Chapter 20

This chapter will be devoted to tying things together in relation to the conflict between the American Indian Tribes and the European settlers.

The entire 400 year timeframe was split up into three sections.

The Early years coving the period from 1492 (The start of the Columbian period) until the beginning of the French and Indian Wars in 1763.

This part of the story was addressed in Chapters 1 thru 6.

The Crisis period covering the years from the French and Indian Wars beginning in 1750 until the end of the American Revolutionary war in 1785. It was only thirty-five years out of a four century timeframe but it was the crucial period in regard to the direction the future of the Native American Indian Tribes followed into the later centuries.

This part of the story was addressed in Chapters 7 thru 13.

The post American Revolutionary Years from 1783 until the end of the timeframe in 1892.

This part of the story was addressed in Chapters 14 thru 19.

The different cultures and make-up of the 600 plus Indian Tribes often acted at cross-purposes to their ultimate goal of retaining their historical lands and having a fair share of the economic fortunes of the New Nation. While certain tribes fought bravely on the side of the New American nation, many of them joined with the enemies of the American settlers. First they supported the French attempting to establish a "New France" in the heartland of the United States of America. Then, they infamously supported the British Regular Army and the Loyalists who swore fealty to the King and waged war on the Continental Army and on the civilian populace. The same lack of unity with the New Nation happened again in the War of 1812. Many of the Indian tribes took advantage of the fact that the Union Army was waging war against their own brothers in the south, the Army of the Confederacy by rising up and threatening the civilian populace in the western territories.

In researching various textbooks related to the period covered, it became glaringly obvious that a large part of the conclusions reached by some well-respected historians was short on fact and heavy with opinion. My suspicion is that sometime in the early part of the twentieth century the "History" became heavily biased with political agendas and the attempt was made to distort eyewitness accounts with "Monday-morning quarterbacking" that served to bolster individual "feelings" about the subject. This seems on the surface to be a harsh statement of current thinking but this story is not intended to right some wrong or to criticize thoughtful writing on the subject of Native American History. It is entirely understandable that certain factions would have their own slant on factual history and come up with an entirely different point of view than the general consensus.

Probably the key factor of demographics tells the story better than any other single element.

Much is made in current thinking to support the view that the European settlers engaged in a form of "Genocide" against the American Indian Tribes and led to Colleges and Universities setting up not only courses in such lines of thought but entire programs of undergraduate work and even post-graduate studies espousing that volatile concept for general consumption. My conclusion is that the outcome of the conflict between the American Indian Tribes and the European settler's post 1892 is neither "Genocidal" nor part of a plan to drive the American Indian Tribes into extinction. Some of the drastic reductions in Native American Indian population were the result of "unintended consequences" and unfortunate "bad luck" that plagued the Natives long before the coming of the "Columbian" times in 1492.

The downward trend in Native American Indian population was the result of three devastating factors that were factors already in play long before the appearance of Columbus on the shores of the New World.

DISEASE ... The American Indian Tribes were particularly vulnerable to the spread of deadly disease because of the lifestyle that crowded them into communal living in tight quarters with little thought to sanitary procedures. The life expectancy of the American Indian Tribes was notably much lower than their European opposition who came on the scene in post Columbian times. Contact with European carried diseases added to the weight of that factor in decimating the American Indian Tribes. My best estimate of the disease factor is that it reduced the pre-Columbian population figures by fully one-third of the population by 1892. That would account for nearly four million of the reduced population.

MIGRATION ... It is important to remember that in 1492 there was no such thing as a "border" that separated the "lower 48" from the countries of Mexico or Canada. Both of those countries sustained challenges of their own over the entire 400 year timeframe. The American Indian Tribes considered a move either "North" or "South" to be just traveling to a better hunting ground or to avoid danger or climatic conditions. To the American Indian Tribes, the land was the land and was not a possession to be "owned" by a person. There was unspoken respect for "Territories" not unlike the "Gang Turf" concepts in present-day society. The rule of the day was that might makes right and the Tribe with the most arrows and warriors won the day.