Transcript Indian Removal - Ms. Torres` US History

Indian Removal:
The Cherokee and Andrew Jackson
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First Encounters: The Cherokee first had
contact with the English in 1654
A typical scene at one of the settlements along the lower Little
Tennessee River, where Euro-American trade goods are being
transported and exchanged.
- Based on archaeological and ethno historical research by University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, anthropologists and historians.
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A British artist depicts three Cherokee men in
London in 1762
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After the American Revolution the Cherokee Land was inside
the new United States of America
Cherokee land
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An effort to protect the Cherokee land from white
settlers
The White people who settled on the frontier had openly violated the boundary by
intruding on the Indian lands.
…In September 1788, the U.S. Congress issued a proclamation that forbade white
settlers from settling on Cherokee hunting grounds and forced them (with their
families) to leave or suffer the consequences.
United States, August 11, 1790
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Thirty-five years later
“The Cherokees must be told, in plain language,
that the lands they occupy belong to
Georgia…”
- Georgia Governor Troup, April, 1825
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Shrinking Cherokee Land
The boundaries of the Cherokee Country prior to European arrival.
http://www.cherokeehistory.com/map1.html
From the Rare Map Collection at the University of Georgia. This collection includes maps showing the location
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Cherokee Country 1732-1838.
Shrinking Cherokee Land - continued
The boundaries of the Cherokee Country at the end of the Revolutionary War.
http://www.cherokeehistory.com/map1.html
From the Rare Map Collection at the University of Georgia. This collection includes maps showing the location
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Cherokee Country 1732-1838.
Shrinking Cherokee Land - continued
The boundaries of the Cherokee Country in the East prior to the removal demand.
http://www.cherokeehistory.com/map1.html
From the Rare Map Collection at the University of Georgia. This collection includes maps showing the location
of the Cherokee Country
1732-1838.
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Shrinking Cherokee Population
European epidemics (especially smallpox) that were introduced in the U.S. in
1540, killed at least 75% of the original native [all tribes] population. How much
the Cherokee suffered of this is not known. But the statistics below tell part of the
story of what happened to the Cherokee.
1674 – Estimated Cherokee population = 50,000
1830s – Estimated Cherokee population=25,000
http://tolatsga.org/Cherokee1.html
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The Cherokees try to adapt by
adopting the ways of the white
settlers. Changes in…
- Dress
- Language
- Economic Activity
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Adopting European dress
Traditional Cherokee Dress
Chief John Ross of
the Cherokee
in the 1830.
Cherokee
Woman
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Developing a Written Language
The Cherokee alphabet was
introduced in 1821 by Sequoyah,
the son of a Cherokee mother
and white trader.
The “Cherokee Phoenix” –
the newspaper of the
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Cherokee Nation
Developing Large Scale Farming
Western Carolina University - http://www.wcu.edu/6332.asp
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But the Cherokee Strategy of
Trying to “Adapt” to White Society
Didn’t Work
They are continually pressured to
give up their land
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The Cherokee’s land is even more desired by
whites after the discovery of gold
Gold was discovered in Georgia in 1829 and
many miners entered the Cherokee Nation."
But there was little the Cherokee could do; it
seemed the louder they protested, the more
eagerly the miners came.
- The New Georgia Encyclopedia
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h785
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In 1830 the President Jackson pushed through
Congress the “Indian Removal Act”
The law stated –
• Indians must give up their lands in the east for lands west of
the Mississippi;
• Those who wished to remain would become citizens of their
home state;
• Although “voluntary,” those who resisted would be forced to
move.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html
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Why Indian Removal?
Jackson’s Vision of “Progress
“What good man would prefer a country
covered with forests and ranged by a few
thousand savages, to our extensive
Republic studded with cities, towns, and
prosperous farms?”
-- from President Andrew Jackson, State of the Union Address, 1830
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The Indian Removal Act is Passed by Congress
and then signed by President Jackson on May
26, 1830
• The Senate passed the Indian Removal
Act by a 28–19 vote.
• The House of Representatives passed the
Indian Removal Act by a 102-97 vote.
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Not every white American supported Indian Removal in
1830 – It was part of a national debate
“despite of the undoubted national right
which the Indians have to the land of
their forefathers, and in the face of
solemn treaties, pledging the faith of the
nation for their secure possession of
those lands, it is intended, we are told, to
force them from their native soil, to
compel them to seek new homes in a
distant and dreary wilderness. “
"The evil [of removal], Sir, is
enormous; the inevitable
suffering incalculable. Do not
stain the fair fame of the country.
. . ."
-Senator Edward Everett,
Massachusetts
- Petition by Ladies in Steubenville, Ohio,
Against Indian Removal, 1830
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The Cherokees argued for their right to
remain on the land
"The land on which we stand we have
received as an inheritance from our
fathers...Permit us to ask, what better right
can the people have to a country than the
right of inheritance?...
-The Cherokee, in a letter to the United
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The Cherokee argued for their right to
remain on the land
"We wish to remain on the land of our
fathers. We have a perfect right to remain
without interruption...If we are compelled
to leave our country, we see nothing but
ruin before us.“
-Cherokee leaders, July, 1830
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The U.S. Supreme Court decides that the state of Georgia was
illegally taking Cherokee land. But…
“The Cherokee Nation is a distinct community. …In this territory,
the laws of Georgia do not apply.”
- John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
in the case of Worchester v. Georgia, 1832.
President Jackson’s Response
“John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”
- President Andrew Jackson’s response to the Supreme Court ruling,
1832
OUSD 8th grade fall history
assessment - 2011-2012
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A Group of Cherokee, led by Major Ridge, sign a treaty with the
United States Government, 1835
From The Treaty of New Echota
1.
"The Cherokee Nation [gives] to the United States all the
land claimed by said Nation east of the Mississippi River...
2.
[in return] 7,000,000 acres of land [is] guaranteed to the
Cherokees west of the Mississippi...
3.
"The United States agree that the land guaranteed to the
Cherokees shall never, without their consent, be included
within...any State or Territory [of the United States].
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Other Cherokees Oppose the Treaty of New Echota
“The opposition to the treaty is
unanimous…The whole nation of 18,000
people is with [Major Ross].
The few [who signed the treaty], about three
hundred, have left…”
- letter from agent John Mason, sent by War Department to make observations
on the Cherokee situation, 1837
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Question to Consider:
“By 1838, which would have been better
for the Cherokee Indians: to finally
accept or to continue to resist the U.S.
government’s demand they move to
new tribal lands west of the Mississippi
River?"
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