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Max Becker
U.S. Experience to 1877
The American Revolution and How it Impacted Native Americans
The Revolutionary War was an event that brought about a huge change in the
world. The colonists had won their independence from arguably the most powerful
country of that era and the idea of a democratic and free society had never been
attempted on such a large scale. However, the colonists were not the only ones
affected by the creation of this new government. Native groups across America were
drawn into this conflict. While some chose to remain neutral, many tribes chose to
align themselves with either the Colonists or the British. In some cases, most
notably with the powerful Iroquois League, alliances between tribes were dissolved.
The aftermath of the war would show that regardless of the side they took, Native
Americans were losing their lands either as a result of treaties or because of
purchases by the U.S. government.
The first concepts of a unified group of independent states coming together
and working as a uniform government that was mutually beneficial to all states
involved was inspired by the Iroquois. The Iroquois league was an alliance of six
tribes that worked together to benefit one-another. This alliance was both powerful
and well organized to the point that they astonished the founding fathers, who later
took the idea as the basis for the United States. In a letter to James Parker, Benjamin
Franklin stated: “It would be a strange thing if Six Nations of ignorant savages
should be capable of forming a scheme for such an union, and be able to execute it in
such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears indissoluble; and yet that a
like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies, to whom it is
more necessary and must be more advantageous, and who cannot be supposed to
want an equal understanding of their interests”1
At first, the Continental Congress did not want Native Americans involved in
the war at all. They believed that the fight was between them and England only and
did not want outside interference from native tribes. In a speech, the Second
Continental Congress addressed their views on Native American involvement: “We
desire you will hear and receive what we have now told you, and that you will open
a good ear and listen to what we are now going to say. This is a family quarrel
between us and Old England. You Indians are not concerned in it. We don't wish you
to take up the hatchet against the king's troops. We desire you to remain at home,
and not join on either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep."2 At first, this was
mutually agreed-upon by Native Americans and whites. The Mohawk chief Little
Abraham stated that colonists should not attempt to coax Native Americans into
joining a side because they disliked the colonists as much as they disliked the
British.3 As time passed however, both the Colonies and Great Britain would call
upon the aid of Native American Tribes. While some still would remain neutral,
others ended up taking a side in the conflict.
Four of the six Iroquois tribes, the Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, and
Senecas sided with the British in an attempt to drive back the colonists, who were
Benjamin Franklin to James Parker, 1751
The Second Continental Congress, “Speech to the Six Nations.” July 13, 1775
3 Little Abraham, “Reply of the Indians” August 31, 1775
1
2
constantly encroaching on their land. These tribes saw the British as a means to
keep this expansion at bay and hoped that they would protect native land from
settlement by whites. They believed that the British would allow them to keep their
land and continue their way of life while having peaceful interactions with white
society. Those who allied themselves with the Colonists such as the Oneidas and
Tuscaroras, believed much the same thing as tribes that aided Great Britain did.
They thought that by helping the colonists to gain independence, they would create
a peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship in which they would be able to keep
their land. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be the case. Once the war had
concluded, the colonists quickly began both buying up and forcibly acquiring land
once owned by Native Americans on both sides.
After the end of the revolution, the British gave up control of the colonies to
the United States. In doing this, they gave up land that belonged to Native American
tribes who were then forced off of that land as it was no longer considered to be
their territory. Furthermore, because tribes sided differently, unrest was created
between them and former allies were now considered enemies. The alliance that
was once held between the 6 tribes of the Iroquois league had dissolved and caused
quarrels between them.
Native Americans took sides in the American Revolution as a way to create
better relationships with certain sides. Tribes saw this as a way to peacefully coexist
and hopefully end procurement of their land. However, in doing so, they effectively
helped to bring about further prejudice and violence toward them. Tribes who were
allied with the British were forced off of their land as a result of their choice and
even those who helped the new United States would find themselves being removed
from their villages as settlers began to move deeper into western territories.
Bibliography
The Second Continental Congress, “Speech to the Six Nations.” July 13, 1775
Little Abraham, “Reply of the Indians” August 31, 1775
Benjamin Franklin to James Parker, 1751
Letter to William Johnson, 1761
Letter from John Sullivan, 1779
Calloway, Colin G. "We Have Always Been the Frontier: The American
Revolution in Shawnee Country." American Indian Quarterly 16, no. 1
(1992): 39-52.
Calloway, Colin J. The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and
Diversity in Native American Communities. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1995.
Eden, Jason, and Eden, Naomi "Views of Older Native American Adults in
Colonial New England." Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 25, no. 3
(2010): 285-298.
Fitz, Caitlin A.. ""Suspected on Both Sides": Little Abraham, Iroquois
Neutrality, and the American Revolution." Journal of the Early Republic 28,
no. 3 (2008): 299-335.
Rhodehamel, John. The American Revolution: writings from the War of
Independence.. New York: Literary Classics of the United States :, 2001.
Tyne, Claude Halstead. The American revolution, 1776-1783. New York:
Harper & Bros., 1905.