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1. What term did Lewis use to address Otoe? What does that suggest about how
did he view them?
2. In the speech, Lewis referred to a “great father” and “great chief.” Who was this?
Why do you think Lewis used these terms?
![**Document E: Meriwether Lewis’s Speech to the Otoe**
Captain Meriwether Lewis gave the following speech to a band of Otoe during the council of Camp Calumet Bluff on August 4, 1804.
*Children* . . . we have come to inform you, as we go also to inform all the nations of red men who inhabit the borders of the Missouri, that a great council was held between this great chief of the Seventeen great nations of America [the United States], and your old fathers the French and Spaniards; and that in this great council it was agreed that all the white men of Louisiana . . . should obey the commands of this great chief. . . .
*Children* . . . you are to live in peace with all the white men, for they are [the great chief's] children; neither wage war against the red men your neighbors, for they are equally his children and he is bound to protect them. . . .
*Children*. Do these things which your great father advises and be happy . . . lest by one false step you should bring upon your nation the displeasure of your great father, the great chief of the seventeen great nations of America, who could consume you as the fire consumes the grass of the plains . . . The mouths of all the rivers through which the traders bring goods to you are in his possession, and if you displease him he could at pleasure shut them up and prevent his traders from coming among you; but it is not the wish of your great father to injure you. On the contrary, he is now pursuing the measures best calculated to insure your happiness. . . .
*Children*. We hope that the Great Spirit will open your ears to our councils, and dispose your minds to their observance. Follow these councils and you will have nothing to fear, because the Great Spirit will smile upon your nation, and in future ages will make you outnumber the trees of the forest.
**Source:** Lewis and Clark to the Otoe Indians, August 4, 1804.](https://content.bartleby.com/qna-images/question/fe1fdf2a-71c6-4c86-9d7a-7399a8ce0802/975abd65-9490-4ff5-8331-a590f2667aa7/pi9mx3i_processed.png)
Transcribed Image Text:**Document E: Meriwether Lewis’s Speech to the Otoe**
Captain Meriwether Lewis gave the following speech to a band of Otoe during the council of Camp Calumet Bluff on August 4, 1804.
*Children* . . . we have come to inform you, as we go also to inform all the nations of red men who inhabit the borders of the Missouri, that a great council was held between this great chief of the Seventeen great nations of America [the United States], and your old fathers the French and Spaniards; and that in this great council it was agreed that all the white men of Louisiana . . . should obey the commands of this great chief. . . .
*Children* . . . you are to live in peace with all the white men, for they are [the great chief's] children; neither wage war against the red men your neighbors, for they are equally his children and he is bound to protect them. . . .
*Children*. Do these things which your great father advises and be happy . . . lest by one false step you should bring upon your nation the displeasure of your great father, the great chief of the seventeen great nations of America, who could consume you as the fire consumes the grass of the plains . . . The mouths of all the rivers through which the traders bring goods to you are in his possession, and if you displease him he could at pleasure shut them up and prevent his traders from coming among you; but it is not the wish of your great father to injure you. On the contrary, he is now pursuing the measures best calculated to insure your happiness. . . .
*Children*. We hope that the Great Spirit will open your ears to our councils, and dispose your minds to their observance. Follow these councils and you will have nothing to fear, because the Great Spirit will smile upon your nation, and in future ages will make you outnumber the trees of the forest.
**Source:** Lewis and Clark to the Otoe Indians, August 4, 1804.
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