American Indian Government

During the Revolutionary War, the Iroquois Confederacy was divided. American Indians fought on both sides during the war.

Every group was hoping to side with the victors and keep their land.

The new American government forgot its American Indian allies. Settlers continued to push into the Western lands across the mountains. To the colonial settlers, the Louisiana Purchase was an invitation to continue to move west. The American Indians saw the Louisiana Purchase as taking over their land.

American Indians resisted the expansion of settlers. Conflict increased when the U.S. Army was sent to protect the settlers. General Henry William Harrison led troops against the American Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

The Chief, Tenskwatawa, was killed. His brother, Tecumseh, organized many American Indians into a confederacy. They organized to resist the settlers and the U.S. Army.

The Confederacy was strong but not strong enough in numbers against the U.S. Army. When Tecumseh was killed, the exhausted members of the confederacy retreated and gradually moved farther west to the Mississippi River.