Revolutionary War: Relationship Between Native Americans And Indians

The French and Indian War altered the relations of the American Colonies and Britain through political, economic, and geographical issues. At the start of the French and Indian War the French owned a big majority of land but the during the war the French lost their land to the English. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave the English, the French land of North America (Doc A).

After the recent readings for Zinn’s book, I began to do some research on the Indians helping the British during the Revolutionary War. I Google “Roles of Indians during the Revolutionary War,” and I sound a very interesting site that backed up Zinn’s statement. Many of the Indians, especially the Shawnee, Creeks and the powerful Cherokee and Iroquois helped the British in the American Revolution. The British promised Indians more than their freedom, they also promised to stop settlement on their land. However, there are some Indians that fought for America as well, those tribes were most involved with people who would become Americans.

Despite numerous treaties between the US government and Indians, the demand for Native American lands grew and grew. The Native Americans were tired of losing their land and moved to bad territory. They started to rob and steal from the settlers. Volunteers formed militias to keep settlers safe. The brutality that followed is what caused one of the worst conflicts in United States history.

During the earliest years of the United States when the US Constitution was written, the Founding Fathers addressed the Native Americans living on the land the earliest in Article 1, Section 8. “Congress shall have power to regulate Commerce with foreign nations...and with the Indian tribes.” (U.S. Const. Art. I, Sect. 8.)

Not wanting to migrate west because of the Upper Creeks, the Seminole tribe fought and killed to keep their roots planted. Eventually coming to the battle of the second Seminole war. After the loss of many men, the war ended and many Native Americans were sent to reservations in the west.

Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.

During the early to mid 1800s, the colonization of “Indians” and subordination of “women’s rights in the American society,” was very essential to those in authority. They were perceived as a mere means to an end by promises of a better life in exchange for “land and work.” Although locals complied, those in offices took advantage by using antagonistic tactics in achieving wealth, power, and ownership. However, these actions lead to “The First Seminole War, The Monroe Doctrine, Andrew Jackson’s leadership, The Indian Removal Act, The California Gold Rush, The Seneca Falls Convention, and the Birth of the Republican Party.” Although some Americans have been perceived as heroes, their actions have said otherwise about their character.

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

They thought it was the only way to keep their land, especially after the British promised they could keep it. In the Proclamation of 1763, Native Americans were granted all the land west of the Appalachian mountains by the English. That being said, their involvement in the

New England’s Economy Farming- New England had very rocky and hard soil. Farmers had terrible issues with growing crops. Farmers cleared rocks and trees from the soil before planting anything, and then struggled even then because of long, cold winters with no or little sunlight for the plants! So, farmers raised cattle to produce farm goods that they traded and sold, for things that higher economies had.

The Sioux Indians were allied with many Native Americans during the civil war period. The Lakota tribes, which are apart of the total Sioux population, attacked the settlers and emigrants moving into the land forcing America to respond. America responded by sending an army to Lakota killing many women, men, and children. A series of short followed these attacks, which led the Sioux to flee west to their allies in Montana and the Dakota Territory. This action increased illegal settlement after the civil war, which led to another war shortly.

‘What worried the states men in the mother country was the likelihood that, if Virginians had occupied Kentucky, Indians would attack them, and the British might have to come and rescue at great cost to the imperial treasury” (5) The 1758 Treaty of Easton, which gave the Indians all the land west of the Appalachian, did not help their cause. Holton alludes to many other instances where the colonists wanted to expand but was consistently overlooked by the imperial government. The Indians caused the British to fear another war. Essentially, Holton makes it seem like the British were more on the side of the Indians then they were for their own colonists.

During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the

The Native Americans and white people never got along ever since the time the first pilgrims arrived. After losing many wars to the white men Native Americans soon became controlled by these white men to the point where their children were forced into boarding schools. The government stated that the schools would civilize the native children and fix what they called the indian problem. They saw Native Americans as if they weren’t also part of the human race, as if they were less. That wasn’t the worse part either in the boarding schools where the native american children attended they were mistreated and malnourished.

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.