Basically, Native Americans viewed land as something that
was to be used communally by all the members of a tribe. There was no idea among the
Indians that land was something to be divided up, sold, and owned by
individuals.
This view of land ownership can be seen in a
speech given by the Indian leader Tecumseh, in which he is addressing William Henry
Harrison, who would later be President of the United States. Tecumseh is quoted as
saying that Indians needed to
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...unite in claiming a common and equal right in
the land, as it was at first, and should be now -- for it was never divided, but belongs
to all.
By saying
this, Tecumseh is laying out a much different understanding of land use than we have
now. He sees the land as a communal resource that is to be used by all. He does not
see it as Europeans saw it (and as we see it now), as a resource that could and should
be owned by individuals who could keep it as their own and exclude others from using
it.
This tension between Native American and European views
of land use and ownership was a major source of conflict between Natives and Europeans
for much of the history of what is now the United
States.
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