Black Hawk and his relations with the Pale face
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Black Hawk and his relations with the Pale face
The harsh treatment of the Indians by the early Americans has been well documented in the annuals of our countries history. Through the methodical displacement of the Native Americans with the constant push westward, the new settlers of the land were soon occupying all the area that the Indians once freely roamed. In Black Hawk: an Autobiography, edited by Donald Jackson, we learn of one man's struggle to maintain the land of his people from the invading Americans, and the deviousness of the Americans in removing him.
Black Hawk was born a chief, and he inherited the role as the savior of his tribe. With this responsibility came many difficult decisions in dealing with the Europeans, the Americans, and also with the other Indians, both kin and enemy, in the surrounding country. Black Hawk was always interested in one thing: what was best for his people, his family. Though both the Europeans and Americans used Black Hawk and his tribe, he understood the character of the association with them both. In his own words, Black
Hawk said that the Americans "made fair promises but never kept them," while the British "made but few - but we could always rely upon their word (60)." Several circumstances would lead to the Black Hawk War, and these included errors from both the Americans and the Sauk tribe under Black Hawk.
Black Hawk and his tribe aligned with the British during the War of 1812, after the Americans broke a promise made to them...