Resistance and Rebellion in the Americas

In North America, following the British victory over the French in the French and Indian War, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763. This act reserved all the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River for Native Americans—the first time a European government had recognized the territorial rights of indigenous peoples. However, the British colonists resented this interference in colonial affairs. After winning independence, citizens of the new United States soon overran the Ohio and Illinois river valleys, displacing Native Americans.

Cherokee Nation After 1800, the Cherokee assimilated to white settler culture, adopting colonial methods of farming, weaving, and building. They developed a syllabic alphabet for writing their language. Within a short time, almost the entire tribe was literate, and the Cherokee Phoenix became the first Native American newspaper in the United States. The Cherokee nation adopted a constitution based on the U.S. Constitution.

But assimilation did not save the Cherokee from white Americans’ greed. After the discovery of gold in 1829 on Cherokee land in Georgia, attempts began to force the Cherokee off their land. After Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Cherokee and other Southeast Native American tribes were forced to relocate to what is now Oklahoma. U.S. expansionism continued, affecting many Native American peoples.

Ghost Dance In the northwestern United States around 1869, prophet- dreamers among the Northern Paiute Indians announced that the dead would soon come back and drive out the whites, restoring the lands and traditions of Native Americans. The Ghost Dance rituals of dances and songs were meant to hasten this event. The Ghost Dance spread from the Sierra Nevada to the Missouri River and from northern Texas to the Canadian border. It reached the Sioux by 1890, coinciding with the Sioux revolts. Sioux warriors wore “ghost shirts.” However, the Ghost Dance resistance movement fell at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, marking the end of the Indian Wars.

Túpac Amaru II José Gabriel Condorcanqui was a cacique (hereditary chief) in southern Peru. He was descended from the last Inca ruler, Túpac Amaru, and took the name Túpac Amaru II. Born around 1740, he continued to identify with his Inca heritage in spite of having received a formal Jesuit education. In 1780 he arrested and executed a colonial administrator, charging him with cruelty. This action led to the last general Indian revolt against Spain, which at first was supported by some criollos (Spaniards born in America). The revolt spread throughout southern Peru and into Bolivia and Argentina before Túpac Amaru II and his family were captured in March 1781. They were taken to Cuzco, the former capital of the Inca empire. There Túpac Amaru II was forced to watch as his wife and sons were executed before he was tortured and executed himself.

French Intervention in Mexico In 1863 a group of Mexican conservatives conspired with Emperor Napoleon III of France to overthrow the liberal government of Benito Juárez, a full-blooded Zapotec. Mexico owned France money, and Napoleon III wanted to further his imperialist ambitions. He offered to make a European noble, Archduke Maximilian, the emperor of Mexico. Maximilian was crowned on June 10, 1864. After three more years of war, Mexicans forced the French to withdraw from Mexico. Maximilian was executed on June 19, 1867, and Juárez resumed the presidency.