georgia settlers
 Shift from ‘right of conquest’ to treaties
12
‘Civilization’ policy
Agricultural tools and livestock were distributed
to Indians who settled on farms.
13
Trade and Intercourse Acts (17901802)
• Set up government trading posts
• Specified punishment for whites who
encroached on Indian land or committed
crimes
• Regulated sale of Indian land
• Authorized gifts: tools, farm animals, spinning
wheels, etc.
– > role of ‘agents’
14
Thomas Jefferson
(President, 1801-1809)
Ideal of the agrarian republic
Goal of civilizing the Indians
--Farming
--Gender roles
15
Louisiana Purchase (1803)
16