June 1, 1781: Visit of Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, chief of the Kaskaskias, to Monticello

On Friday, June 1, 1781, Jefferson welcomed Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, chief of the Kaskaskias, to his mountaintop home at Monticello. Here is part of the text of his address to Ducoigne:

We, like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the same interests….You find us, brother, engaged in war with a powerful nation. Our forefathers were Englishmen, inhabitants of a little island beyond the great water, and, being distressed for land, they came and settled here. As long as we were young and weak, the English whom we had left behind, made us carry all our wealth to their country, to enrich them; and, not satisfied with this, they at length began to say we were their slaves, and should do whatever they ordered us. We were now grown up and felt ourselves strong; we knew we were free as they were, that [60] we came here of our own accord and not at their biddance, and were determined to be free as long as we should exist. For this reason, they made war on us. They have now waged that war six years, and have not yet won more land from us than will serve to bury the warriors they have lost. Your old father, the King of France, has joined us in the war, and done many good things for us. We are bound forever to love him, and wish you to love him, brother, because he is a good and true friend to us. The Spaniards have also joined us, and other powerful nations are now entering into the war to punish the robberies and violences the English have committed on them. The English stand alone, without a friend so support them, hated by all mankind, because they are proud and unjust. This quarrel, when it first began, was a family quarrel between us and the English, who were then our brothers. We, therefore, did not wish you to engage in it at all…