Indian Lands Shall Never Be Taken From Them Without Their Consent - Native Lands and the Nation’s Founding.

The Founding Fathers explicitly recognized the sovereignty of Indian tribes — Native nations — in the earliest documents laying the foundations of the United States. In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Congress clearly stated that “[tribal lands] shall never be taken from them without their consent,” and that “utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians.”

But what happened in the next few decades — from the 1780s to 1815 — set the U.S. on the path that ultimately deprived Indian tribes of 95 percent of their original lands. This talk, related in a storytelling style, explains what happened.

The talk is based on my 2023 book, Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison’s Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation.