Indian Letter to the Government

Abstract

Prior even to the Revolution, many Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory chose not to side with either the French or the British in the French and Indian War. The war was simple: land. The Indians just couldn’t wrap their heads around the constant bickering over land. The Indians view of “land” was quite different than that of the English and the French. Bickering and usage of the land was the major dispute, and because the Indians saw land as something shared, and the English settlers moving into this territory at the time of the letter (1771) saw it as property, disputes were inevitable. Constant battling between settlers and Indian tribes being on land the settlers saw as “their land” caused catastrophic consequences. This letter outlines the position of the tribes listed and their hopes for peace and friendship between the tribes and the settlers.