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Lecture 41: The Indian in the Early Republic (North)
Introduction
American leaders debated about the nature of the government which was to rule their newly
independent republic, but there was little argument about the urgent necessity of establishing a workable
policy to govern the country's relations with the Indians. In designing that policy, the Americans returned to
precedents set by European colonial powers, particularly the British. In the years immediately following the
Peace of Paris, the United States negotiated a series of treaties on the assumption that Indian title to the
lands of the Northwest had been extinguished by conquest. Soon, however, it became apparent that such
“conquest” treaties would create a state of perpetual war with the comparatively numerous and powerful
Indian nations. By 1789 the government had reaffirmed the earlier British policy of recognizing the Indians'
rights of possession and providing compensation for ceded lands. Acquiring title to Indian lands was a
major concern of policy-makers, for the wave of settlement had already moved far beyond the perimeters of
the colonies. At the same time, trade remained the major source of Indian-white contact and the new
government needed to find ways to regulate that commerce. Officials also hoped to prevent trespass on
Indian lands and violations of Indian rights. And, in addition to these immediate goals, there was the
ultimate goal of "civilizing" the Indians that is, acculturating them into non-Indian society. In the decades
following the Peace of Paris, the new government made a series of proclamations, laws, policies, and
treaties designed to accomplish these various ends.
Unfortunately, however, the weak federal government had little authority to enforce its policies. It
faced challenges from foreign Powers, advocates of states' rights, land-hungry settlers, unscrupulous traders,
and Indian leaders outraged by abuses and violations. Rights guaranteed by treaty were worth little if the
government lacked the force to protect those rights, and the most idealistic programs were useless if they
could not be implemented. Among the Indians of the Old Northwest, resistance grew. In addition to the
illegal incursions of white settlers, there were the treaties themselves. The government had obtained the signatures of Indian representatives by force, bribery, intimidation, and intoxication, ignoring the fact that the
representatives chosen by American negotiators rarely had the authority to sign agreements binding on an
entire tribe. In the Northeast, the members of the broken Iroquois League remained at peace, placated by
compensation for their lands and by other government programs. To the west, however, tribes united to
oppose American forces. They were led by the prophet Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh, who
envisioned a broad pan-tribal alliance, joined in carefully organized resistance to the whites. In 1811,
however, before Tecumseh's pan-Indian union could be realized, conflict began, and the following year the
Indians joined the British in the War of 1812. At the end of that war, the defeated Indians of the Old
Northwest were forced to accept land-cession treaties and move to new lands further west, temporarily
beyond the advancing frontier.
Lecture 18:
I.
The Indian in the Early Republic (North)
Precedents Established in the Revolutionary Period
A.
For a variety of reasons, many northern Indians had sided with the British in the
Revolutionary War.
1.
The Indians tended to blame American colonists rather than European governments
for the loss of their lands and infringements of their rights.
2.
The British, with an abundant supply of trade goods, had actively wooed Indian allies,
while the American government had tried primarily to preserve Indian neutrality.
3.
Atrocities and violations of promises led some tribes once allied with the colonies,
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such as the Delaware (Lenni Lenape), to transfer their loyalties to the British.
B.
II.
III.
The American government, under the Articles of Confederation, had recognized the need to
deal with the Indians promptly. In 1778 it signed its first Indian treaty with the Delaware
(Lenni Lenape). That treaty, later repudiated by the Delaware, gave the United States the
right of access through Indian lands and the promise of Indian supplies and troops for the war
against Britain.
The Peace of Paris
A.
In 1783, by the Peace of Paris, Britain ceded all of its American territory east of the
Mississippi to the newly independent United States, with the exception of Florida, which
reverted to Spain.
B.
The treaty gave no recognition to Indian claims for this land.
1.
The United States maintained that Indian land claims, like those of the British, had
been extinguished by conquest.
2.
British negotiators did not represent the interests of their former Indian allies in this
treaty, but the British government did invite the pro-British Iroquois to settle in
Canada. Many Iroquois, including the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, accepted this
offer and moved to Ontario.
The Indian in the New Republic
A.
The Continental Congress affirmed its exclusive right, as the agent of the United States, to
deal with the Indians. The weak federal government, however, faced several obstacles in
asserting this authority.
1.
British interests still remained in American territory. The British delayed the
surrender of their forts as long as possible, meanwhile encouraging the Indians of the
Ohio area to resist the Americans.
2.
The extent of the states' rights in conducting Indian affairs had not been resolved, and
representatives of the states challenged not only the provisions of individual Indian
treaties, but also the right of the central government to negotiate them.
B.
The federal government's first priority in handling Indian affairs was the question of Indian
lands.
1.
Within three weeks of the signing of the Peace of Paris, the Continental Congress
issued a proclamation forbidding trespass on Indian lands. That proclamation,
however, did little to prevent violations.
a.
Because no boundaries had been formally established for Indian lands, the
proclamation would have been virtually impossible to enforce under the best
of circumstances.
b.
A flood of settlers and land speculators had already entered Indian lands, and
the weak government did not have the power to evict them.
2.
In the years following the Peace of Paris, the United States negotiated land-cession
treaties with a number of tribes.
a.
The initial treaties were based on the presumption that Indian land claims had
been extinguished by conquest; therefore no compensation was offered for the
ceded lands.
(1)
In 1784 the Treaty of Fort Stanwix confined the Iroquois to a reserve
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in Western New York.
In 1785 the Treaty of Fort McIntosh restricted the Delaware, Wyandot,
Chippewa, and Ottowa to reserves.
(3)
In 1786 the Treaty of Fort Finney confined the Shawnee to a reserve.
b.
The government eventually recognized that if conquest was the only means of
obtaining legitimate Indian land cessions, the country would be involved in
protracted wars it could not afford. Therefore United States representatives
began to negotiate treaties which offered payments for Indian land.
(1)
The first of these was the Treaty of Fort Harmar in January 1789
which granted a small compensation for the land ceded in the treaties
of Fort Stanwix and Fort McIntosh (Prucha, p. 40).
(2)
The recognition of Indian rights of possession and the consequent
necessity of making payment for land cessions was articulated by
Secretary of War John Knox later in 1789 and subsequently affirmed
by Congress and the Supreme Court.
A second concern of United States Indian policy was establishing a means to regulate trade
with the Indians, the largest source of Indian-white contact.
1.
Under the provisions of the Constitution, the federal government was empowered to
conduct trade with Indian nations.
2.
Following the colonial pattern, a series of laws passed in the 1790s regulated
American commerce with Indians by allowing only licensed traders to conduct the
trade.
3.
Eventually the government established a “factory system," through which licensed
trading houses were to carry out the Indian trade.
a.
This system was designed to eliminate British and Spanish competition for
trade.
A third concern of United States Indian policy was "civilizing" the Indians, or easing their
transition to a European way of life.
1.
Under Secretary of War John Knox, who was given responsibility for Indian affairs in
1786, agents were appointed to administer economic assistance and to teach the
Indians to adjust to white practices such as agriculture and the ownership of private
property.
2.
Military garrisons on the frontier were intended to provide protection for the Indians
while they were learning the ways of "civilization.” In practice, however, these
military forces were more often used to punish Indians than to control non-Indians
who trespassed on Indian lands or violated Indian rights.
(2)
C.
D.
IV.
The Battle for the Northwest
A.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 outlined American policy for the orderly and peaceful
settlement of the Ohio country.
1.
Indian land was to be acquired through treaty or purchase; much of that land had
ostensibly been ceded in earlier treaties.
2.
When the government had obtained title, the land was to be divided in tracts of one
square mile and sold to prospective settlers.
B.
The Indians of the Northwest, however, refused to accept the treaties which deprived them of
their lands.
1.
They argued that the land-cession agreements had been signed by representatives who
did not have the authority to make binding agreements on behalf of the tribes.
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2.
3.
C.
V.
In addition, the negotiators had used intimidation, bribery, and liquor to obtain Indian
signatures.
The original land-cession treaties had been based on the presumption that the tribes
were conquered nations; the Indians, however, rejected treaties based on that
assumption.
The Wyandot, Miami, Shawnee, Chippewa, Delaware, and Potowotami united to resist
settlers and military expeditions in the Ohio country.
1.
From 1790 to 1794, the Indians, led by Little Turtle, successfully resisted United
States troops.
a.
Allied Indian forces routed the troops led by Josiah Harmer in 1790.
b.
In 1791 Little Turtle's outnumbered forces destroyed the troops led by General
Arthur St. Clair, governor of Ohio Territory. It was the worst defeat yet
suffered by United States troops at the hands of Indians.
c.
These military victories enabled the Indians to enforce the Ohio River as the
boundary between their land and that claimed by the non-Indians.
2.
In 1794, however, the tide of battle turned.
a.
Led by General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, three thousand United States soldiers
defeated a large Indian force led by Blue Jacket (Little Turtle's successor) at
Fallen Timbers, Ohio, in 1794.
b.
In the months following the battle, Wayne's forces destroyed every Indian
village they found.
3.
In Spring 1795 the victorious Wayne held a treaty council at Greenville.
a.
Under the terms dictated by Wayne, twelve tribes were forced to cede
southeastern Indiana and all of Ohio.
b.
The defeated Indians withdrew to Indiana, and the lands acquired through the
treaty were organized as the territory of Indiana.
4.
William Henry Harrison, governor of the new territory, was the moving force behind
some fifteen treaties subsequently negotiated with tribes in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio,
Wisconsin, and Michigan.
5.
While some Indian leaders signed land-cession treaties, others, including the Shawnee
leader Tecumseh, refused to recognize existing treaties or negotiate new land
cessions.
Tecumseh and the War of 1812
A.
Recognizing the threat posed by piecemeal dispossession, Tecumseh hoped to unite all
Indians in a confederacy which would offer organized resistance to non-Indian incursion.
1.
Tecumseh, a renowned orator and warrior, and his brother Tenskwatawa, a prophetic
leader, established a center at Greenville and began to recruit followers.
2.
In 1808 the Prophet's Town was moved to Tippecanoe Creek in Indiana.
3.
Tecumseh and his brother traveled through Ohio and the South to encourage other
Indians to join them.
B.
Although Tecumseh had encouraged his followers to maintain peace until the tribes were
united, a battle occurred in 1811.
1.
While Tecumseh was absent, General Harrison attacked Prophet's Town. The Indians
panicked, fought Harrison's forces, and then withdrew. The soldiers burned the town.
2.
This battle precipitated a general Indian war against the settlers of the Northwest
before Tecumseh had had time to organize and prepare his pan-Indian union.
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3.
The battle also led to a split between Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, who had
reluctantly given the Indians permission to attack Harrison's soldiers.
C.
When the United States declared war on Britain in June 1812, Tecumseh led thousands of
Indians to join the British forces.
1.
Initially the British-Indian armies were victorious.
2.
Eventually, however, they were defeated, and Tecumseh was killed in 1814.
D.
After Tecumseh's death, Indian resistance in the Ohio Territory collapsed and the pan-tribal
union dissolved. The defeated Indians were then forced to sign a series of land-cession
treaties.
Bibliography
Debo, Angie. A History of the Indians of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
Hagan, William T. American Indians. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1961.
Josephy, Alvin H., Jr. The Indian Heritage of America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968.
____________
The Patriot Chiefs. New York: Viking Press, 1969.
Prucha,
Francis Paul. American Indian Policy in the Formative Years: The Indian Trade and Intercourse
Acts, 1790-1834. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1962.
Spicer,
Edward H. A Short History of the Indians of the United States. New York: D. Van Nostrand Co.,
1969.
Van Every, Dale. Disinherited:The Lost Birthright of the American Indian. New York: William Morrow
and Co., 1966.
Washburn, Wilcomb B. The Indian in America. New York: Harper & Row, Colophon Books, 1975.