Impact of westward movement on the American Indians (First Americans)

Manifest Destiny  The notion that the United States was a superior country and had a right to invade, conquer, and occupy the North American continent and beyond.

 During this period of westward migration, the American Indians were repeatedly defeated in violent conflicts with settlers and soldiers.  They were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands.

Removal of the Indians  Native Americans were viewed as “savages,” not only uncivilized but uncivilizable.  Most whites hungry for valuable land wanted the Indians removed from east of the Mississippi River.

Black Hawk War,  The Sauk (Sac) and Fox Indians under Chief Black Hawk fought against the whites along the Mississippi in Illinois and Wisconsin, hoping to regain their tribal lands.

 Soundly defeated and even attacked while trying to surrender and many were slaughtered.

The Five Civilized Tribes  The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw in the South in valuable cotton-growing territory.  Lived in agricultural societies, not nomadic.

 In 1830, Congress passed the Removal Act, paying the Indians for the land and removing them to the West

Trail of Tears  The Cherokee, who had adopted many European ways, tried to resist.  In 1838, the US government forced out the remaining 15,000-17,000 from Georgia.

 About 4,000 died of small pox, along with starvation and exposure, en route to resettlement in the Indian Territory in what later became Oklahoma.

Trail Video

Seminoles Resisted  The Seminoles had signed agreements with the US to resettle in the Indian Territory.  Most left Florida, but a small minority resisted under the leadership of the chieftain Osceola.

 A group of runaway slaves joined Osceola in his fights against removal.  The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 until  The US lost about 1,500 soldiers and spent $20 million.

Meaning of the Removal  By the end of the 1830s, virtually all the important Indian societies east of the Mississippi had been removed to the West.

 The forcible removal of the American Indians from their lands continued throughout the remainder of the 19th century as settlers continued to move west following the Civil War.