Tecumseh to Governor Harrison at Vincennes
The Shawnee Chief Tecumseh (1768-1813)
(1810)
Born about 1768, died in 1813; a Chief of the Shawnee and twin brother of
Elskwatawa, who was defeated by Harrison at Tippecanoe; joined the British in
the War of 1812; fought in several battles in Canada; commanded the right wing
of the allied Indian and British forces, who were defeated in the Battle of the
Thames by General Harrison.
IT 1 is true I am a Shawnee. My forefathers were
warriors. Their son is a warrior. From them I take only my existence; from my
tribe I take nothing. I am the maker of my own fortune; and oh! that I could
make that of my red people, and of my country, as great as the conceptions of
my mind, when I think of the Spirit that rules the universe. I would not then
come to Governor Harrison to ask him to tear the treaty and to obliterate the
landmark; but I would say to him: “Sir, you have liberty to return to
your own country.”
The being within, communing with past ages, tells me that once, nor until
lately, there was no white man on this continent; that it then all belonged to
red men, children of the same parents, placed on it by the Great Spirit that
made them, to keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its productions, and to fill it
with the same race, once a happy race, since made miserable by the white
people, who are never contented but always encroaching. The way, and the only
way, to check and to stop this evil, is for all the red men to unite in claiming
a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be yet;
for it never was divided, but belongs to all for the use of each. For no part
has aright to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers—those who
want all, and will not do with less.
The white people have no right to take the land from the Indiana, because they had it first; it is
theirs. They may sell, but all must join. Any sale not made by all is not
valid. The late sale is bad. It was made by a part only. Part do not know how
to sell. It requires all to make a bargain for all. All red men have equal
rights to the unoccupied land. The right of occupancy is as good in one place
as in another. There can not be two occupations in the same place. The first
excludes all others. It is not so in hunting or traveling; for there the same
ground will serve many, as they may follow each other all day; but the camp is
stationary, and that is occupancy. It belongs to the first who sits down on his
blanket or skins which he has thrown upon the ground; and till he leaves it no
other has a right.
Note 1. Delivered to Governor Harrison
in council at Vincennes
on August 12, 1810. Large tracts of land in Tecumseh’s absence had been
sold by the Indians on both side of the Wabash River.
from "The World's Great
Orations" ed. by William Jennings Bryan, 1906, published in full by
bartelsby.com
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