Tecumseh ‘Once a happy race. Since made miserable’ (1810)
1. How does Tecumseh argue against the idea that the Indians are a collection of separate tribes? In the early 1800, as Americans were expanding their territories westward many native Americans were affected by this action. Many of the tribes fought back but they were weaker than the Americans. It wasn’t until the great warrior Tecumseh and his brother ‘the Prophet’ proposed to unite all native American nations in order to defeat the Americans. The two Shawnee brothers toured across native American lands preaching and convincing others to unite and fight against the colonists. In one of these occasions, Tecumseh made a speech addressing the problem between native Americans and the colonists. In his speech, Tecumseh argues against the thought that Indians are a collection of separate tribes by conveying the idea that it is necessary for Indians to unite as a whole. Throughout his speech, Tecumseh refers to his fellow native Americans as ‘brothers’ showing unity. Tecumseh urges the need for collaboration before the Americans take everything away from them. Tecumseh describes the current situation by saying “the way, and the only way, to check and to stop this evil, is for all the red men
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Tecumseh claims that this decision has to be made by everyone as a whole because it will eventually affect everyone. Tecumseh states in his speech that “they may sell, but all must join. Any sale not made by all is not valid”. Tecumseh’s argument illustrates the mistrust he has towards Americans. During this time period, many native Americans were helping the British troops defeat the American colonists hoping that when the conflict was over, the British would give them back their lands. However, the war of 1812 was a victory for the American
In the 1992, book A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745-1815 Gregory Evans Dowd takes an academic approach to Eastern Native American history. Dowd follows the same study identity and cultural transformations by focusing on two Eastern Native ideologies known as nativist and accommodationists. Elaborating on the outlooks, he argues that the monograph does not tell “history from the Indian point of view” and does not focus on a “single Indian outlook.” Advancing his argument the author states that his monograph provides historians with the many perspectives surrounding the Native American history in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds.
When Tecumseh was growing up, he had passed all of the other male Indians standards by being the strongest, and most athletic Indian out of the Shawnee tribe. Tecumseh had helped his older brother, Chiksika, on a series of raids against frontier settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee in the late 1780s. Afterwards, Tecumseh had emerged as a prominent war chief by the 1800. Now when we look back at Tecumseh’s legacy, people tend to speculate
Native Resistance Towards U.S. Government and Settlers Tecumseh was a Shawnee leader who believed that the Native American way of life should continue to thrive and flourish. The Cherokee are a Native American tribe that was subjected to assimilation of American culture by Christian missionaries and the dwindling of their claimed land. Both tribes had land that was encroached upon by United States government and settlers, but each tribe reacted to this encroachment in different ways. Certain strategies of each tribe were effective while others caused great losses for the Native Americans. Tecumseh and the Shawnee tribe desired unity between all tribes because a united front would be stronger when battling against the U.S. for “the land which
Anh Nguyen HIST 120 online December 12, 2015 Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership by David Edmunds In this biography, David Edmunds studies the life of legendary Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his pivotal role in defending the Native American way of life. Tecumseh was born to Pucksinwah and his wife Methotaske in March, “1768”, in what is currently known as Ohio (17). Tecumseh had many siblings, Chiksika and Tecumapease were his oldest brother and sister (17). Then came Sauwaseekau who was brother to Tecumseh and another sister named Menewaulakoosee, after her Tecumseh was born, after that two more sons were born and after that a set of triplets that included Tenskwatawa, the Shawnee Prophet.
Much of what they preached amongst themselves, as well as to their “red brothers”, was not represented in their actions. Red Jacket, a Native American and member of the Seneca tribe, recognized this contrast in his new European neighbors. His speech directed to Jacob Cram at the beginning
The speech that was read by Chief Red Jacket to defend the religious beliefs of his people is a powerful piece of literature that is underrated. The speech describes the feelings that were caused by the religious intolerance from the Americans. Currently, the United States have started to appreciate the impacts of the Native Americans and other minorities in history. However, a piece of history that has been quite hidden is the religious intolerance of Native Americans. Chief Red Jacket utilizes repetition, pathos, and rhetorical questions to convince the Americans to tolerate the religion of the Native Americans.
Historians who practice historiography agree that the writings from the beginning of what is now known as the United States of America can be translated various ways. In James H. Merrell’s “The Indians’ New World,” the initial encounters and relationships between various Native American tribes and Europeans and their African American slaves are explained; based on Merrell’s argument that after the arrival of Europeans to North America in 1492, not only would the Europeans’ lives drastically change, but a new world would be created for the Native Americans’ as their communities and lifestyles slowly intertwined for better or worse. Examples of these changes include: “deadly bacteria, material riches, and [invading] alien people.” (Merrell 53)
Therefore, according to Morgan and Cody (as well as other contemporaries sharing similar viewpoints), as Americans gradually permeated Native American territories and established towns and cities, these Native American communities—supposedly made up of primitive barbarians—would fail to come to terms with American efforts to “civilize” Native Americans, thus resulting in warfare between the U.S. and these Indian tribes, and eventually leading to the total genocide of the Indian population (2). However, although warfare did erupt between the two groups—which resulted in the extermination of the majority of Native Americans—theories of total extinction of the Native Americans were inaccurate for two dominant reasons: one, a small but significant group of tribes remained after the intrusion of White settlers, and two, Indians tribes were not made up of simpleminded brutes, but intelligent peoples who were, initially, willing to negotiate with U.S. envoys before war erupted. Both of these facts disproved the claim that Native American stubbornness to adapt to American civilization would be the only cause of their demise—instead, it was the U.S.’ fault
One being forced out of the only home they ever knew, only for the gain of their oppressors is extremely harsh. In 1830, president Andrew Jackson formulated a cruel plan to do this, announcing his goals to the nation. He believed that all natives were savages, and worth less than white men. Jackson’s speech on American Indian removal possesses several flaws, as he neglects the fact that the Indians were there first, fails to empathize with the native population as he plans to forcibly remove them, and is morally incorrect in his judgement of the Native Americans.
As the Shawnees were attempting to reunite in the Ohio Valley, they found themselves displaced and had to defend their territory from western expansion. The Shawnees placed all their trust in the British, which didn’t turn out positive for them, for when the British ceded all lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, which endangered the lives of the Natives. “For the
Losing one’s cultural knowledge, and therefore the reality of their culture, allows others to have control over their collective and individual consciousness as well as their destiny. In this case, it is clear that the United States government has had the dominant relationship over the Native
Take Back Our land: Tecumseh Speech to the Osages “We must be united” was the plea from Tecumseh to the Osage tribe. In 1811, Tecumseh, known as the “Greatest Indian”, gave a speech pleading with the Osage tribe that they should unite together to fight against the white man (Tecumseh, 231). He goes on to tell how they had given the white man everything they needed to recover health when they entered their land but in return the white man had become the enemy. The speech to the Osages by Tecumseh illustrates the dangers of the white men to the Indian tribes, and why the tribes should unite together against the white man.
They are often labeled as uncivilized barbarians, which is a solely false accusation against them. This paper aims to address the similarities between Native American beliefs and the beliefs of other cultures based on The Iroquois Creation Story in order to defeat the stereotype that Natives are regularly defined by. Native Americans are commonly considered uncivilized, savage, and barbarian. Nevertheless, in reality the Natives are not characterized by any of those negative traits, but rather they inhabit positive characteristics such as being wise, polite, tolerant, civilized, harmonious with nature, etc. They have had a prodigious impact on the Puritans
Petalesharo’s writing reflected the treatment of Native Americans during the 1800s. Being a Native American himself, Petalesharo was able to give perspective on a point in history typically viewed from a white man’s opinion. The excerpt “Petalesharo” explains how the Native American was able “to prevent young women captured by other tribes from being sacrificed”, making Petalesharo well liked by the Americans (588). Petalesharo gave the “Speech of the Pawnee Chief” infront of Americans to convey the differences between Native Americans and Americans through emotion, logic, and credibility, which showed how the two groups will never be the same, but still can coexist in the world together.
Throughout the 19th century Native Americans were treated far less than respectful by the United States’ government. This was the time when the United States wanted to expand and grow rapidly as a land, and to achieve this goal, the Native Americans were “pushed” westward. It was a memorable and tricky time in the Natives’ history, and the US government made many treatments with the Native Americans, making big changes on the Indian nation. Native Americans wanted to live peacefully with the white men, but the result of treatments and agreements was not quite peaceful. This precedent of mistreatment of minorities began with Andrew Jackson’s indian removal policies to the tribes of Oklahoma (specifically the Cherokee indians) in 1829 because of the lack of respect given to the indians during the removal laws.