Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/154

84 confidence. But not so with the American. He came hunting new lands, for farms and homes, clearing away the forest and driving away the game—the natural food support of the Indians. With the single exception of Penn's experiment in buying the lands of the Indians in Pennsylvania, the contest between the white man and the Indian on the American continent has been one of opposition and violence, and the cause of the trouble, the possession of land.

All the Indians from the Atlantic to the Pacific were possessed with the same socialistic idea of land ownership. And while neighboring tribes would war with each other for favorite hunting grounds, yet to the white man all of them presented the same unyielding front on the land question. This view of the land question was never more forcibly or clearly set forth than by the Indian Chief Tecumseh, of the territory of Indiana. When General Harrison was appointed governor of Indiana territory in 1801, he tried to secure a permanent peace with the warlike Indians of that region, of which Tecumseh was the great warrior and leader. And to promote this end, he invited Tecumseh and other chiefs to visit him at old Vincennes. Tecumseh accepted the invitation and was attended by a number of other chiefs. The governor proposed to hold the conference on the portico of his residence, but Tecumseh declined to meet there and proposed a nearby grove, saying, "The earth is my mother, and on her bosom will I repose." And in the speech following, Tecumseh said, "that the Great Spirit had given this great island (America) to his red children and had put the whites on the other side of the water. The whites, not contented with their own, had taken that of the red men. They had driven the Indians from the sea to the lakes, and the Indians could go no farther. The whites had taken upon themselves to say that this land belongs to the Miamis, this to the Delaware, and so on. The Great Spirit intended the land as the common property of all.

"Since the peace we formerly made," he continued, "you have killed some Shawnees, Winnebagoes, Delawares, and Miamis, and you have taken our land from us, and I do not see how we can remain at peace if you continue to do so. You try to force the red people to do some injury. It is you that are pushing them on to do mischief. You endeavor to make distinctions. You wish to prevent the Indians from doing as they wish to—unite and to consider their land as the common property of the whole. By your distinction of Indian tribes in allotting to each a particular tract of land you want them to make war with one another.

"Brother, this land that was sold to you was sold only by a few. If you continue to purchase our lands this way, it will produce war among the different tribes. Brother, you should take pity on the red people, and return to them a little of the land of which they have been plundered. The Indian has been honest in his dealings with you, but how can we have confidence in the white people? When Jesus Christ came on earth, you killed him and nailed him to the cross. You thought he was dead, but you were mistaken. You have many religions, and you persecute and ridicule those who do not agree with you. The Shakers are good people. You have Shakers among you, but you laugh and make light of their worship. You are counseled by bad birds. I speak nothing but the truth to you."

And as Tecumseh reflected the ideas of all the Indians east of the Rocky