INDIAN REMOVAL IN THE UNITED STATES

As the population grew, the colonists pushed farther west into the territories occupied by the American Indians.

Inevitably, this movement led to clashes over land.

How did the Proclamation of 1763 attempt to solve this problem How did the Proclamation of 1763 attempt to solve this problem? Was it successful?

The Proclamation of 1763 forbade settlement west of the Appalachians in hopes of eliminating conflict between the colonists and the natives living in the Ohio River Valley.

Black Hawk War 1827 – US Gov. says all Native Americans must leave Illinois Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk refuses, saying no one can own land US settlers moved into village when they were away hunting After Sauk attacks, US troops drive out Indians

By the time Andrew Jackson became President in 1829, the native population east of the Mississippi River had dwindled to 125,000.

In contrast, the non-Indians population had risen to 13 million.

In the 1820s, most whites had strong feelings about the Native Americans still living east of the Mississippi River. Some whites hoped that the Native Americans could adapt to the white people’s way of life. Others did not want to live near the “uncivilized” Native Americans and felt Indians should move in order to avoid conflict over land.

The cotton boom in Georgia changed life for the Cherokees As the cotton boom spread across the South, more settlers moved westward looking for farmland. The demand for new land for cotton cultivation led many settlers to desire Cherokee lands in Georgia and Tennessee.

The discovery of gold on their land in Georgia changed life for the Cherokees. Now miners joined settlers in wanting Cherokee lands, and demands to move the Cherokees increased. Georgia passed laws that gave them the right to take over Native American lands. When the Cherokee and other tribes protested, President Andrew Jackson supported Georgia.

Indian Removal Act President Jackson pushes Congress to force Indians to move west of the Mississippi Congress established Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) as the new Indian homeland US Gov. creates Bureau of Indian Affairs

Jackson saw Indian Removal as an opportunity to provide for the needs of the white farmers and businessmen. He also claimed that removal was also in the best interest of the Indians. Why?

Jackson to the Indians: “Where you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other to live in harmony and peace. Your game is gone, and many of your people will not work and till the earth. . . The land beyond the Mississippi belongs to the President and no one else, and he will give it to you forever.”

Many members of the “Five Civilized Tribes” (including the Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles) wanted to stay in their lands east of the Mississippi River.

How did the Five Civilized Tribes try to avoid removal?

Cherokee Indians Lived peacefully in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and Tennessee Wrote and spoke English Had own written language and newspaper (Cherokee Phoenix) Based their government on the U.S. Constitution Many converted to Christianity Some Cherokee even established plantations and owned African slaves

How did Georgia begin the removal process of the Cherokee and the other members of the Five Civilized tribes within its border?

In an agreement with the federal government, the state of Georgia gave up claims to large tracts of western land in exchange for the federal government negotiating treaties for Indian removal.

Throughout the late 1820s, legal conflict over ownership of Cherokee lands led the issue to the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court.

What We Already Know The Supreme Court ruling in Marbury v. Madison gave the courts the power of judicial review, meaning that courts can declare a law or executive action unconstitutional.

Cherokee Sue For Land Cherokee sued the government of Georgia for taking their land Worcester vs. Georgia

Understanding Check 1. What event happened that invalidated the Proclamation of 1763? 2. There were two major events that made the Cherokee ancestral lands in Georgia attractive to White Americans. Name one of them. 3. Who was the president when the 1830 Indian Removal Act was passed? 4. List 3 ways that the Cherokees assimilated to the White American culture or way of life. 5. How did the Cherokee choose to fight the American government’s Indian Removal policy?

How do you think the Supreme Court decided? Why?

The Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Marshall ruled the Cherokee could keep their lands because of earlier federal treaties.

Furthermore, the court ruled the existing treaty was an agreement between two nations and couldn’t be overruled by Georgia.

What do you think President Jackson and the Georgia did next?

Georgia ignored the court’s ruling Georgia ignored the court’s ruling. President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling. He remarked, “Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

As part of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, federal agents convinced some tribal leaders to sign removal treaties with the government. These treaties were often signed without the approval of the tribes’ other members. One of these unauthorized treaties was the 1835 Treaty of New Echota, negotiated by dissident members of the Cherokee nation, but never approved by any Cherokee with tribal authority.

In 1838, the Georgia militia was ordered to force the Cherokee out of Georgia.

17,000 Cherokees were brutally rounded up and marched to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

“… When I passed the last detachment of those suffering exiles and thought that my native countrymen had thus expelled them from their native soil and their much loved homes, and that too in this [harsh] season of the year in all their suffering, I turned from the sight with feelings which language cannot express and ‘wept like childhood then.’”

“… I felt that I would not encounter the secret silent prayer of one of these sufferers armed with the energy that faith and hope would give it (if there is a God who avenges the wrongs of the injured) for all the lands of Georgia!” Adopted from “A Native of Maine, traveling in the Western Country” in New York Observer, Jan. 26, 1839 as found in Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians by Grant Foreman (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972).

As many as 4,000 died along the “Trail of Tears.”

One-fourth of all Cherokee died from exposure to cold, disease or starvation.

“I fought through the Civil War and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.” Georgia Soldier involved in removal process

Other Native American groups also resisted Indian removal. In 1835, the Seminoles refused to leave Florida, leading to the Second Seminole War.

The Seminoles continued to fight until the war ended in 1842 The Seminoles continued to fight until the war ended in 1842. Some went deeper into the Everglades, and others moved west.

The Seminoles were led by a talented chieftain named Osceola. Osceola’s band used surprise attacks in the Everglades to defeat the U.S. Army in many battles.

Osceola was tricked into capture when he came to peace talks during a truce, was kidnapped, and later died in prison

Several tribes north of the Ohio River also resisted relocation. Black Hawk led a band of Sauk and Fox back to their lands in Illinois.

Several tribes north of the Ohio River also resisted relocation. In the Black Hawk War, the Illinois Militia and the U.S. Army crushed the uprising. Bad Axe Massacre: the final battle of the war; Natives (including women and children) retreat into the Mississippi River, are shot at as they try to flee the battle. Hundreds drowned or died from their wounds.

THE END

Understanding Check 1. What was the treaty that resulted in the Cherokee being expelled from their lands? 2. What was the name given to the forced march of the Cherokee from Georgia to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)? 3. Approximately how many Cherokee died on the Trail of Tears? 4. Who led the Seminoles in their fight against relocation, and how was he captured? 5. What happened in the final battle of the Black Hawk War?