Tecumseh and the Indian Unity
While Americans ere feeling bitter about the British, the loudest calls of war came not from the eastern merchants, but from westerners. They claimed the British were encouraging Indian resistance to frontier settlements. One Shawnee chief who vowed to stop the loss of Indian lands was Tecumseh. To understand white people more, Tecumseh had learned English. He read the Bible, Shakespeare, and history books. From his reading, he concluded that Indians had to do what white people had done. Indians had to unite. In 1809, William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, persuaded some Indians to sign a treaty selling land in the heart of the Indiana Territory. The Indians sold about 3 million acres. Tecumseh declared the treaty meaningless. He said, "The white people have no right to take land from the Indians, because the Indians had it first. It is theirs. The Indians may sell, but they must join together. Any sale not made by all is not valid." Tecumseh's efforts to halt white settlement failed. The Shawnee and forces under Harrison fought on November 7, 1811. This battle was known as the battle of Tippecanoe. The Shawnee were defeated. After the Battle of Tippecanoe, Tecumseh and his warriors found a warm welcome in canada. At that point, the British and the Indians became allies. Tecumseh's welcome in Canada raised even further Anti-British feelings in the West. The westerners who called for war were called War Hawks. Not only did the War Hawks want to British aid to Indians to stop, but they wanted the british out of Canada altogether. Urged by the War Hawks, Congress declared war on Britain on June 18, 1812. The reasons were the impressment of American sailors, violations of American rights at sea, and the British aid to Indian resistance.