Reading about the Pontiac’s Rebellion, The Seven Years’ War, the American Revolution, and the war of 1812 was really interesting and I found myself going down a rabbit hole to find out more about these historical events. These events were significant occasions for Indigenous people to stand up to colonialism and say they wanted to be independent. Some of them don’t really fit the traditional meaning of a revolution, but they all show how Indigenous people have fought to protect their lands, cultures, and sovereignty. It is easy to see how Pontiac’s Rebellion was a prime instance of an Indigenous movement. This uprising, which was led by an Ottawa leader named Pontiac, was meant to fight British rule and protect Indigenous independence. Indigenous communities fight back against colonial rule in works like “The Master of Life” and “Pontiac Calls for War,” hoping to overthrow oppressive systems and recover their way of life. A Native American revolt might not be the best way to describe the American rebellion, on the other hand. Indigenous people took part in the revolution in many ways, but it was mostly about colonists’ complaints about British rule. The Oneida Declaration of Neutrality and other texts like it show how Indigenous people tried to deal with conflict and protect their own interests during colonial chaos. Indigenous people got involved in these battles for a number of different reasons, such as keeping their cultural traditions alive, defending against colonial invasions, and preventing the loss of their territory. Native groups saw these conflicts as crucial battles to keep their customs alive and guarantee a good future for their descendants.
The outcomes were important because defeat would lead to more land loss, cultural disappearance, and being held under colonial rule. In these revolutionary times, the talk about “liberty” exposes freedom and choice was not included in the perspective of indigenous communities. The colonial rebels suppressed and took advantage of Indigenous communities despite these talks of freedom and autonomy. In Joseph Brant’s message to the king, Indigenous chiefs revealed the hypocrisy of settlers who talked about freedom but disregarded the rights and self-governance of Indigenous populations. The discussion on “liberty” goes into how Indigenous peoples were left out of colonial ideas of freedom and self-governance, showing the ongoing fight for Indigenous rights and independence.