The Enlightened: Neolin of the Delaware/Lenape

Long before Tecumseh's revolt, Native spiritual leaders had become concerned about the effect European settlers, their liquor and luxury good were having on their people.  The first of the Native resistance movements driven by a rejection of White whiskey and luxury items was inspired by the visions of Neolin, a Delaware/Leanpe holy man, which occurred in 1761.

According to Neolin, he received a series of visions in which the Master of Life told him that indulgence by Native people in whiskey and other European goods had blocked their approach to Him.  He instructed Neolin to teach his people to abstain from alcohol and European trade goods, reverting to their traditional way of life.  Disillusioned by the vicious fighting and resultant suffering they had endured during the French and Indian War (1755-1762), Neolin's own people, the Delaware, rapidy embraced his theology, which soon spread to other tribes.  Soon, some 20  tribes near the Great Lakes and along the Mississippi, including the Ojibwe, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Seneca, Huron, Miami and Shawnee all began to seek spiritual enlightenment by rejecting Whites and the things they had to offer.

It wasn't long before some Native leaders decided to put Neolin's teachings into practice in a different way.  Though Neolin opposed armed resistance and spoke out against it, leaders such as Pontiac of the Ottawa and Gayusuta of the Seneca took up arms against the Whites and began raiding frontier settlements.  Pontiac's Rebellion was on, with the resultant tragic losses of life and land concessions when it was crushed. 

The attempt by others to forge a Native resurgence and armed resistance based on Neolin's teachings ultimately failed, but Neolin himself would be the inspiration for two other spiritual leaders, Tenskwatawa of the Shawnee and Handsome Lake of the Seneca.