Tecumseh believed that the only way that American Indians could transfer land to the Americans was if every tribe agreed to it. Tecumseh wanted to force the Americans to deal with all of the tribes in unison. Separately, the individual tribes did not have much power. Together, Tecumseh hoped, they would be a major deterrent to white expansion.
Tecumseh explained his views in a letter to William Henry Harrison in 1810:
. . .the only way to stop this evil [white settlement of the Indians' land], is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land as it was at first, and should be now - for it never was divided, but belongs to all. . . .Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds and the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit [Master of Life] make them all for the use of his children?
Unfortunately for the American Indians in the region, Tecumseh's Confederacy failed. Many American Indians refused to relinquish their white ways and end their friendships with the Americans. The Anglo-American settlers also greatly outnumbered the American Indians and had greater access to firearms and ammunition. As Tecumseh's followers began to converge at Prophetstown, he also could not provide them with adequate food and shelter. To acquire white goods, American Indians engaged in the fur trade with the Americans. This trade greatly diminished the animal population in Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana Territory, leaving the Indians with less to eat.
