Tecumseh's Speech 'The White Men Are Not Friends To The Indians'

During this second set of readings, five authors caught my attention for their writing styles, historical relevance, relatability, creativity, and originality. During the first sets of readings after Barlow, Tecumseh and his speech “The White Men Are Not Friends to the Indians" caught my eye. Personally as a minority myself, I felt that I could relate to him to a slight degree and understand his perspective on his uphill battle against the Americans. I also felt that his speech itself was empowering because of the sense of unity and camaraderie he created with his words between the Indian people by using lines such as, "we must smoke the same pipe" (Tecumseh 517) and using their common spiritual beliefs and describing their relatable misfortunes caused by the Americans to create various bridges between the other tribes. However, I found Tecumseh 's situation as a whole tragic, since he died in battle leading his army against the Americans …show more content…
Yet, although Tecumseh and his failure to achieve his goal was sad, I still feel inspired by his story because he believed in his cause to the extent that he 'd died for and defend it despite the mixed response and success he received. I also found this piece intriguing because of how it gives us a unique perspective on America during the early 1800s, since his cause had mixed responses, and how it differed from the white man 's perspective that we are typically exposed to and learn about.
Another author that I felt I could relate to and also felt empowered by was Margaret Fuller and her piece, "Women in the Nineteenth Century". While reading her piece, I have to say that even though I prepared myself to expect a fair amount