This unit introduces you to the circumstances of Southeast Indians after the American Revolution, as described in Creek Indian leader Alexander McGillivray’s letters to Spanish and U.S. officials. Unlike most eighteenth-century American Indians, McGillivray was literate and wrote his own letters, which grants you direct access to both his ambitions for the Creek Nation and the larger story of competing claims in the Southeast during this period. From your careful reading and analysis of these letters, you will learn that U.S. expansion into the west was both contested and not inevitable. Creeks as well as other southeastern Indians and European empires staked claims to the region and, at times, worked together to fend off American settlers. After completing this unit, you will be able to answer the central question: What do Alexander McGillivray’s letters reveal about American Indians in the Southeast following the American Revolution and their visions for the future of the continent?