I learned about various wars and conflicts between the British and the French as well as between the American and the British. In general, I do not think that most of the conflicts were for the sake of “Indigenous revolution” but rather, were for the power exertion in America’s colonies and Europe. The Pontiac’s Rebellion was the one that I think the Native communities stood up for themselves and their lands. However, The Master of Life by Pontiac (1763) reminded me of Christian, especially the part in which the woman told the man to leave all of his belongings as well as his clothes. I just find this very interesting.
In other conflicts, I noticed Native communities, most of the time, were forced to join one party and fight for that party. Personally, I also find it hard to choose the side, either with the American or the British, to form an ally. The British wanted to have greater control over its colonies in the Americas while the Americans, frankly speaking, were colonists who settled on the land of the Native communities. Because of this, the American Revolution appeared to be the battle of the white people as mentioned in the Oneida Declaration of Neutrality, 1775 (Kirkland, 1775). The Native communities were the ones that were forced to join the battle while the direct benefit was not for them. The decision of which side to choose came from what the communities’ goal was, which was to either get rid of the British or to protect their lands and live in peace with the colonists.
I think either the American or the British were a good choice to team up with if I were a Native American. In class, I remembered we mentioned communities that tried to stay neutral but some of them ended up choosing sides (with Britain) since their people were slaughtered by the Americans. This shows that the Native communities had no choice but to participate in the conflict. With all of this, I do think that these wars revolutionize the Indigenous communities but not in a good way.
References
Pontiac. (1763). The Master of Life. Teaching American History.
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-master-of-life/
Kirkland, S. (1775, June 19). Oneida Declaration of Neutrality, 1775. The American Yawp Reader.
https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-american-revolution/oneida-declaration-of-neutrality-1775/