1577: Tecumseh Quotes by Year (1810–1813)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/10/28
How does a year-by-year chronology of Tecumseh’s 1810–1813 speeches — centering the Vincennes address and the Osage speech — clarify his common-land doctrine and intertribal-unity strategy?
1810: “You wish to prevent the Indians from doing as we wish them, to unite and let them consider their lands as the common property of the whole… You take the tribes aside and advise them not to come into this measure… You want by your distinctions of Indian tribes, in allotting to each a particular, to make them war with each other.”
1810: “The way, the only way to stop this evil is for the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be now — for it was never divided, but belongs to all. No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers… Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth?”
1810: “How can we have confidence in the white people?”
1810: “If you offer us any [presents], we will not take. By taking goods from you, you will hereafter say that with them you purchased another piece of land from us.”
1810: “It is true I am a Shawnee. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior… I am the maker of my own fortune; and oh! that I could make that of my red people, and of my country, as great as the conceptions of my mind, when I think of the Great Spirit that rules the universe.”
1811: “Brothers — the white people are like poisonous serpents: when chilled, they are feeble and harmless; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their benefactors to death.”
1811: “Brothers — we must be united; we must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each other’s battles; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit.”
1811: “Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws, in false security and delusive hopes. Our broad domains are fast escaping from our grasp.”
1811: “Let us form one body, one heart, and defend to the last warrior our country, our homes, our liberty, and the graves of our fathers.”
1812: “If we hear of the Big Knives coming towards our villages to speak peace, we will receive them; but if we hear of any of our people being hurt by them… we will defend ourselves like men… all this Island will rise as one man.”
1813: “We must compare our father’s conduct to a fat dog, that carries its tail upon its back, but when affrighted, it drops it between its legs and runs off.”
1813: “Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it be his will, we wish to leave our bones upon them.”
Last updated May 3, 2025. These terms govern all In-Sight Publishing content—past, present, and future—and supersede any prior notices. In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons BY‑NC‑ND 4.0; © In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen 2012–Present. All trademarks, performances, databases & branding are owned by their rights holders; no use without permission. Unauthorized copying, modification, framing or public communication is prohibited. External links are not endorsed. Cookies & tracking require consent, and data processing complies with PIPEDA & GDPR; no data from children < 13 (COPPA). Content meets WCAG 2.1 AA under the Accessible Canada Act & is preserved in open archival formats with backups. Excerpts & links require full credit & hyperlink; limited quoting under fair-dealing & fair-use. All content is informational; no liability for errors or omissions: Feedback welcome, and verified errors corrected promptly. For permissions or DMCA notices, email: scott.jacobsen2025@gmail.com. Site use is governed by BC laws; content is “as‑is,” liability limited, users indemnify us; moral, performers’ & database sui generis rights reserved.
In-Sight Publishing 