Original subtitles

One of the many aspects of Native American culture that was to be shunned

even disregarded by European settlers was their religious practice.

While spirituality varied from tribe to tribe, the general points were similar.

Many held ceremonies, which ranged from involving very few to several members of

a tribe.

And these ceremonies were an integral part of their daily lives.

The ceremonies were, and still are, a major part of Native American religion.

They may consist of a feast, dancing, music, and other performances.

In many cases, these spiritual beliefs had been based in the natural world,

many other religions, involving daily ritual.

This inclusion of nature allowed for a greater appreciation for all parts of

life and death.

Many tribes would speak of specific animals in their legends to help explain

events, such as the creation of the world.

These stories have also been used to help others navigate in difficult phases

their lives.

These vital stories were spoken, not written, and were passed down from

generation to generation.

Because Native American religion did not have a written dogma, as in

Christianity, it has not always been considered to be a true religion.

The complexity of these unwritten beliefs was therefore unseen and

non -Natives to understand.

It was not a practice that could be easily picked up and imitated, but

was a set of beliefs and traditions that involved a great deal of time and

dedication and immersion in order to be fully realized.

Many tribes had their own version of clergymen called shamans and sometimes

medicine men.

Their roles in decisions and ceremonies were highly valued and respected, as

these men were wise and very experienced.

Many were also healers who used herbs and other natural concoctions and

to help their people through a variety of troubles and illnesses.

Native Americans believed that a person's soul was immortal, and after

would continue to travel through the spirit world.

For this, death was often celebrated and ceremonies were held to help the soul

of the dead to begin their journey.

These ceremonies would involve the giving of food and herbs and gifts to

deceased to ensure an easy journey and to keep the spirit from roaming on

In some cases, special care was taken of the dead.

As with the Hopi Indians, the body would be specially washed with oils from the

yucca plant and then dressed in traditional clothing.

Many tribes would hold a potlatch for the grieving family, providing food and

support during a period following the death of a tribe member.

This favor would be repaid later on to uphold the continuity of community.

Alternately, some tribes did not celebrate death.

With the Apache people, death was considered the greatest enemy.

With so much effort being put into daily survival, there was little time to

dedicate to death or even marriage ceremonies.

Generally speaking, there were more commonalities than not.

Rituals were often held to encourage plentiful crops and good harvests.

Women were also a part of these rituals as they were celebrated as the life

givers in their communities.

The complex belief of Native Americans that there was no separation between the

natural and supernatural worlds with the entirety of mankind and nature as part

to one unified working entity would be cause for one of the greatest cultural

conflicts between Indians and Europeans.

While many Europeans were set on converting the natives to Christianity,

French chose a very different approach.

Instead of trying to change the ways of those who were already in North America,

Many of them made efforts to adopt tribal traditions and ways of life.

Some of the French trappers even took Indian women as their wives.

This proved especially advantageous when it came to the interaction between the

peoples for the sake of the fur trade.

The fur trade initially began as a means of establishing friendly relations with

peoples, when French explorers offered goods, such as tools and metal knives to

the Indians, as gifts.

The Indians returned this kindness with fox, marten, mink, otter, and beaver

pelts.

By the early 1600s, beaver had become the most valuable of these furs, as it

exported to make felted hats, which had become quite popular in European

fashion.

This industry held steady until the mid -1800s, when

over -trapping and the clearing and colonization of large areas caused fur

-bearing animals to become scarce.

At about this time, the popularity and acquisition of silk had made a radical

increase.

By 1870, the switch was made from felt to silk, thus ending much of the fur

trading activity overseas.

The first known fur trading center was established in 1608 in what is now known

as Quebec by French explorer Samuel de Champlain.

And the English settlers of the New England and Virginian regions developed

their own fur trade industry by forming an alliance with the Iroquois.

In 1670, the Hudson Bay Company was established to help European businesses

handle the increased number of pelts being exported from North America.

Even though English merchants founded this company through the help of two

French traders, Competition for trading rights in the region between the

Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River became tense.

It would be only one of several reasons for the start of the French and Indian

War in 1754.

In addition to the Hudson Bay Company, British merchants in Montreal attempted

to start another firm.

nor Wester's in 1783.

It was met with many complications despite daring expeditions, and after

financially in 1821, it merged with the Hudson Bay Company.

During the late 1700s, Alaska and Russia established a relationship in the fur

trade, the Russian -American Company.

Because many Western natives had little interest in the trapping side of fur

trading, white frontiersmen such as Kit Carson, John Coulter, and Jedediah Smith

were hired to roam the wilds of the Rocky Mountains in search of fur.

They became known as mountain men.

Annual trappers' gatherings, or rendezvous, were held so trappers could

their furs.

and restocked their supplies for the upcoming year.

Having a central location for such an exchange saved the men the time and

it would take to go to multiple trading posts.

It also curbed hostilities between peoples, as it kept the traders from

interacting between tribes who considered each other to be enemies.

This was not always foolproof, however, and as with the case of Three Forks in

Montana, trapping parties were still often attacked.

In April 1810, five such trappers were killed, while the remaining party

barricaded themselves within the fort at Three Forks.

After having grown tired of being stuck there, George Juillard and two Delaware

Indians left the fort to travel up the Gallatin River.

They were found and killed by members of the Blackfeet tribe.

While these attacks weren't widely the norm, it was the conflict between the

French and English empires and their drawing of the natives into the quarrels

that caused the most friction.

The Indians were caught in the middle, not wishing to damage alliances with the

French, because, unlike the English, The trappers had no interest in settling on

Indian lands, but instead worked as amicably and non -invasively as

Ultimately, there was some attraction for the natives to keep good relations

with the British because of the promises made to curb the trespassing of

colonists on native lands.

It was to the misfortune of the Indian populations that Britain, prevailed over

France in 1763, resulting in not only the continuation of colonist expansion,

but also an increase in settlement population and the destruction of lands.

With the arrival of more and more British settlers came an increase in the

attempt to convert Native Americans to Christianity.

In some instances, the Indians welcomed the missionaries.

As Native American spirituality was generally inclusive, in that it would

other religious ideas in addition to, but not as a replacement of their own,

many Christian beliefs were in fact accepted.

It was to the great frustration of the missionaries that the natives didn't

relinquish their former beliefs to instead accept all elements of the

doctrine.

There was much puzzlement amongst both Native Americans and white Christians

over the entire matter of each other's religions.

One Seneca chief questioned, If there is but one religion, why do you white

people differ so much about it?

In other cases, The mission of converting Indians was not a welcome

it involved more than the conversion of religious beliefs.

Many Puritans considered Indians to be savages, godless and sinful heathens

that had to be transformed in every possible way.

This transformation often involved the complete abandonment of Native

traditions, including how they dressed and, for the men, how they wore their

hair.

What were known as praying towns were established, and Indians were broken of

their individuality and rebuilt according to Christian ways and beliefs.

While some of these conversions were done on a voluntary basis, many were

forced.

Even after a lot of natives made these drastic social and religious changes,

colonists still regarded them.

as lesser individuals.

There is some debate as to whether the English truly had good intentions

concerning the natives and the fate of their immortal souls.

Some missionaries were said to have nothing but the noblest of goals in

while many natives didn't feel that their lives required any sort of

intervention or salvation.

In other cases, This conversion was more of a civilizing tactic, not to better

the natives as people, but to make more use of the territories that the

colonists wished to possess.

Thomas Jefferson saw the entire process as a business venture, figuring that the

less the natives behaved like natives, the more it would benefit everyone else,

namely the droves of arriving colonists.

First, to encourage them to abandon hunting, to apply to the raising stock,

agriculture and domestic manufacture, and thereby prove to themselves that

land and labor will maintain them in this better than in their former mode of

living. The extensive forests necessary in the hunting life will then become

useless.

and they will see advantage in exchanging them for the means of

farms and of increasing their domestic comforts. In leading them thus to

agriculture, to manufacturers and civilization, in bringing together their

our settlements, and in preparing them ultimately to participate in the

of our government, I trust and believe we are acting for their greatest good.

While this might have seemed in the best interest of the Indians, and some

tribes welcomed services that the whites could provide through treaties and the

payment of money and goods for land, there were just as many who had no

intention of altering their customs or lifestyles.

The missionaries, Dunbar and Alice, faced their share of difficulties in

to spread their beliefs to the Pawnee Indians.

With many of the Pawnees dying off from smallpox and the increasing strength of

their enemies, the Lakotas, travel and religious expansion became complicated.

Dunbar and Alice had also started families and found that staying in one

where they could devote energies to agriculture, was more conducive to their

needs.

Like the missionaries who had come before them and had had similar

with other tribes, they had also become aware of the fact that the Pawnees were

reluctant to give up their old ways.

Some of those hindrances involved the constant attacks made by the Lakotas.

And even though some of the Pawnees had expressed considerable interest in

converting to Christianity, there remained not the slightest hint that any

them ever planned to go through with it.

The same could be said of their giving up hunting to become farmers.

It wasn't until the Pawnees had been so weakened by disease and intertribal

warfare that they finally began to accept reservation life and many of

traditional customs began to fade.

While the reluctance to convert at times was vast, in many cases it was not over

the non -acceptance of a new belief, so much as it was the forceful manner in

which Christianity was introduced.

As with the Spanish law of the requerimiento that stated that any

native would, without choice, be converted, and the kidnapping of Indian

children by English colonists for that same purpose, it was no wonder

that the Indians were not only skeptical, but also resistant.

towards this change.

Not all efforts were unsuccessful, however.

In the first two decades of the 19th century, missionaries from multiple

Christian denominations were sent to the southeastern territory of the United

States.

Their mission was to convert the Cherokee Indians, and surprisingly, they

met with positive response.

In addition to new religious beliefs, the Cherokees also accepted other

of white culture.

There was some opposition, of course, with some tribal leaders encouraging the

complete rejection of white civilization.

But to the missionaries, this mass conversion of natives was revered as it

proof of successful integration of Indians into white Christian society.

With the French trappers working as much alongside of the Indians as they could

and the English settlers trying to colonize as much American land as

the natives were once again caught in the middle by simply being where they'd

always been.

In 1754, the fighting between the French and English over the control of much of

North America began, with many of the native tribes having allied.

with the French.

This war, which would end up lasting for seven years, was part of a larger war

already going on in Europe.

In America, it started when Lieutenant Colonel George Washington and his troops

marched to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to push the French out of a new fort.

This mission failed, and French control spread throughout the region.

Two years later, the war took a turn and the British began to defeat the French.

In 1759, British General James Wolfe and his army attacked the French in Quebec

and defeated them.

Both General Wolfe and his French rival, General Montcalm, were killed in this

battle.

In 1763, the war ended, with the French having lost.

The Treaty of Paris was signed.

on February 10th of that same year, giving Britain control of Canada and all

French areas east of the Mississippi River.

Spain gave Florida to the British in exchange for the former French areas to

west of the Mississippi.

Britain also gained control of the Philippines and the French Caribbean

Temporary control was obtained of Spanish Cuba, but it was returned to

with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Once again, the cost of war caused great financial trouble for the American

colonies, as Great Britain imposed higher taxes on the settlers to help

the debt.

Not only were the colonists against this imposition set on them by their ruling

country, but as settlements grew and became more independent from Britain,

greater became their resentment.

These factors would heavily influence the start of the American Revolution and

the pursuit of independence from England.

France's loss in the French and Indian War caused great upset among the

Before the war, the Indians had been more peaceful than not when it came to

dealing with the French.

and the disruption by these foreigners on native land had been minimal.

After the war, however, the tribes of the Ohio Valley were informed that they

were now required to pay royalties to England's King George III.

This was but a drop in the bucket compared to other issues the Indians

already facing at the hands of the English.

With the consistent and constant invasion of colonists in America, the

were just as consistently being pushed farther off their land in order to make

room for white settlements.

This was a great contrast to what the Indians had experienced with the French,

who had come in fewer numbers and never really set down permanent roots.

The French were also willing to adapt to many of the tribe's traditions and made

very little impression or change on those already living in the lands.

The English had also proven to trade unfairly with the Indians, whereas the

French had made the effort for equal exchange.

After the English defeated the French, the Indians were forced to trade with

English. who were untrustworthy in business dealings.

The Indians had become dependent on European firearms and ammunition and

manufactured goods, and as the English wanted to control what sort and amount

weaponry the Indians had, these relations became strained very quickly.

British arrogance was another cause for discord between peoples.

Whereas the French were tolerant of Indian culture, the English were quick

express their aversion to it.

Their general unwillingness to cooperate with the natives was bad enough.

But when Governor General Sir Geoffrey Amherst declared that he would no longer

participate in presenting annual gifts to the tribes, as had become tradition

the French,

It stirred hostility even more.

Not only that, but it cut off the native access to blankets, guns, and much

-needed tools.

As expected, this rapidly growing unrest also stirred the concerns of a native

visionary known as the Delaware prophet, Neolin.

Neolin was strongly in favor of rejecting contact with the British and

returning. to traditional Indian ways.

Tribes were better able to unite against the British and, with Neolin's

preaching of native common destiny, they were able to close the gaps between

their own tribal differences.

According to Neolin, whites were indeed the source of Indian problems, though

many of the deeper issues amongst the natives lay in the loss of their

and cultural ways.

These views were supported by Ottawa chieftain Pontiac, who had been a great

supporter of the French during the recent war.

In addition to Neyland's teachings, Pontiac added an anti -European theme,

specifically aimed at the British.

He, along with Seneca, Shawnee, Muncie, Wyandotte, and Delaware

tribe warriors, attacked British forts in Ohio, and western Pennsylvania.

By June 1763, they had taken control of 14 British forts, and by

autumn, they had killed or captured more than 600 people.

Fort Sandusky would fall into the hands of the Ottawa's shortly thereafter.

Following these losses, the British government issued the Proclamation of

to keep colonists east.

of the Appalachian Mountains in an effort to avoid further conflict with

natives. But it was little abided by, and tensions only increased between the

Indians and the colonists.

By 1764, Pontiac's influence amongst the tribes made a drastic decline,

and it became more and more difficult to find others who were willing to join in

his cause.

In 1766, he formally surrendered to the British.

Though Pontiac's rebellion had ended in late 1764, he received a pardon by way

of Sir William Johnson.

It was only a few years after that that Pontiac was killed, not by the British,

but by a fellow Indian.

With the increase of war on American soil and the hike in taxes created by

Britain to pay for these wars, The colonists were getting fed up with

dependency.

The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was one of many retaliations made by

white Americans against the crown.

During this outburst, men dressed as Mohawk Indians climbed aboard ships

containing crates of heavily taxed English tea and dumped them overboard

the Boston Harbor.

One of the top members of the Sons of Liberty, Benjamin Eves, organized the

meeting place for fellow members above his printing shop.

His son was a mere boy at the time, but later wrote of what he had witnessed.

I recollect perfectly well that in the afternoon preceding the evening of the

destruction of T, a number of gentlemen met in the parlor of my father's house.

I was not admitted at their presence. My station was in another room to make

punch for them.

They remained in the house till dark, I suppose to disguise themselves like

Indians, when they left and proceeded to the loft where the vessels lay.

Another schoolboy by the name of Benjamin Russell witnessed his father

neighbor painting one another's faces with soot and red ochre the night of the

tea party.

One theory as to why colonist men took such time to prepare and dress in this

way is that by this time, The Mohawk image was becoming increasingly popular

amongst the settlers as a symbol of liberty against British oppression.

It had already spread throughout the Atlantic colonies during other protests

prior to the Boston Tea Party, making its debut against British taxation in

form of the Indian as a symbol of oppressed America.

This was not the first use of the Mohawk disguise during colonist rebellion.

The first documented instance of this was during the burning of British ship

Gaspé in June 1772 in order to stop its mission of pursuing smugglers off the

New England coast.

Following this, patriotic groups signed and distributed anti -British

proclamations as the Mohawks, and the Boston Sons of Liberty used native

such as Mohawk River Indians, for units of their organization.

During the boycott of English tea, a substitute called Indian tea made from

locally grown roots was highly promoted.

While this was a significant enough proclamation on its own, the use of the

image of Indians during pre -American Revolution times would continue,

eventually leading to its use by Paul Revere as a symbol of America in

and multiple engravings of sharp political statements.

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 remain at home and not join on either side, but keep the

buried deep.

These were words spoken by the Second Continental Congress during the speech

the Six Nations on July 13, 1775.

When the revolutionary crisis broke out, staying neutral was hardly an option

for the Indians, and as with many other European conflicts on American soil, the

natives were caught in the middle.

Because the Indians depended on the white men for trade and supplies, it was

inevitable that they would have to choose between supporting the loyalist

or that of the American patriots.

Those who did fight alongside the British did so as allies to the crown,

King George III.

in the hopes that their loyalty would protect their homelands from further

invasion of American colonists.

The British government had already provided Indian lands with some

the Royal Proclamation of 1763, though it was hardly a fail -safe against

trespassing.

The Indians were well aware that the revolution was as much a fight over

land as it was for liberty.

Some Indians, as with the Cherokees, chose to go to war early by attacking

frontier settlements against the advice of their older chiefs.

Their efforts were unsuccessful.

On the other hand, New England Indians, who supported their colonial neighbors,

volunteered as minutemen in Washington's army at the siege of Boston.

The war divided the Iroquois Confederacy with the Mohawks, led by Joseph Brandt,

adhering to their long -standing allegiance to Britain.

They were joined by the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and Senecas.

The Oneidas and Tuscaroras sided with the colonists, holding their loyalty to

Presbytery missionary Samuel Kirkland.

The split between the Iroquois turned into a civil war.

which was compounded when General John Sullivan led his American army through

their lands in 1779, leaving 40 towns and their crops destroyed.

In Ohio, at the Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778, neutral Indians and Americans

pledged perpetual peace and friendship.

But upon the death of Chief White Eyes of the Delawares, and Chief Cornstalk of

the Shawnees, as well as those of the peaceful Moravian Delawares, the Ohio

Indians joined forces with the British.

Their success in resisting American expansion would continue for over a

after the Revolution.

However, in 1783, under the Peace of Paris, Britain handed all territory

east of the Mississippi south of the Great Lakes, and north of Florida over

the new United States, enabling the Americans to proceed westward with

expansion.

This would include the taking of lands belonging to the Stockbridges and

Oneidas, who had been allies to the Americans.

While the Indians fought in the Revolution for their liberties and in an

to maintain possession of their lands, and not at all, For the British Empire,

most Americans viewed their participation in the war as support of

tyranny. While the Indians fought in the Revolution for their liberties and in

an effort to maintain possession of their lands, and not at all for the

Empire, most Americans viewed the Indians' participation in the war as

of royal tyranny, which upheld American beliefs that the Indians were enemies to

the white men.

When the British met with some of the Iroquois nations in Oswego, New York, in

1777, it was to formally ask the natives to go to war against the colonists.

While some Iroquois council members viewed the impending revolution as a

between the Europeans and wished to stay neutral, Mohawk chief Joseph Brandt was

in favor of war.

Brandt was loyal to the British crown.

but he was also influential amongst his own people.

Scholars have been divided on portraying Brandt as a violent and fierce killer,

as was his role in many battles during the Revolutionary War.

But by contrast, he was also a Freemason and upheld strong beliefs of

brotherhood and goodwill, and even saved the life of an enemy when Brandt

mistook him for a fellow Mason.

Brandt was born on the banks of the Ohio River in 1742 and became a favorite to

Sir William Johnson while still in his youth and attended Moore's Charity

for Indians at Lebanon, Connecticut.

He learned to write and speak English and studied Western history and

before going off to serve under Sir William during the French and Indian

Around the year 1768, Brandt married the daughter of an Oneida chief, and

shortly after her death from tuberculosis, he married her sister, who

die months later of the same disease.

In August 1775, the Iroquois League, also known as the Six Nations,

held a council fire near Albany, New York, to discuss the encroaching

revolution.

The majority of members agreed that the conflict was between Britain and the

colonists, but Brandt's concerns rested in his fears that the colonists would

continue to take Indian lands.

Four of the six tribal nations would side with England, with the other two

to the colonists.

The following year, Brandt became the principal war chief of the six nations

received a captain's commission.

in the British Army.

Shortly thereafter, he made his first voyage to England, where he was well

received as an Indian king.

He also earned Masonic degrees.

In April 1776, with his Masonic apron presented to him by King George III.

Upon returning to America, Brant recounted the strength and support of

British to his young Iroquois braves.

promising each of them that they would have the opportunity to feast on a

Bostonian and to drink his blood.

This was met with much enthusiasm by those also loyal to the crown.

General John Burgoyne, Deputy of the British Forces in Canada, supported the

of Indians in the Revolutionary War and wrote of it in his poetry.

I will let loose the dogs of hell, ten thousand Indians who shall yell,

and foam, and tear, and grin, and roar, and drench their

moccasins in gore.

To these I'll give full scope and play, from Ticonderoga to Florida.

Brandt did, in fact, participate in many battles during the Revolution.

and having survived through the end of the war, Brandt married for a third time

in 1782.

At this time, he discouraged further Indian warfare, though he kept his

commission in the British Army.

In 1785, he returned to England to collect compensation for Mohawk losses

the war.

He returned to Canada in 1786, and in 1792 went to Philadelphia.

to meet with President Washington after the United States government sought his

assistance in arranging peace with the Ohio Indians.

Brandt gave his assurances that he would comply, but instead he encouraged

rebellion amongst the Ohio Valley Indians against further land cessions

white Americans.

Following this, he led a rather aristocratic lifestyle in Canada.

with a large house, slaves, and other luxuries.

He would spend the rest of his life in comfort, seeing to the educations of his

children, maintaining friendly relations with the English, and supporting

agriculture and the arts amongst his people.

For all of his efforts during the Revolutionary War, Joseph Brandt reaped

the rewards owed to him.

Though he would go on to treat those who visited him with respect, he remained

somewhat disconnected from the more humble ways of his Native American

viewing them, perhaps vainly, as below him, thanks to his time and

closeness with British lords.

Upon his deathbed, Brandt uttered to his adopted nephew, Have pity on

the poor Indians.

If you can get any influence with the great, endeavor to do them all the good

you can.

The end of the Revolutionary War and the approach of the 19th century introduced

less and less regard, respect, and protection over Native American lives.

Colonial expansion was on the rise, with an increase of Indian lands being

claimed on behalf of white American settlements.

When the 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution and promised to pay

soldiers from the war with land, this did not include any mention of the

who had also been involved.

With the newly created Declaration of Independence, citing democratic and

rights principles, under close scrutiny, American officials were placed in the

complex situation

of having to deal with just what to do with the Native Americans.

Because the United States government desired further expansion and possession

Indian territory, it found itself making use of diplomatic measures with which

to obtain its goals.

Invasion was an option, but so soon, on the tail of one expensive war, the

Americans were against the idea of creating further debt.

and inciting the condemnation of Europe for going against their own declaration.

The only way to accomplish their objectives was for the U .S. to create

with the Indians.

The 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwyck allowed Oneida and Tuscarora tribes to stay

on their protected lands for having fought on the side of the colonists

the war.

The other piece to this treaty was the right of conquest, which stated that

tribes who had fought with the British now had to forfeit their land.

Many of the tribes had no choice but to concede to this forfeiture, having

already suffered crippling destruction from the war.

Similar treaties, such as the 1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh, forced Indian

to provide the United States with hostages as collateral, until all

native captivity were granted relief.

In other cases, treaties were created to declare certain areas, such as Fort

Finney, as reserves, wherein no non -Indians were permitted to live.

In 1787, the government created the Northwest Ordinance, which stated that

land outside of the original 13 states could be used for Western expansion.

No Indian land could be seized through warfare unless sanctioned by Congress.

The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians.

Their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent.

And in their property, rights, and liberty they shall never be invaded or

disturbed unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress.

But laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made for

preventing wrongs being done to them and for preserving peace and friendship

with them.

While this may have sounded in favor of Indians maintaining possession of their

land without American interference, in 1789 the U .S. government used a new

constitution to place Indian affairs under control of the War Department.

This meant...

that the Indians could be viewed as enemies to the government and therefore

fought for control of their land.

This will remain in place for nearly 30 years.

Tales of war and native savagery did little to dissuade Europeans from

their homes to come to North America in the pursuit of various freedoms and the

promise of fresh beginnings in a new land.

As the east coast of the United States became more and more densely populated,

these newly arriving settlers continued to push expansion farther into the west,

and in many cases with very little regard to the natives who were already

The government continued to implement treaties that placed Indian tribes on

reserved land and otherwise cleared territory for newcomers.

With commerce already strictly controlled by Congress, the Indians were

the increasing threat of losing much -needed supplies, which were once

through trade with the settlers.

As these changes were enforced and colonial expansion thrived, Native

faced a dim reality with an even darker future.

Throughout the many conflicts between peoples, the wars and the seizing of

lands over time, the Indians still held on to many of their traditions.

Native American spirituality continued to be a part of daily life, even with

constant arrival of Christian missionaries looking to save these

peoples from what was considered a savage and uncivilized existence.

Though some Indians rejected these new teachings and beliefs, others expressed

courteous welcome for the settlers and their religion, adopting some aspects of

it while still maintaining their own.

In the case of French trappers, the Indians were primarily welcoming, as the

trappers did what they could to adapt to Indian ways, interacting with as little

disruption to native cultures as possible.

This respectful approach helped to forge strong relations between the Indians

and the French and would offer a greater, though unsuccessful, alliance

French and Indian War.

The loss in this war would force the Indians into unbalanced trade with the

English, fueling yet more battle and bloodshed with the result of Chief

Pontiac's rebellion.

Though the colonists continued to fight with the natives, the image of the

Mohawk Indian became a well -known and widely used symbol for rebellion and

liberty amongst American patriots, including during one of history's most

infamous moments, the Boston Tea Party.

Ironically, respected leader of the Mohawk Indians, Chief Joseph Brandt, was

ally to the British crown.

He would serve during many battles, making his rounds amongst England's

and return to Canada to live the rest of his life in peaceful luxury and losing

touch with the ways of his people.

After the end of the American Revolution, and with the country now in

of the patriots, the Indians would see more expansion of the white people, more

taking of their lands, and more disregard.

for their existence.

With Congress implementing one treaty after another as a means to continuously

take lands from the natives, and rarely with proper or fair compensation,

it would promote the rapid, increasing growth of one nation while steadily

dissolving many lives for which no justice can ever be granted.