Tennessee History, 1790-1830s

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1. Describe the role of the Tennessee frontier in the American Revolution. Consider the causes the typical westerner fought for and contrast their causes with the motivations and actions of the Tennessee Indians. Be sure to support this answer with examples.

The American Revolution was a political movement that ended British control of the south-eastern coastal area of North America, resulting in the formation of the United States of America in 1776 and sparking the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Since the British Proclamation of 1758 gave the Cherokee sovereignty from the crest of the Southern Appalachians westward (which included Tennessee), the Crown had never officially recognized British citizenry west of the boundary, but things were beginning to change in the region and the historic hostilities between natives and settler began to erupt. In 1774, border hostilities broke out between the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania over border claims and how to deal with the native tribes. The argument was further agitated by the actions of the Cherokee, Mingos, Wyandots, Shawnees, and Delawares who were divided over settlement of the region by the European colonists. http://www.americanrevolution.org/ind1.html The American Indians' main cause and motivation was to keep their land from being taken over, whereas the Westerners fought for expansion and independence.

Finger (n.d.) refers to a two-part definition of "frontier": first, as that time in Tennessee from the early interaction of Native Americans and Euro-Americans and ending when the latter gained effective hegemony; and second, that period of Euro-American development lasting until the emergence of a market economy. Thus, the late 1830s when the Cherokees made their last land cession and the tribal majority moved westward was the final, decisive acquisition of land by white and demonstrated effective hegemony. http://www.amazon.de/Tennessee-Frontiers-Transition-Trans-Appalachian-Frontier/dp/0253339855

The Tennessee Frontier played a major role in the American Revolution through such things as important ...