The Shawnee Leader Who Almost Built A Native American Nation — And Why His Plan Was The Last Real Chance

They were, as he had always feared, vulnerable individually in a way they would not have been collectively.

The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 in December 1814, contained a provision recognizing the rights of Native peoples who had fought on either side to return to the status they had held before the war.

In practice, this provision was meaningless: the Americans interpreted it narrowly, the British did not press for its enforcement, and the Native peoples who had supported the British cause received no meaningful protection from the treaty’s terms.

The years following the war saw the systematic removal of Native peoples from the Northwest Territory.