Native Americans http://www.manataka.org/page2233.html
A. Background Information
1000’s of tribes lived throughout America www.emersonkent.com
Native Americans lived off the land and taught the first Americans how to survive through hunting and farming
B. The Indian Removal Act Jackson wanted to open Indian land up for American settlement Under pressure, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act frontierpartisans.com
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created to manage this This authorized moving Native Americans East of the Mississippi to west of the Mississippi The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created to manage this admin.bhbl.neric.org
C. The Choctaw The Choctaw were the first tribe forced to move Mississippi forced them to sign the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek – ceding 7.5 million acres of their land. en.wikipedia.org
Hearing of this, other tribes tried to resist Moved during the winter, the U.S. government didn’t provide enough supplies ¼ of the tribe died Hearing of this, other tribes tried to resist www.sff.net
Other Tribes Creek Indians- resisted removal but were captured and forced to march to Indian Territory Chickasaw Indians- negotiated a treaty for better supplies but many still died
D. Cherokee Resistance www.tnhistoryforkids.org
1. The Cherokee adapt Thinking they could avoid conflict, they adopted white culture Created a government similar to the U.S. Children were taught English Sequoya created an alphabet for the Cherokee language www.tnhistoryforkids.org
2. Gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia
3. Georgia tried to push the Cherokee out
4. Worchester v. Georgia The Cherokee claimed they had a treaty with US government so they could not be pushed out by Georgia The Cherokee filed a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court The Supreme Court sided with the Cherokee
5. Andrew Jackson refused to honor the decision made by the court
6. The Federal Army was sent to remove the Cherokee, not protect them !
7. Trail of Tears – An 800 mile march which resulted in the death of ¼ of the tribe.
D. Other Native Americans Resist
1. The Fox and Sauk Led by Black Hawk they tried to fight After they ran out of food and supplies, they were removed http://jamesayers.com/2010/08/01/keokuk-sac-and-fox-chief/
2. The Seminoles Leadership was forced to sign a treaty; followers ignored it Osceola led his people to resist by force – he was captured and died in prison 4,000 were moved but officials gave up, some descendants still live there www.sonofthesouth.net