Tecumseh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tecumseh - Essay Example This made the treaties that had allowed this annexation void since it was signed by individual chiefs (Klinck 43). He was also a skillful orator and a brave warrior. These traits made the Americans and the British admire him (Klinck 36). Although Tecumseh was the leader of the confederacy during the Tecumseh war and war of 1812, the relationship between the Shawnee and the Iroquois Confederacy was a mixed one, with some Iroquois speaking people being friendly and allied to the Shawnee and the others who were enemies to them. While the other groups were enemies to the Shawnee, the Mingo and the Huron groups were their allies (Edmunds 23). The reason for this mixed relationship between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Shawnee is the following: the Iroquois Confederacy pursued a territorial expansionism policy which caused a conflict with its neighbors. Consequently, the neighboring communities, such as the Mingo and the Huron (Wyandot), cooperated with the Shawnee people due to the thr eat of territorial loss they experienced from the Iroquois Confederacy (Klinck 45). However, the relationship between the Shawnee and the Iroquois Confederacy was that of enmity since the Iroquois Confederacy embarked on invading the hunting grounds previously owned by the Shawnee, eventually evicting the Shawnee from their native lands of Ohio. The Iroquois made the Shawnee their dependents (Edmunds 40). During the American war of Independence, the Shawnee, Native American tribe, opted for joining the British in the fight against rebel colonists. The Shawnee planned to become British allies since they hoped that joining hands with the British would help them evict the colonists from their territory and draw them back across the mountains (Klinck 49). Considering that the invasion of the British and the consequent treaty signed with the Iroquois Confederacy had allowed many Colonists to settle in the native Shawnee lands, they needed some support to evict the colonists, which - they hoped - the British would grant them since the colonists had rebelled against the British colony (Edmunds 54). This saw the Shawnee ally with the British during that war. The concepts of land use advocated for by the British caused friction between the Indians and the whites. Notably, the signing of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which sought to draw a line of territory between the Whites and the Indians sparked a great conflict (Klinck 62). This treaty sought to establish a reserve for the Indians but eventually ended up causing the encroachment by the whites into the areas where the Indians had previously occupied. Additionally, the treaty signed between the British and the Iroquois Confederacy over land use angered the Shawnee who were the native occupants of these lands before they were evicted by the Iroquois Confederacy (Edmunds 22). Thus, these concepts of land ownership and land use sparked off conflicts between the Indians and the whites. Tenskwatawa was a Shawnee religiou s leader who advocated for the Indians to revert to their traditional lifestyle (Edmunds 47). There were various reasons why the teaching by Tenskwatawa became very attractive to the Native Americans. First, these teachings advocated for a return to the traditional ways of living for the Indians. He advocated for the traditional lifestyle that was not influenced by the white cultures (Klinck 50). Additionally, his teachings advocat