Role of Tecumseh as a Leader of Indian Nationalism

Tecumseh was an outstanding leader for the Indian people. The combination of the strong political minded Tecumseh and his high spirited brother Tenskwatawa was able to rally Indians throughout the Ohio valley to halt White expansion. Indian nationalism is a movement that the American Indians needed then just as badly as they need it today. Nationalism does slowly take away from tribal culture; however, American Indians were too quick to fight over bitter rivalries. A strong National Indian movement would have given us a much different country than we live in today.

Tecumseh emerged during a time when the Indians were losing vast amounts of territory to White expansion. The eastern seaboard had all ready been settled and the Indian tribes like the Pequot, Iroquois and Cherokee reduced to small numbers on scattered reservations. The Ohio valley offering outstanding farmland appealed to Whites which demanded safe areas for settlements.

The governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison was a shrewd negotiator, "by 1809 he had completed fifteen treaties calling for substantial cessions of territory by the Piankeshaws, Weas, Delawares, Potawatomis, Miamis, Kickpoos, Ottawas, and other tribes. Following each cession, the signatory tribes simply retreated to diminished tribal territories until by 1809 they had virtually no land remaining and some tribes, following surrender of the last fragment of their homeland, were required to move onto the surviving domains of neighboring tribes" (The American Indian, Gibson).

Action such as this outrages Tecumseh and his brother. The two brothers would use the loss of Indian land to teach about Indian Nationalism. How could one Indian tribe or one Indian even, sell land that was created for all the Indians to use?