Indian Removal

Chapter 10, Section 3

Moving Native Americans

• Large numbers of Native Americans still lived east especially in the Southeast.

• In Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi lived the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole)

• These tribes had established successful farming economies.

• Many settlers wanted the 5CT’s land…why?

Moving Native Americans

• Few Americans wanted to move to the lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

• The land was dry and seemed unsuitable for farming.

• Whites demanded the fertile farmlands of the 5CT and wanted the 5CT to move to the lands west of the Mississippi River.

• Pres. Jackson supported the settlers demands.

Indian Removal Act (1830)

• Congress responded with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

• Allowed the federal government to pay Native Americans to move west.

• Most Native Americans felt compelled to accept the monies offered for their lands.

• In 1834, Congress created the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma for NA’s to move to.

Indian Removal

• The Choctaw were the first Indians sent to the Indian Territory.

• The Mississippi legislature abolished the Choctaw government and forced them to sign the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. In the treaty, the Choctaw gave up more than 7.5 million acres of land.

• Disastrous winter trip…about ¼ died from cold, disease, or starvation

Indian Removal- Creek and Chickasaw

• News of the Chocktaw’s hardships caused many Indians to resist removal.

• The Creek resisted in 1836 and federal troops moved in and captured 14,500 of them. Many were led in chains to their new home.

• The Chickasaw negotiated a treaty for better supplies on their trip to Indian Territory. Nevertheless, many still died on the trip.

The Cherokee

• Many Cherokees believed that they could prevent conflicts with and removal by whites if they adopted white culture.

• In the early 1800’s, they invited in missionaries, set up schools where Cherokee children learned how to read and write English. They developed a government modeled after the Constitution and the US government.

• They developed their own written language and printed a newspaper written in both English and Cherokee.

The Cherokee

• This adoption of white culture was not enough to protect the Cherokee.

• After gold was discovered on their land, their treaty rights were ignored.

• When they refused to move, the Georgia militia began attacking Cherokee towns.

• In response, the Cherokee sued the state of Georgia.

Worcester v. Georgia

• In the 1790’s, the US gov’t had recognized the Cherokee people in the state of Georgia as a separate “nation” with their own laws.

• Georgia refused to recognize Cherokee status.• The Cherokees sued the state of Georgia

claiming that since they were an independent nation the state of Georgia had no legal power over their lands.

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

• The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Georgia had no right to interfere with the Cherokee.

• Only the US government had authority over matters involving the Cherokee.

• Pres. Jackson supported Georgia and vowed to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling.

• “John Marshal has made his decision , now let HIM enforce it!”

The Trail of Tears

• In 1837, the US persuaded a few Cherokee to sign a treaty to give up their lands.

• Most of the 17,000 Cherokee refused to honor the treaty.

• The Cherokee wrote a protest letter to the government and a plea to the American people.

• Jackson wasn’t impressed….

The Trail of Tears (con’t)

• In 1838, Jackson sent Gen. Winfield Scott to remove the Cherokee from their ancestral homelands, by force if necessary.

• The Cherokees realized that fighting would be useless and started the long march to OK.

• Brutal weather along the way claimed several thousand Cherokee lives.

• Known as the Trail of Tears

Native American Resistance

• In 1832, Sauk chieftan Black Hawk, led a force of Sauk and Fox peoples to recapture their homelands in Illinois which they had given up by treaty.

• The Illinois state militia and federal troops responded with force (4,500 troops).

• They chased the Sauk and Fox to the Mississippi River and slaughtered most of them as they tried to flee westward to Iowa.

The Seminoles

• The Seminoles were the only Native Americans who successfully resisted their removal.

• Instead of leaving their land, Chief Osceola decided to go to war against the U.S.

• In 1835, the Seminoles joined forces with a group of runaway slaves and attacked white settlements.

The Seminoles

• In Dec. 1835, the Seminoles ambushed soldiers under the command of Major Francis Dade. Only a few of Dade’s 110 soldiers survived.

• More Federal troops and supplies poured into Florida.

• By 1842, more than 1500 soldiers had died in the Seminole Wars.

• The US gave up and allowed some of the Seminole to remain in Florida.

CONCLUSION

• By 1842, only a few scattered groups of Native Americans lived east of the Mississippi River.

• Native Americans had given up more than 100 million acres of land to the federal gov’t.

• In return, they had received about $68 million and 32 million acres of land west of the Mississippi River.

• They were forced to live on reservations.

Conclusion

• The 5CT were relocated in the eastern half of Oklahoma. These lands were claimed by several Plains Indian groups (Osage, Commanche, and Kiowa).

• These tribes allowed the 5CT to live in peace.• The 5CT developed governments, improved

their farms, built schools and developed their own police force called the Lighthorsemen.