Joseph Brant or Thayendanegea, Mohawk chief, led four of the "Six Nations" against the American rebels. Detail of lithograph by Thomas McKenney (produced between 1836-1844).
Credit: Image courtesy of American Memory at the Library of Congress.
We desire you will hear and receive what we have now told you, and that you will open a good ear and listen to what we are now going to say. This is a family quarrel between us and Old England. You Indians are not concerned in it. We don't wish you to take up the hatchet against the king's troops. We desire you to remain at home, and not join on either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep." —The Second Continental Congress, Speech to the Six Nations, July 13, 1775
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary crisis in the 1760s, Native Americans faced a familiar task of navigating among competing European imperial powers on the continent of North America. At the close of the era in the 1780s, Native Americans faced a "New World" with the creation of the new United States of America. During the years of conflict, Native American groups, like many others residents of North America, had to choose the loyalist or patriot cause—or somehow maintain a neutral stance. But the Native Americans had distinctive issues all their own in trying to hold on to their homelands as well as maintain access to trade and supplies as war engulfed their lands too. Some allied with the British, while others fought alongside the American colonists.
In this lesson, students will analyze maps, treaties, congressional records, first-hand accounts, and correspondence to determine the different roles assumed by Native Americans in the American Revolution and understand why the various groups formed the alliances they did.
Indians faced numerous challenges to their survival as a people on their own lands in the eighteenth century. The French and British vied for control of the continent at mid-century while the American colonists continued to look to the interior for lands to expand their settlements. After the British victory in the Seven Years' War, (see EDSITEment-reviewed Digital History's The Seven Years' War) Indian peoples found their diplomatic options more circumscribed. As North American colonists, eager for land, began to spill over the Appalachian Mountains in the 1750s, British concern and Indian anger over the expansion increased. The Royal proclamation of 1763 (see Proclamation of 1763 a link from EDSITEment-reviewed National Park Service site) attempted to restrict that expansion and alienated many American colonists.
The outbreak of the American Revolution had great consequences for the Indian peoples of North America. They understood the Revolution was a contest for Indian lands as well as for liberty. Some groups, such as the Cherokee warriors, defied their elders and attacked frontier settlements all along the southern frontier. The Cherokees took the offensive against the Americans early, only to be defeated by Patriot soldiers from the southern colonies. Many others attempted to remain neutral. In the Ohio Valley, the Shawnees, led by Cornplanter, and the Delawares, led by White Eyes, worked hard to steer a course between the combatants. But hatred of Indians among western settlers and hunters soon destroyed that peace. American militia killed White Eyes of the Delawares in 1778, and others slaughtered unarmed, converted, Moravian Indians at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, in 1782. The Ohio Indians allied themselves with the British after these attacks.
Many other Indians sided with the British in the hopes that a British victory would stem the flood of western expansion. The Iroquois Confederacy split. Joseph Brant, a well-educated Mohawk and a Free Mason, along with his sister Mary Brant, led his people away from a policy of neutrality and into an alliance with the British. The Stockbridge Indians, Christian mission Indians (Mohicans), however, joined their western Massachusetts neighbors, volunteering as minutemen even before fighting broke out.
The successful Revolution resulted in the creation of the new republic but also a new world for the Indians. When Great Britain handed over all of its territory east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes to the United States at the Peace of Paris in 1783 without consulting their former allies, those Indians found themselves under severe pressure by settlers and speculators in the new nation interested in expanding westward either by acquiring Indian lands by treaty or by force.
As a word of caution, teachers should make students aware of the issues involved in using primary sources of Native American speeches. These valuable but rare primary sources were usually transcribed by Europeans, and the documents often reflect European ideas of Native American speech.
Several sources provide good background information for the teacher.
1. Download or link to the following documents that will be used by the students in this lesson.
2. If your students are not familiar with analyzing online primary documents, you may also want to explore The National Archives Teachers' Resource Page, available through EDSITEment, which provides document analysis worksheets for students.
1. (Optional) If students did not learn about the Seven Years' War prior to this lesson, it might be a good idea to review the role of the Native Americans in that conflict (see Digital History's The Seven Years' War. It will be helpful also if students have an understanding of the way European control of the land changed after that war. The British received all the French lands in Canada (except two small offshore islands) and all the French lands east of the Mississippi River. Spain took over Louisiana. The following EDSITEment resources provide some background as well as some primary voices that can be used in a more extensive review lesson of the Seven Years' War:
2. As a lesson motivator, present the students with the introductory quotation (found in the introduction to this lesson), the Second Continental Congress's speech to the Six Nations, without the reference or the date. Working in small groups or as a whole class, students use context clues to brainstorm answers to the following questions:
Once the students provide the answers to those questions, they can speculate on the following:
3. The documents that the students will examine refer to various Native American tribes. The map entitled "Native American Tribes: 1783," provides a geographical reference for students. The teacher could simply have this map or one like it available for students to refer to during the lesson, or he or she could direct a more structured examination of the map. For example, students could complete a simple T-chart (see accompanying Chart), noting which tribes were from the area of the original thirteen colonies (students could also name the specific colony where each tribe was located) and which tribes were from the newly acquired western territories.
4. Students will annotate and analyze several documents by Native Americans regarding their role in the American Revolution. First, the teacher should have the students review the model annotations on the following document (1783 Joseph Brant message to Governor Frederick Haldimand of Quebec) to understand some of the key topics and concepts.
5. Divide the students into groups; each group should analyze 2-3 documents. Students should highlight phrases and issues that help them understand how Native Americans determined whether they would side with the British, ally with the Americans, or remain neutral. The documents are as follows:
6. In the whole group or smaller groups, review with the students their annotations and develop a Venn Diagram of key arguments for choosing sides.
7. As part of the discussion of these documents, the teacher can also help students to analyze and evaluate the documents. The following questions might be used to guide this aspect of the discussion:
1. Share with the students some material on the role of the Iroquois in the American Revolution, in particular the significant efforts of Joseph Brant. You can use the general discussion by Colin Calloway, American Indians and the Revolution. (from National Park Service: Stories from the Revolution site)
2. Ask students to explore the words and images of Brant at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and at its end. One of the text documents and one of the images will be provided with explanatory notes or annotations. For the portrait, students will be able to see how the painting's visual language operates and also have key symbols and objects identified. A contrasting eighteenth-century portrait of a Native American is the 1762 engraving of "The Three Cherokees Came Over From the Head of the River Savanna to London." The engraving depicts the three Cherokee chiefs who visited King George III in London after the Seven Years' War seeking assurances about the security of their homelands in South Carolina. This portrait of Indians during the colonial era is one of the few done from life, rather than being drawn after the fact as in the more familiar European depictions.
Students will be asked to consider some of the following questions about the documents:
Modeling image interpretation of 1786 Northumberland portrait of Brant:
3. For a whole group discussion students will be asked to chart the changes that have come about during and because of the war between the British, Americans, and the Indians. They should discuss what changes have occurred between the documents from 1776 and those from 1783/1786. They can look at the following:
Using what they have learned from the documents, the secondary reading, and any other materials they used, students should write an essay on the following question: "What can you conclude about the alliance decisions made by Native Americans? Why did some Native American groups become involved in the American Revolution—either on the British or American side? What roles did they play in the conflict and what were the consequences of their decisions? Defend your answer using the documents from the activities and your knowledge of the Native Americans' post-Revolutionary War experience."
Using what they have learned from the documents, the secondary reading, and any other materials they used, students role-play a mock council of a Native American tribe, debating the merits and drawbacks of a particular allegiance. The dialogue must accurately reflect the history. They should also identify which tribe they choose to portray since that identity should influence the council meeting decision.
1. What happened to these Native American allies after the American Revolution? Students could explore the post-revolutionary experiences of the different Native American tribes in the United States and Canada. How did their experiences differ from what the treaties signed with the new United States had promised? What factors (i.e. location/geography, tribal leadership, their Revolutionary allegiances, relationships between the various Native American tribes) played a role in the post-Revolutionary experience of the different Native Americans? Students could take their research one-step further: where are those Native American groups today? See the U.S. Census Bureau's American Indians and Alaska Natives Map, a link on EDSITEment's Internet Public Library.
2. Other members of Joseph Brant's family were important figures. You could explore the biography of Molly Brant, his sister, a link from Nativeweb or his brother-in-law Sir William Johnson, Indian Superintendent
3. The Continental Congress was quite involved in Native American affairs during the War. American Memory's Learning Page has a feature on the Home Front during the Revolutionary War with several documents and discussion.
4. The Battle of Oriskany in 1778 in central New York was a critical engagement involving Native Americans on each side of the battlefield. See the National Park Service: Discover History, The Battle of Oriskany: "Blood Shed a Stream Running Down."
3 class periods