Your Last Name 1

Your Name

Instructor Name

Course Number

Date

American Indians attempt to make negotiation with the United States government

The new United States government did not live up to its founding claims about human

equality, rights, the rule of law, and national sovereignty, especially for American Indian nations.

The American settlers inevitably came into conflict with Indian tribes that had long been living

on the westwards. Albeit the danger of Indian assaults was very thin and nowhere proportionate

to the quantity of U.S. Armed force activities coordinated against them, a periodic assault—

regularly one of counter—was sufficient to fuel the mainstream dread of the "savage" Indians.

The conflicts, when they occurred, were undoubtedly fierce, albeit the vast majority of the

fierceness happened because of the pioneers. At last, the pilgrims, with the help of neighborhood

state armies and, later, with the central government behind them, looked to take out the clans

from the grounds they wanted. The outcome was pulverizing for the Indian clans, which did not

have the weapons and gathering union to retaliate against such all-around military. The Manifest

Destiny of the pilgrims spelled the finish of the Indian lifestyle.

So the interaction of American Indians with white settlers was quite painful and

challenging during the western expansion movement. The arrival of settlers, for American

Indians, was nothing more than an end to the Indian lifestyle. It led to the virtual destruction of

Indian life and culture rather than a cultural exchange. While violent acts broke out on the two

sides, the best abominations were executed by whites, who had unrivaled weapons and

frequently predominant numbers, just with the help of the U.S. government.
 Your Last Name 2

There are few examples from the document provided to see how American Indians

negotiated with the United States government and responded.

1. Tecumseh, Letter to Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison, 1810:

Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief who represented a multi-tribe Indian confederation.

This confederation opposed treaties that transferred tribal lands to the United States

government. He tried to explain native American's view of land and tried to persuade

Governor Harrison to stop taking land from Indian tribes. After the signing of

Greenville's Treaty, he noted several grievances against the Americans, including the

false promise of peace. He believed all Indian tribes must settle their differences and

unite to retain their lands, culture, and freedom.

To form a native confederacy that could resist westward expansion by white settlers,

the Shawnee leader Tecumseh traveled throughout the United States, gathering

supporters and allies. In August 1811, to discuss the recent treaties, land purchases, and

violence throughout the Indiana territories, Tecumseh met with Governor William Henry

Harrison. In their meeting, Tecumseh talked about Indian Americans living along the

Great lakes and was not ready to leave their land at any cost. He assured that if white

continued their expansion in the region, it would result in harmful consequences.

The meeting ended without any resolution. At this point, Harrison was assured that

Tecumseh was one of those uncommon geniuses, which spring up occasionally to

produce revolutions and overturn the established order of things. Harrison petitioned the

U.S. government for more soldiers and made plans to intimidate and break up the

Confederacy, While Tecumseh continued to negotiate peace and unity between native

tribes. Although Tecumseh was a peace supporter, Harrison's spies reported that
 Your Last Name 3

Tecumseh's followers were preparing for war. While Tecumseh was away with meeting

other allies, Harrison took advantage and attached Prophetstown, the Confederacy's

headquarters. At this point, Tecumseh was confirmed that it is impossible to make peace

with white Americans. Even though Tecumseh never dismissed his objective to join the

Indian tribe, his impact was adequately not to overcome America's military and save the

Indian lifestyle.

2. President Andrew Jackson, Addressing Congress on Indian Removal, 1830:

In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson pursued a policy of Indian Removal. Thus

forcing Native Americans living in Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi to trek hundreds of miles to

territory in present-day Oklahoma. Andrew Jackson had distinguished himself as a champion of

white settlers against indigenous people before becoming President.

The Act authorized the President to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living

east of the Mississippi River. To remove all American Indians living in existing states and

territories and send them to unsettled land in the west was the Act's primary goal. In December

1830, President Jackson informed Congress on the progress of the Removal, stating,

"It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the

Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, with the removal of the Indians beyond the

white settlements, is approaching to a happy consummation."

He declared that Removal would eventually result in the strengthening of the

southwestern frontier. During his presidency, he negotiated almost 70 removal treaties. Nearly

50,000 eastern Indians were relocated to Indian territory. It opened 25 million acres of land for

white Americans to settle. Nearly all Indian tribes had been driven west by the 1840s, precisely

what the Indian Removal Act intended to accomplish.

 Your Last Name 4

3. Cherokee Chief John Ross, Letter to Congress, 1836

John Ross was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866.

Through tumultuous events such as the relocation to Indian Territory and the

American Civil War, Ross influenced the Indian nation. He was forced to assume the

painful task of shepherding the Cherokees in their removal to the Oklahoma

Territory, after devoting his life to resisting U.S. seizure of his people's lands in

Georgia.

His father was Scottish, and his mother was a Cherokee. He grew up as a native

American. In the early 19th century, he became the Cherokee leader's leader to the

white man's acquisition of their valuable land, on which they had lived for centuries.

Ross served as president of the Cherokee National Council from 1819 to 1826. Ross

became principal chief of the Cherokee Nation after five years. He used every means

short of war for the defense of Cherokee freedom and property. In doing so, he got

imprisoned, and white Americans confiscated his home. His petitions to President

Andrew Jackson went unheeded.

In May 1830, under the Indian Removal Act, the tribes were forced by military

coercion to exchange their traditional lands for unknown western prairie. In 1838-39

on the journey that came to be known as the infamous Trail of Tears, Ross had no

choice but to lead his people to their new home west of the Mississippi River.

Except for few Seminoles opposing expulsion in Florida, by the 1840s, no Indian

tribe lived in the American South from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Through a

blend of constrained deals and the negation of arrangements and legal assurance, the
 Your Last Name 5

United States Government is prevailing regarding making ready for the toward the

west development and the joining of new domains as a feature of the United States.

The impact of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s prompted the Indian

Self-Determination Act of 1975, which reestablished some sway to ancestral

governments and gave them specific freedom in taking care of administrative assets

and working bureaucratic projects. The situation with the Native American tribes as

for the states is muddled. By and large, the present Native American gatherings are

sovereign inside their domain as for ancestral individuals; however, they need

authority over non-tribal individuals.

In any case, the Supreme Court decided in 1987 that states can't direct Native

American gaming undertakings. This brought about the Indian Gaming Regulatory

Act of 1988, which oversees the Indian club.