CHEROKEE REMOVAL

Sequoyah Real name was George Gist Crippled from a young age Impressed with written

language of the White settlers, which he called “talking leaves”

Created a syllabary (group of symbols that stand for syllables)

His written language showed that the Cherokee could communicate with each other without using the white’s written language

Joseph Vann Son of James Vann, who

brought Moravian missionaries to the Cherokee to educate his people

His home included a 2-story brick mansion, 42 cabins, 6 barns, 5 smokehouses, a gristmill, a blacksmith, a foundry, a trading post, and a still

He was one of the first Cherokee males to inherit a majority of his father’s wealth

Worcester v. Georgia In 1830, a law was passed that

required all white people living among the Cherokee to sign an oath to the governor of GA

11 missionaries, including Samuel Worcester, refused and were arrested, tried, and sentenced to 4 years in jail

Governor gave them a pardon if they would take an oath to be loyal to the state, all but 2 (Worcester and Elizur Butler) agreed.

Worcester v. Georgia

The missionaries took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in their favor, but Georgia refused to honor the Supreme Court’s decision

Worcester and Butler eventually gave up, signed the oath, and were pardoned

Land Lottery In 1832, Georgia

divided the Cherokee land into lots and lotteried them to white settlers

Cherokees still refused to leave their land

Andrew Jackson In 1828, he was elected

Pres. of U.S. Jackson refused to honor

any of the Supreme Court rulings that protected the rights of the Cherokees

He said, “John Marshall has rendered his decision, now let him enforce it!”

John Ross 1/8 Cherokee Inherited his father’s

trading business and increased it making him very wealthy

First and only elected chief of the Cherokee Nation

Tried to petition Congress and the courts to stop the removal but was unsuccessful

Failed AttemptsThe Cherokee had tried to live like the

White settlers Built the capital city of New Echota Had a three branch government like U.S. Adopted a constitution Lived in log cabins Published a newspaper the Cherokee

Phoenix Fought with the U.S. army in the Creek

WarsStill their rights were taken

Trail of Tears In 1835, Major Ridge, John Ridge, and

Elias Boudinot (editor of the Cherokee Phoenix) signed a treaty that said all of the Cherokees would move west to the Indian territory and give up all of their land to Georgia

Six months after they arrived in the territory, these three men were killed

for breaking tribal law by giving away the land without the permission of the

tribe

Trail of Tears In 1838, General Winfield Scott and

7,000 troops forcibly moved the Cherokees into stockades—many died from disease

A few escaped to the North Carolina mountains

They were next walked 700-800 miles through winter winds and snowsto the western territory with little food About 4,000 men, women, and

children died