The way, the only way to stop this evil is for the red man to unite
in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was first,
and should be now, for it was never divided."
We gave them forest-clad mountains and valleys full of game, and
in return what did they give our warriors and our women? Rum, trinkets,
and a grave.
Brothers -- My people wish for peace; the red men all wish for
peace; but where the white people are, there is no peace for them,
except it be on the bosom of our mother.
Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican,
the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people?
They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the
White Man, as snow before a summer sun.
Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle,
give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit,
the graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to
us? I know you will cry with me, 'Never! Never!
Tecumseh - Shawnee
Brother, I wish you to give me close attention, because I think
you do not clearly understand. I want to speak to you about promises
that the Americans have made.
You recall the time when the Jesus Indians of the Delawares lived
near the Americans, and had confidence in their promises of friendship,
and thought they were secure, yet the Americans murdered all the
men, women, and children, even as they prayed to Jesus?
The same promises were given to the Shawnee one time. It was at
Fort Finney, where some of my people were forced to make a treaty.
Flags were given to my people, and they were told they were now
the children of the Americans. We were told, if any white people
mean to harm you, hold up these flags and you will then be safe
from all danger. We did this in good faith. But what happened? Our
beloved chief Moluntha stood with the American flag in front of
him and that very peace treaty in his hand, but his head was chopped
by a American officer, and that American officer was never punished.
Brother, after such bitter events, can you blame me for placing
little confidence in the promises of Americans? That happened before
the Treaty of Greenville. When they buried the tomahawk at Greenville,
the Americans said they were our new fathers, not the British anymore,
and would treat us well. Since that treaty, here is how the Americans
have treated us well: They have killed many Shawnee, many Winnebagoes,
many Miamis, many Delawares, and have taken land from them. When
they killed them, no American ever was punished, not one.
It is you, the Americans, by such bad deeds, who push the red men
to do mischief. You do not want unity among the tribes, and you
destroy it. You try to make differences between them. We, their
leaders, wish them to unite and consider their land the common property
of all, but you try to keep them from this. You separate the tribes
and deal with them that way, one by one, and advise them not to
come into this union. Your states have set an example of forming
a union among all the Fires, why should you censure the Indians
for following that example?
But, brother, I mean to bring all the tribes together, in spite
of you, and until I have finished, I will not go to visit your president.
Maybe I will when I have finished, maybe. The reason I tell you
this, you want, by making your distinctions of Indian tribes and
allotting to each a particular tract of land, to set them against
each other, and thus to weaken us.
You never see an Indian come, do you, and endeavor to make the
white people divide up?
You are always driving the red people this way! At last you will
drive them into the Great Lake, where they can neither stand nor
walk.
Brother, you ought to know what you are doing to the Indians. Is
it by the direction of the president you make these distinctions?
It is a very bad thing, and we do not like it. Since my residence
at Tippecanoe, we have tried to level all distinctions, to destroy
village chiefs, by whom all such mischief is done. It is they who
sell our lands to the Americans. Brother, these lands that were
sold and the goods that were given for them were done by only a
few. The Treaty of Fort Wayne was made through the threats of Winnemac,
but in the future we are going to punish those chiefs who propose
to sell the land.
The only way to stop this evil is for all the red men to unite
in claiming an equal right in the land. That is how it was at first,
and should be still, for the land never was divided, but was for
the use of everyone. Any tribe could go to an empty land and make
a home there. And if they left, another tribe could come there and
make a home. No groups among us have a right to sell, even to one
another, and surely not to outsiders who want all, and will not
do with less.
Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds, and the Great
Sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Good Spirit make them
all for the use of his children?
Brother, I was glad to hear what you told us. you said that if
we could prove that the land was sold by people who had no right
to sell it, you would restore it. I will prove that those who did
sell did not own it. Did they have a deed? A title? No! You say
those prove someone owns land. Those chiefs only spoke a claim,
and so you pretended to believe their claim, only because you wanted
the land. But the many tribes with me will not agree with those
claims. They have never had a title to sell, and we agree this proves
you could not buy it from them. If the land is not given back to
us, you will see, when we return to our homes from here, how it
will be settled. It will be like this:
We shall have a great council, at which all tribes will be present.
We shall show to those who sold that they had no rights to the claim
they set up, and we shall see what will be done to those chiefs
who did sell the land to you. I am not alone in this determination,
it is the determination of all the warriors and red people who listen
to me. Brother, I now wish you to listen to me. If you do not wipe
out that treaty, it will seem that you wish me to kill all the chiefs
who sold the land! I tell you so because I am authorized by all
tribes to do so! I am the head of them all! All my warriors will
meet together with me in two or three moons from now. Then I will
call for those chiefs who sold you this land, and we shall know
what to do with them. If you do not restore the land, you will have
had a hand in killing them!
I am Shawnee! I am a warrior! My forefathers were warriors. From
them I took only my birth into this world. From my tribe I take
nothing. I am the maker of my own destiny! And of that I might make
the destiny of my red people, of our nation, as great as I conceive
to in my mind, when I think of Weshemoneto, who rules this universe!
I would not then have to come to Governor Harrison and ask him to
tear up this treaty and wipe away the marks upon the land. No! I
would say to him, 'Sir, you may return to you own country!' The
being within me hears the voice of the ages, which tells me that
once, always, and until lately, there were no white men on all this
island, that it then belonged to the red men, children of the same
parents, placed on it by the Great Good Spirit who made them, to
keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its yield, and to people it with
the same race. Once they were a happy race! Now they are made miserable
by the white people, who are never contented but are always coming
in! You do this always, after promising not to anyone, yet you ask
us to have confidence in your promises. How can we have confidence
in the white people? When Jesus Christ came upon the earth, you
killed him, the son of your own God, you nailed him up! You thought
he was dead, but you were mistaken. And only after you thought you
killed him did you worship him, and start killing those who would
not worship him. What kind of a people is this for us to trust?
Now, Brother, everything I have said to you is the truth, as Weshemoneto
has inspired me to speak only truth to you. I have declared myself
freely to you about my intentions. And I want to know your intentions.
I want to know what you are going to do about the taking of our
land. I want to hear you say that you understand now, and will wipe
out that pretended treaty, so that the tribes can be at peace with
each other, as you pretend you want them to be. Tell me, brother.
I want to know now.
Tecumseh - Shawnee
Native American Legends A-B