individuals could buy or sell, only whole villages. Authors seem unaware that
most land sales before the twentieth century, including sales among whites,
transferred primarily the rights to farm, mine, and otherwise develop the land,
not the right to bar passage across it. Undeveloped private land was
considered public and accessible to all, within limits of good conduct.^83
Moreover, tribal negotiators typically made sure that deeds and treaties
specifically reserved hunting, fishing, gathering, and traveling rights to Native
Americans.^84
Most textbooks do state that conflict over land was the root cause of our
Indian wars. Pathways to the Present, for example, begins its discussion of the
War of 1812 by telling how Tecumseh met with Gov. William Henry Harrison
of Indiana Territory to complain about whites encroaching upon Indian land.
Other recent textbooks likewise emphasize conflict with the Indians, who were
seen as backed by the British, as the key cause of this dispute. All along the
boundary, from Vermont to the Georgia Piedmont, white Americans wanted to
push the boundary of white settlement ever farther into Indian country. This is a
significant change for the better; earlier textbooks simply repeated the pretext
offered by the Madison administration—Britain’s refusal to show proper
respect to American ships and seamen—even though it made no sense. After
all, Britain’s maritime laws caused no war until the frontier states sent War
Hawks— senators and representatives who promised military action to expand
the boundaries of the United States—to Congress in 1810. Whites along the
frontier wanted the war, and along the frontier most of the war was fought,
beginning in November 1811 when Harrison replied to Tecumseh’s complaint
by attacking the Shawnees and allied tribes at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The
United States fought five of the seven major land battles of the War of 1812
primarily against Native Americans.^85
All but two textbooks miss the key result of the war. Some authors actually
cite the “Star Spangled Banner” as the main outcome! Others claim that the war
left “a feeling of pride as a nation” or “helped Americans to win European
respect.” The American Adventure excels, pointing out, “The American
Indians were the only real losers in the war.” Triumph of the American Nation
expresses the same sentiments, but euphemistically: “After 1815 the American
people began the exciting task of occupying the western lands.” All the other
books miss the key outcome: in return for our leaving Canada alone, Great
Britain gave up its alliances with American Indian nations in what would