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¶ … East From Indian Country
This summarizes Chapter 6 of "Facing East from Indian Country," by Daniel Richter. This chapter talks about the race for Indian lands after the Revolutionary period was over, and how there were really two wars for independence, one by the Native Americans trying to hold on to their land, and one by the white colonists seeking more land and opportunities. Richter believes the continual takeover of Native lands was a form of ethnic cleansing, and refers to that often throughout the chapter, comparing it to other areas where ethnic cleansing took place, such as Rwanda, and these dual wars began in 1763.
He details two examples of these revolutionary wars, one waged by the Delaware Indian Pontiac against Fort Pitt and other locations, and the other by the "Paxton Boys" of Pennsylvania who fought the Indians near Lancaster and Philadelphia. He describes the hatred each group felt for the other, and how they justified their campaigns. He also discusses the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and how it attempted to manage Indian lands west of the Appalachians. The proclamation was an attempt to allow the colonists and Natives to co-exist peacefully, but there was too much animosity on both sides for that to ever occur. The author also discusses Thomas Gage, the new commander in America who seemed to approve of killing Indians, or at least not prosecuting those who did kill Indians (Richter 213).
The author also notes that there were several references to Native Americans in many of the country's revolutionary documents, such as declarations from Congress that worried about inciting Indians to violence, and Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," which asserted the Natives wanted to destroy the colonists. The chapter concludes with several battles and skirmishes after the Revolutionary War, and the new, anti-Indian policies of the new leaders in Washington, especially President Andrew Jackson, who was particularly anti-Indian.
References
Richter, Daniel K. Facing East from Indian Country. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
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