With the coming of peace new settlers flocked into Canada along the St. Lawrence River and the southern Great Lakes. Many were refugees from the United States who did not want white settlers with British loyalties. These settlers wanted to cut down the timber and clear the land for farming. Upper Canada urgently needed First Nations land. The United States government encouraged First Nations, who were seen as the rightful owner, to sell their traditional hunting grounds to the land hungry white settlers. As these wildernesses were converted into farmland by the Americans, they would exacerbate the First Nation’s problems. They would drive away the animals and game that was necessary for their food, clothing, and fur trade. Once these independent …show more content…
At first, Tenskwatawaw preached with religious fervor, and was the better known. However, as the War of 1812 approached, Tecumseh stressed the need for unity of his people, amidst the war, as a means of survival, both for themselves as a people and also for their lands that were already being misappropriated by Americans. Tecumseh proposed a central Confederacy for dealing with treaties, so that diverse native groups could have more understanding and more control of the land being discussed. The British’s main objective was not to fight in war, but in foster peace and trade. During the War of 1812, some 35 tribal nations fought under Tecumseh, who worked tirelessly to gain the support of the Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Shawnee, Ottawa, Kikapoos and others. Tecumseh preached that the land belonged to all the First Nations, not to specific groups, and that no tribe had the right to surrender any land. That could only be done with the agreement of all. He was a powerful ally of the British forces during the War of 1812. The Shawnee chief Tecumseh had gathered 10,000 warriors in what is now southern Ontario in 1812, hoping to unify First Nations peoples into a confederacy with their own land and government. With Americans pushing aboriginal people off their lands to the south, Tecumseh and his supporters agreed to join the British and …show more content…
The Americans were terrified of the Indians, and American volunteers often fled in terror when they learned that Indians were fighting on the British side. First Nations support turned the tide of battle at the Battle of Queenston Heights where Americans invaded Canada. Native leaders like John Norton and Tecumseh played a key role in keeping Canada British with their contingents of warriors fighting alongside British regulars and Canadian