Tecumseh and Tribal Unity

Term Paper # 100317

History > U.S. The Young Nation 1800-1848
Native-American Studies

A look at Indian leader Tecumseh and what tribal unity under his leadership would have meant for American expansionism.

975 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the Indian leader, Tecumseh, and his goal of uniting the Indian tribes into a powerful Indian nation capable of ending American expansion westwards. The paper discusses how the focus of American policy makers, on Canada and Royal Navy seizure of American sailors on the high seas on the eve of the War of 1812, prevented most of them from realizing that the Indian tribes on the frontier were the greatest threat to future American expansion.

From the Paper:

"Ultimately, the potential path of the United States in regard to this Indian Nation may have been similar to how we dealt with Spanish Florida, or it may have resembled our approach to dealing with British Canada, or it may have been patterned after our policies in the Mexican Southwest. Spanish Florida had been incorporated into the United States through treaty and purchase, British Canada had not been acquired at all, and the Mexican Southwest had been taken by winning the Mexican War and demanding territorial concessions."
"In dealing with Tecumseh's tribal nation, the United States would have had the option in coming decades of expanding through brute military force as it had against Mexico, of seeking new territorial acquisitions through treaty negotiations and purchase agreements with Tecumseh as had been the case with Spanish Florida, or of conceding that expansion would be stopped, as had been the case with British Canada. Which option would have ultimately been pursued would have depended primarily upon Tecumseh's ability to keep the tribes united under his leadership."

Sample of Sources Used:

Sugden, John. Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Owl Books, 1999.
"Tecumseh." OHS. Ohio Historical Society. Online. Available: http://www.ohio historycentral.org/entry.php?rec=373. 12 November 2006.
Yenne, Bill. Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West. New York: Westholme Publishing, 2005.