Julie Borrego

English 48a

Journal for Native American Contact and Conflicts

“I am your Maker of mankind; and because I love you, you must do my will. The land on which you live I have made for you, and not for others.”

Summary: This quote is from the “Speech at Detroit”, where Pontiac is speaking of his vision, of how they must fight to remove the whites off their lands.

My Ideas: I find Pontiac using their “God” to justify the war against the whites similar to the whites claiming that their “God” had given them the New Worlds land. However I do not blame the Ottawa Indian for wanting to join forces with other tribes to defend their land. They had no other choice. As I read the other accounts, the Natives did at first some, accepted the White people and tried to live with them peacefully, but I always ends up with the Whites demanding more land and more of the Natives, to the point that they are forcing the Natives off their own land.

I also find it sad that some of the speeches and stories may not be exactly true and may have been interpretation by the person who is writing the stories down wrong. It is sad that a whole culture had no real written documentation.

Another thing I find interesting is how the Natives who assimilated into the white culture took on white names. So there could be traceability, eventually to their tribe by their distant relatives.

As I read this I think of my Great Grandmother who was Choctaw, and the only reason why we know this is because of a distant uncle. We do not have any documentation; as for sure she wanted to keep it under wraps. But as you look at pictures she was Native American. We just do not have any connection to the tribe, because she had to keep it a secret and that make me sad.