The land west of the Appalachian Mountains was mostly occupied by the Native American tribes. There was a royal order which preserved this land for natives during the period America was colonized by the British. With the beginning of the American Revolution back East, the threat of an attack became real to the natives. The tribes living beyond the Appalachians wanted the British to put down the rebellion thus they allied themselves with the British.
The struggle for the land continued for a long period of time. By then, France, Spain, America and the Indians were all fighting each other to gain control of the land. The main reason for this was because the land was rich in untapped minerals and they all knew that the future depended on it. Controlling the area would also mean controlling the rivers, forests and routes that had never been used before. The Assembly of Virginia gave Clark all the resources he needed to protect the county of Kentucky. This would mean thet Kentucky would be protected by Virginia. Clark was to seize back all the forts occupied by the English, make a treaty with the Indians and if possible conquer Detroit too. He was given the order by Patrick Henry secretly and they both hoped that the land to the west of the Appalachian Mountains would be part of the United States.
Works Cited
Brennan, Margaret, “Betty Zane,” in Doris Weatherford, ed., A History of Women in the United States: State-by-State Reference (Scholastic, 2003), Vol. 4, p. 207. Web
Line, Sheryl. “The Revolutionary War in the West.” HistoryBuff.com. 6TH June 2012. Web
