The Boundaries Between Us: Natives and Newcomers Along the Frontiers of the Old Northwest Territory, 1750-1850

282 Pages·2006·1.66 MB·English

by  Daniel P. Barr

The Boundaries between Us
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The Boundaries between Us
Natives and Newcomers along the Frontiers of the
Old Northwest Territory,–
E  D P. B
)
The Kent StateUniversity Press
, 
© 2006 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2005016600
isbn 978-1-60635-109-3 (paper)
isbn 978-0-87338-844-3 (cloth)
Maufactured in the United States of America
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
The boundaries between us : Natives and newcomers along the frontiers of the Old
Northwest Territory, 1750–1850 / edited by Daniel P. Barr
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-87338-844-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ∞
isbn 978-1-60635-109-3 (pbk : alk. paper) ∞
1. Indians of North America—First contact with Europeans—Ohio River Valley.
2. Indians of North America—Land tenure—Ohio River Valley.
3. Indians of North America—Ohio River Valley—Government relations.
4. Frontier and pioneer life—Ohio River Valley.
5. Whites—Ohio River Valley—Relations with Indians.
6. Ohio River Valley—Race relations.
7. Ohio River Valley—Politics and government.
I. Barr, Daniel P., 1971–
e78.04b58 2005
977'.02—dc22
2005016600
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction
Fluid Boundaries and Negotiated Identities: Intersection,
Accommodation,and Conflict on an Evolving Frontier ix
. The Shawnees and the English
Captives and War,–
 .  
. “This Land IsOurs and Not Yours”
The Western Delawares and the Seven Years’War in the Upper
Ohio Valley,–
 .  
. “WeSpeak as One People”
Native Unity and the Pontiac Indian Uprising
  
. “The Indians Our Real Friends”
The British Army and the Ohio Indians,–
 .  
. Two Paths to Peace
Competing Visions ofNative Space in the Old Northwest
  
. “A Superior Civilization”
Appropriation,Negotiation,and Interaction in the Northwest
Territory,–
  c 
. Three Men from Three Rivers
Navigating between Native and American Identity in the
Old Northwest Territory
 .  
. Negotiating Law on the Frontier
Responses to Cross-Cultural Homicide in Illinois,–
 .  
. “Justice and Public Policy”
Indian Trade,Treaties,and Removal from Northern
Indiana,–
  
. Bringing About the Dawn
Agriculture,Internal Improvements,Indian Policy,and
Euro-American Hegemony in the Old Northwest,–
  
. “A Perfect Apollo”
Keokuk and Sac Leadership during the Removal Era
 .  
Bibliography 
Contributors 
Index 
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Introduction: Fluid Boundaries and
Negotiated Identities
Intersection,Accommodation,and Conflict
on an Evolving Frontier
The settlement history of the United States’first national frontier,the Old
Northwest Territory,is rich with compelling drama and captivating charac-
ters,especially when focused on the interaction between native peoples and
Euro-American newcomers.One can hardly envision this aspect of the re-
gion’s early history without bringing to mind Tecumseh or Black Hawk,Wil-
liam Henry Harrison or Anthony Wayne,while images of Indian warriors
stalking Arthur St.Clair’s doomed army in the Ohio wilderness contrast with
visions ofAmerican pioneers successfully establishing themselves upon the
fields and prairies ofIndiana and Illinois.Yet outside ofthese familiar stories
and comfortable understandings of Indians and white settlers in the Old
Northwest Territory,there is much that remains unexplored,understudied,
or misunderstood about cultural interaction and accommodation.Such sen-
timent was raised, in part, by historians Andrew Cayton and Peter Onuf,
whose interpretive work The Midwest and the Nation: Rethinking the His-
tory ofan American Regioncritiqued the existing body ofscholarship on the
Old Northwest Territory.Cayton and Onuf asserted their intention to “en-
couragehistorians to think about the region in more systematic ways than
theyhavein the past ...[and] to suggest that the Old Northwest was more
than a generic frontier or a cultural crossroads.”They hoped to excite histori-
ans intoavast reexamination ofthe Old Northwest Territory and the states it
eventually became,a process that began with the meetings ofnative inhabi-
tants and newcomers.Moreover,this conceptual call-to-arms underscored
an understanding that the Old Northwest Territory occupies a fundamental
placein the earlyhistory ofAmerican westward expansion.Here for the new
American nation came the first great challenge of the West,to manage and
control not only its claimed territory,but also the diverse peoples—Indian
ix