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Black Hawk's Surrender Speech Of 1832

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Black Hawk’s Surrender Speech of 1832 was a very important document in that time period. This document explains the process of Black Hawk’s surrender to the White people which ended a long war. The Surrender Speech reveals that times were hard for the Indians. Nothing ever came easy for Chief Black Hawk and his people. He describes how unfairly they were treated by the White people. At the time that he prepared this speech, a major war was going on, and yet he was leader of all of the Indians fighting in the war. Black Hawk has always been described as a very selfless man. But, if he was such an amazing Chief, then why would he surrender? Throughout the speech, Chief Black Hawk informs that even though he did surrender, it was a war well fought by incorporating ethos, bold contrast and imagery.
Historical Background and Purpose The Black Hawk war lasted from April to August in 1832 and was between the United States and Native Americans (“Black Hawk War”). The Treaty of St Louis of 1804 was a treaty that described how Black Hawk and his people moved across the Mississippi River to reclaim land that was lost in 1804 (“Black Hawk War”). Black Hawk and his people were not okay with this. So then his people made a merged together and went in to reclaim the land that was once theirs. At the time, white settlers were living there and it began to startle …show more content…

He believed that the land that the Whites settled on, was once the the Indians. So Black Hawk and his people stood up against the Whites, to gain the land back that belonged to them. Black Hawk made it very clear in this speech that he was not going to let the Whites walk over his people, and him not do anything about it.The audience has learned that Black Hawk was not the type of Chief to give up easily, and was not going to go down without a fight no matter the cost. He cared for his people, even as if it may not have seemed like

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