Tecumseh Influence On Native Americans

The Lakota, an Indian group of the Great Plains, established their community in the Black Hills in the late eighteenth century (9). This group is an example of an Indian community that got severely oppressed through imperialistic American actions and policy, as the Americans failed to recognize the Lakota’s sovereignty and ownership of the Black Hills. Jeffrey Ostler, author of The Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground, shows that the Lakota exemplified the trends and subsequent challenges that Indians faced in America. These challenges included the plurality of groups, a shared colonial experience, dynamic change, external structural forces, and historical agency.

At a time when the Indians were being driven from their home lands and food sources were scarce a Shawnee Indian named Tecumseh emerged as a leader and later became a War Chief. The Americans were encroaching on the Indians lands and disregarding the treaties that were in place. In addition, some tribes were selling off their land to the Americans. This book discusses his life and his journey to get all of the Indians to join forces to become an Indian Confederacy. It addition, his brother Tenskwatawa life. He wasn’t the bravest or a good hunter, he was an alcoholic, who later started having visions and changed his life. He became known as The Prophet and medicine man. Many Indians from different tribes agreed with their movement and

The Native American’s under the leadership of a man by the name of Tecumseh, began being supplied and, before hostilities were officially declared 1812, had been obstructing American settlers and expansion of those settlements in the western frontier for years. Canadian British Loyalist conducting fur-trading operations in the area facilitated these

Tecumseh believed that all the Native tribes ought to unite as it would give them a better chance of fighting against the invaders. At this time, the Euro-Americans had settled in different parts of the country and they were slowly encroaching into Native territories, hence they posed a threat to their way of life and the peace that existed. Tecumseh had influential reach over the native tribes owing to his position, and he believed that it was important for the native tribes to fight for what was theirs. He urged native tribes across the country to be aware of the negative influence that came with the Westerners and he also pointed out that they used violence to take control over land whenever they needed to. In his appeal, he encouraged

Native Americans were discriminated against and forced out of their own lands because the Americans felt inferior towards them. In 1812 the British found themselves at war with the Americans and this was the Native peoples chance to once and for all defeat their white superiors. Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief but he was addressing Choctaws and Chickasaws because he is calling for Native American unity throughout the entire United States. He announces his alliance with the British who are fighting against the Americans in 1812. He urges other Native American tribes to do the same because they have a common enemy. Also, it will be harder to fight the Americans if they are a unified force instead of individual tribes all fighting the common enemy

Indigenous leaders such as Tecumseh, were being supplied and encouraged by the British. Americans on the western frontier were outraged by this and demanded that interference be stopped. It wasn’t. A powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to hold up National honor.

The settlers mistreated the kindness of the natives, their greed caused them to continuously push for more, including land mass. The colonists did not understand the connection the natives had with the land and environment, natives ‘’lived with nature’’, they seemed to understand their surroundings and the environment itself. They did not want to change it, they would remain in a certain area and then move, so that nature could rebuild itself and become new. They believed that people could live anywhere they want to, but no land was owned by specific people, the area which they occupied was meant to live in piece upon it. This is proven to be all opposite to the intentions of the settlers, for the Indians, the concept of owning landing was foreign, they could not comprehend that the colonists would begin to take up the land mass and fill it with more settlers, and that they were forever going to occupy and keep it.

There has always been a big debate on whether the Cherokee Indians should have or should not have been removed from the land they resided on. Although the common consensus of the whites was for removal, and for the Cherokees it was against removal, there were some individuals on each side that disagreed with their groups’ decision. The Cherokee Indians should have been removed from their homeland because the Cherokees would not have been able to survive on their own with the way they were living, they would not have been able to exist amidst a white population, and if they were removed, the whites would have helped them create a new and prosperous civilization.

Tecumseh’s biggest concerns were that his people would not live according to the Prophet which was casting off all elements of the Euro-American society. He believed that his people would turn to alcohol, firearms, and trade goods set out by English ways, which was what the Prophet said, would be detrimental to their ways. No matter what, Tecumseh was going to make sure the Indian way of life would continue forever. He led a revolution of young men who thought the leadership structure needed to be looked over again in order to survive. They fought to make sure The Indians East of the Mississippi to keep control over their home land. Tecumseh tried to visit neighboring tribes to form an alliance to protect the lands held by the Natives. He was successful in the way the Southern tribes would accept the alliance, but unsuccessful with others when some refused to join the reliance, such as the Iroquois tribe.

The Shawnee chief Tecumseh a well-known Indian, became famous for his attempt to merge the Native American tribes against the Americans. In 1809 he began his voyage in order to profess his requests. A few years later Tecumseh arrived in the Osage Nation around the region of Oklahoma and tried to influence the Osage Nation with his political agenda. Tecumseh had wanted the Osage Nation to join the pan-Indian confederacy. Jointly with other unique tribes and the military aid of the British troops. Tecumseh the Shawnee chief called upon the Osages to start or commence war against the Americans. The speech Tecumseh presents gives evidence of his political standing.

On a more humane note, President Jefferson hoped that if the nations' hunters returned with fewer animals, it would persuade the First Nations to sell their land and move westward. Maliciously, he sped up this process of migration by encouraging Natives to run up debts with traders. To pay off debts owed, the natives would have been forced to sell their precious land. Many First Nation's people fought mercilessly against the invasion of white men. The American's then sent many punitive expeditions to take the land by force. In 1811, friction arose between America and the northwest First Nations. This caused the Battle of Tippecanoe, in which two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa led a native movement to resist the invasions of William Henry Harrison, the Governor of the Indiana

considered to be ignorant and hostiles by the “White” settlers, forced to live on reservations, lost

In the early 1600’s, when the European settlers arrived in Jamestown, there were already around 15,000-25,000 Indians living around the area. The leader of the most prominent tribe in the area, Powhatan, stayed in a neutral relationship with the English in the area for the first couple of years after Jamestown following the start of the colony. During the time the Indians

Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, was not a happy Native. He blamed the greed and oppression of the Europeans for the destruction of the Native American cultures. The Europeans greed led them to strip the land from the Natives, and try in forcing their religion upon the Natives. Tecumseh believed that the land was for all. There was nothing about selling, taking, and giving the land away. The Europeans just did not have that mindset at all. Red Jacket was a Seneca leader. He was very discouraged of the fact that they took the land of the Natives, but even more because they wanted to force their religion upon the Native Americans. The Europeans were ruthless when it came to this. They did not think about their feelings and the actions that could hurt the Natives. (Doc 4, 5, 6)

Tecumseh begins his speech by referring to the term “Brothers” to address the Osages as a form of repetition throughout the whole oration. He appeals to his audience by making it known that he sees them as equals who “belong to one family [and] are all children of the Great Spirit”. The term brothers implies that they are all a part of one cohesive unit. Using this term expresses a sense of togetherness and unity that Tecumseh invokes in order to first establish a connection between the audience and himself. By doing so, he is able to better reach the thoughts and emotions of the audience and convince them of his idea as well. The more trust that the audience gains in Tecumseh, the more likely they are to follow along with his plan to halt the encroachment of white settlers.