Pontiac's Rebellion, Part 1

Pontiac's Rebellion, Part 1

Pontiac's Rebellion, Part 1
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.14

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		besiegers, dispatching, engulf, forestall, happening, plotted, yearly, formerly, bouquet, ammunition, commander, diplomacy, refused, destruction, possibly, stature
	content words:		Indian War, Native Americans, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Many Native Americans, Fort Detroit, Great Lakes, Fort Niagara, Fort Pitt

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Pontiac's Rebellion, Part 1
By Mary Lynn Bushong

¹     After the French and Indian War, Native Americans in the formerly French controlled areas had to make major adjustments. The French had always shown what the natives considered proper diplomacy. The French didn't treat them as conquered people, as the arrogant British leaders did. The French often married into native tribes and gave yearly honor gifts to the chiefs of tribes.

²     The honor gifts to the chiefs increased the chief's stature among other tribes. They would also divide up some of the gifts and give them to their own people, so the whole tribe was enriched.

³     When the British took control, the yearly gifts were stopped. The man in charge, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, didn't like Native Americans and considered the gifts nothing more than bribes. That was to be the cause of just the start of the British troubles.

⁴     The French had also made a point of giving the native people free ammunition, so they could hunt more effectively. The British feared the natives would use it against them, so they refused to give them any. Then the British built forts on tribal lands without asking permission. Many Native Americans quickly tired of being treated like dirt under Amherst's feet.

⁵     In Michigan, an Ottawa chief named Pontiac did not like the direction events were taking. He had been paying attention to the Delaware prophet, Neolin, who preached that the white man's ways had poisoned Native Americans, and the English needed to be destroyed.

Paragraphs 6 to 13:
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