What were the Indians' strategies for dealing with European settlers? What was the "middle ground"? What was the "play-off strategy"?
The Contest for America-European nations were eager to acquire empires to spread their power around the globe and to gain sources of raw materials to boost their own economies. By the middle of the eighteenth century, both Britain and France were convinced that whichever nation gained control of the center of the continent, along the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, would ultimately dominate North America.
Indians recognized that Europeans were a threat to their land and the way of life. But they also recognized that they could not completely eliminate the Europeans. Instead, Indians generally tried to get along with Europeans as much as possible. According to one historian, Richard White, Indians struggled to find a middle ground with their new white neighbors.
Indians also realized that it was to their advantage if rival European nations struggled against one another and competed to earn and keep the Indians' friendship. Because Britain and France both sought to control eastern North America, the two nations checked each other's ambitions, and both sought Indians' cooperation. Indians' cleverly used the rivalry between European nations to preserve their own interests. Indians realized that they could best protect their lands if no European nation became too powerful. One historian had called this the play-off strategy, because Indians "played off" European powers against one another. After France was defeated in the French and Indian War (1756-1763), Indians attempted to pit American colonists and the British Empire against one another. When the American Revolution ended with defeat of the British Empire, no rival nation existed to check the spread of the new United States. With the play-off system at an end, Indians soon confronted settlers and a nation eager to expand onto their lands.