The Declaration of Independence—except for "merciless Indian savages"
The Declaration of Independence states: “all Men are created equal,” then hypocritically proclaims right afterward that the Indigenous inhabitants of these lands are:
“merciless Indian savages."
Thomas Jefferson is most credited for penning this famous document, but it was actually written by a committee of 5–including Benjamin Franklin & John Adams–and ratified 86 times by the Continental Congress before being signed.
So these words were more than just a document lamenting against Natives in the midst of a bitter conflict.
These words were a carefully mulled over phrase in that Natives would forever be considered “savages” in regards to their future relations with the U.S.
Figure, the Stockbridge Natives of Massachusetts and other New England tribes like the Oneida spoke the same language of rights and freedom as the colonialists on the onset of the war and bled the same red blood for the cause.
Stockbridge Sachem (Chief) Solomon Unhaunawwaunnett said, “If we are conquered our Lands go with yours, but if we are victorious we hope you will offer us our just Rights.”
All eastern tribes were leery of being caught in the middle of another white man's war after the horrific atrocities committed during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) that had concluded just a dozen years prior to the onset of Revolutionary War.
But they knew this war would affect them again nonetheless, and placed loyalties based on which side they thought would be fairest and able to garner them the most lands lost back.
In spite of most New England area tribes' efforts to aid Americans, Professor Colin G. Galloway wrote in, Dartmouth The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities.
Galloway continued, “Indian patriotism did not earn Indian people a place in the nation they helped create. For Native Americans, it seemed the American Revolution was truly a no-win situation.”
Galloway continued, “...The Stockbridge and their Oneida friends who had adopted the patriot cause found that republican blessings were reserved for white Americans.”
Before and after the Revolutionary War most Stockbridge Natives sincerely tried to adopt the white man's ways—including adopting Christianity. They were allowed to be assemblymen in their namesake Stockbridge town, but as soon as the war concluded the representative Stockbridge Native “selectmen” numbers declined rapidly until whites took over all aspects of the land and government. Most of the Stockbridge Natives were finally forced out to Wisconsin – along with many Oneida – in 1822.
Thereafter in 1824 all Natives were to be considered wards of the state under the U.S.'s newly formed BIA operating under the Department of War.
And war would continue to be the go-to policy as even peaceful tribes like the Cherokee who also adopted the white ways would be forcibly removed from their homelands, while others were simply eradicated under the cloud of the U.S.'s Manifest Destiny mindstate.