Chief White Oak – Kickapoo Indians
Intro:
- history of white expansion; constitutional view of Indian lands
o had been prohibited from moving west of Appalachians by Brits
o U.S. gained right to negotiated treaties for land, not title to the land
itself
o Secretary of War Henry Knox: “ The Indians being the prior occupants,
possess the right of soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their
free consent, or by right of conquest in case of a just war. To
disposses them of any other principle would be a gross violation of
the fundamental laws of nature, and of that distributive justice which
is the glory of a nation.”
o Supreme Court: Indian tribes are “distinct, independent, political
communities” that the U.S. must respect.
- difficulties encountered including alcoholism, loss of hunting grounds in
Ohio, death of young warriors
- treaties of Fort Wayne – bribery and alcoholic chiefs (annuity in return for
lands)
Middle:
- Shawnee view that lands are held in joint (Chief Blue Jacket & Chief Mohawk)
- Tenskwatawa as religious leader, Great Spirit (Master of Life) desires unity –
I fear his religious zealotry and demagogic appeal; in fact, I have heard of his
followers slaying those who disagree with him.
- new Shawnee leader Tecumseh’s vision
- chiefs selling lands piece meal; these lands are Indiana not Illinois but I’m
confinced that Illinois is next.
- I signed the Treaty of Greenville but I do not know if I was right.
Conclusion
- confrontation b/w Governor Harrison and Tecumseh
- fear that I must make decision soon
- Tecumseh is moving south to recruit our brothers & WAR IS INEVITABLE
- At stake: whether we will live free a long side the United States or destroyed
by her.
Options:
1. Ignore the Treaty of Greenville and join Tecumseh’s alliance and fight against
white expansion.
2. Reject Tecumseh and make peace with the Americans in the hopes of
retaining our lands and being treated well.
3. Tactfully ignore Tecumseh to see who else he gets on his side, abide by the
Treaty of Greenville, but try to resist on our own if the treaty is ignored.
4. Acknowledge we cannot win against the Americans, abandon our ancestral
lands, and move west to confront an uncertain future.
Governor William Henry Harrison
Intro:
- To GW: Tecumseh was “one of those uncommon geniuses, which spring up
occasionally to produce revolutions and overturn the established order of
things. If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would perhaps
be the founder of an Empire that would rival in glory to that of Mexico or
Peru.”
Middle:
- British are behind this trouble
- Harrison: “I really fear that this said Prophet is an engine set to work by the
British for some bad purpose.”
- Tecumseh has no right to contest the sell of lands in Indiana or elsewhere b/c
Shawnee land had originally been in Georgia
- U.S. had always been fair in its dealings with the Indians
- Harrison on Indiana territory: “Is one of the fairest portions of the globe to
remain in a state of nature, the haunt of a few wretched savages, when it
seems distined, by the Creator, to give support to a large population, and to
be the sea of civiliation, of science, and true relgion.”
Conclusion:
- confrontation with Tecumseh
- fear that Tecumseh’s oratory will mask his true intentions
Tecumseh
Intro:
-
history of migration among my people
history of my people being forced from their lands
ancestors believed in common holding of all lands
fought with Brits in American Revolution to hold on to those lands
Body
- I know the white ways for I have studied the Bible, Shakespeare, and the
history of these people.
- Kentucky has been lost.
- now Ohio has been ceded through the illegal Treaty of Greenville; 12 tribal
chiefs have acted cowardly all for worthless goods and the promise of future
payments
- the Treaty of Greenville marks a line between whites and Indians that will
not hold; white appetite for more land can not be quenched
- their tactics are ruthless – the hook our young men on alcohol, creating a
dependency that permits manipulation
- Great Spirit – Tenskwatawa – anti-white code urging Indians to return to the
ways of their fathers and to end intertribal wars
Conclusions
- I alone see what is happening before me; therefore I bear the burden of
leadership.
- I have gone south, gone to the Iroquois, gone west because I know our best
hope is in putting up a united front against the whites.
- White man must respect us as we respect them; must treat us as we treat
them.
- We need only look at the Iroquois and their negotiating power to see the
results of our unification.
- “You endeavor to make distinctions. You endeavor to prevent the Indians
from doing what we, their leaders, wish them to do – unite and consider their
land common property. I am Shawnee. My forefathes were warriors. Their
son is a warrior. From them I take only my existence. From my tribe I take
nothing. I have made myself what I am. And I would that I could make the
red people as great as the conceptions of my mind, when I think of the Great
Spirit that rules over all. I would not then come to Governor Harrison to ask
him to tear the treaty. But I would say to him, Brother, you have the liberty
to return to your own country.”
- “The way, the only way to stop this evil is for all the red men to unite in
claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should
be now – for it never was divided, but belongs to all. No tribe has the right to
sell, even to each other, much less to strangers, who demand all, and will take
no less… Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds and the great sea, as
well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his
children?”
White Kentuckian
Intro:
- I am here to raise my family.
- Treaties mean little to me b/c every day is a day to survive.
Body:
- encountered the brutality of Indians on the frontier
- innocent women and children murdered
- drunkards who will sell their children to purchase our alcohol but then slit
our throats when we turn to leave.
- Purchase land from company who received it rightfully from local Indian
chief
Conclusion
- sovereignty of land gained from British includes possession of the soil
- my state sees fit to encourage me to move north
Chief Little Turtle – Pacifist
Chief Blue Jacket (Tecumseh split with him after Treaty of Greenville)