The Choice For Survival

Since its independence,the United States has expanded westward through a series of policies driven by practical interests and guided by expansionist ideas.The concrete manifestations were territorial expansion,economic expansion and cultural expansion.This external expansion pressure caused great social changes of Indian tribes and exerted destructive effects on them.In order to solve the various crisis and survive,Indians' nativists represented by Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa led some Indians to resist the American expansion,and put forward a series of policies to solve the crisis of their tribes.Firstly,Tecumseh tried to return to Indians' original religious beliefs and lifestyle to get rid of the dependence on the civilization of white American and then restore stability and prosperity of their tribes;Secondly,they tried to unite all Indians and build a pan-Indian political and military alliance to resist the American expansion so that they could protect the remaining lands.Because of the outside stimulus of white American and the call from Tecumseh,the Indians formed a great tribal confederation along the western borders of the United States,which spanned from the Great Lakes in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south.The nature of the confederation was initially defensive,and they wanted to coexist peacefully with the United States.However,their aspirations were frustrated by the continuous expansion of the United States.Finally,in order to defend their own survival rights,they chose to ally with Britain before the war of 1812.The confederation played a key role in helping Britain defend Canada in the early years of the war.Unfortunately,it later fell apart with Tecumseh's death.The defeat of the Tecumseh's confederation,the last indigenous power in the history of North America,playing a part in determining the outcome of the geostrategic struggles in North America,marked a complete transformation of India-white relations.The rise and fall of the confederation reveals the internal logic of the continuous conflicts between the white people and the Indians in the early history of the founding of the United States and reflects the initiative of the Indians to adapt to the changes of the living environment.