Access Control

Open Access

Expected Graduation Date

2011

May

Honors Thesis/Project Advisor for this Particular Submission:

Kathleen A. Brown-Perez

UMass Amherst

Abstract

In this work, I analyze the methods used by the British to conquer Shawnee territory during Dunmore's War in 1774, and explore the connections between those methods and later U.S. government policy. Topics covered include the use of diplomacy, demographics, and direct force, the motivations and goals of Lord Dunmore and other key British officials, and the effects that their methods had on the Shawnee and other involved tribes. After some historical background and a comprehensive overview of the events of Dunmore's War itself, my analysis delves into the immediate causes and immediate implications of the actions taken during the war. The thesis then moves on to discuss the events of the American Revolution and their relation to Dunmore's War as an immediate successor. My analysis then moves on to an overview of later Indian wars, again with a focus on the common techniques pioneered during Dunmore's War and perfected during the 19th century. Finally, my analysis demonstrates that more recent government policies, while differing from those methods used during the war superficially, are in substance applications of the same methodology. This study provides a sense of the deep historical implications of Dunmore's War and its usefulness as a case study in the methods used by British and American imperialists to defeat and acquire territory from American Indians.

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