Indian Removal Act 1830 “Dirty Politics”. “It is impossible to civilize Indians because they were essentially inferior to the Anglo-Saxon race” -- John.

Indian Removal Act 1830

“Dirty Politics”

“It is impossible to civilize Indians because they were essentially inferior to the

Anglo-Saxon race”-- John Quincy Adams

Black Hawk War

• 1827 - US govt 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

• You have taken me prisoner with all my

warriors - I fought hard. But your guns were well-aimed. The bullets flew like birds in the air, and whizzed by our ears like

the wind through the trees in the winter. My warriors fell around me, it began to look dismal. I saw my evil

day at hand.

Quotes:

• When you read and hear these quotes, what emotions, thoughts, or questions come to your mind?

• Be ready to share your comments.

Cherokee interaction…

• After contact, the Cherokees acquired many aspects of the white neighbors with whom many had intermarried.

• Soon they had shaped a government and a society that matched the most "civilized" of the time.

Sequoyah• Cherokee Lived peacefully in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and Tennessee

• Adopted culture of whites - wrote and spoke English

• Had own written language and newspaper

• Based their government on the U.S. Constitution

William McIntosh• William McIntosh was a

controversial chief of the Lower Creeks

• He supported the United States and its efforts to obtain cessions of Creek territory.

• Alienated him from many Creeks who opposed white encroachment on Indian land.

• He supported General Andrew Jackson in the Red Stick War.

• Signed treaty that exchanged all Creek land in Georgia for $200,000

• He was shot and stabbed to death, and his house was burned down.

Indian Removal Act 1830• No sympathy for Native

Americans

• President Jackson pushes Congress to force Indians to move west of the Mississippi

• Congress established Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) as the new Indian homeland

• Cherokee resist

President Andrew Jackson 1828

What does that mean?

• What do you think the Cherokee do to “resist?”

• Be ready to share your comments.

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831

• Tribal law versus Georgia law . . . Which one?

• Georgia Guard arrest a Cherokee man who murdered another member of the Cherokee Nation.

• Georgia court found him guilty

• Cherokee said, “Georgia laws do not apply to the Cherokee Nation.”

• Supreme Court said, “Yes, they do. You have no right to sue GA (domestic dependent nation).”

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)• The Supreme Court ruled the State of Georgia had no power to

pass any law affecting the Cherokee Nation, keeping them separate from state or national laws

• Because the Cherokee Nation is a separate political community, this case guaranteed the Cherokee nation and the lands within their boundaries can have their own rules and laws.

• The decision sparked intense disagreement between the three branches of government and failed to work under the weight of Jackson’s objection.

• Responding to Chief Justice John Marshall’s written decision it was rumored Jackson remarked, “The Chief Justice has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

• Unfortunately for the Cherokee Nation, it never mattered because of what happened later.

Treaty of New Echota (1835)• After a neverending trail of treaties designed to take land

from the Cherokee Nation, the Treaty of New Echota represented the final blow to traditional Cherokee land rights.

• New Echota took all land possessed by the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi and gave it to the United States and reaffirmed the seven million acres and perpetual outlet commitments. – “The United States shall always have the right to make and

establish such post and military roads and forts in any part of the Cherokee country, as they may deem proper for the interest and protection of the same and the free use of as much land, timber, fuel and materials of all kinds for the construction and support of the same as may be necessary…”

• In a letter to Congress, Chief John Ross said the Treaty of New Echota and its penalties on the people of the Cherokee Nation was illegal.

• His words echo through the history of treaty negotiations between Native Americans and the government of the United States.

– “We are overwhelmed! Our hearts are sickened, our utterance is paralyzed, when we reflect on the condition in which we are placed, by the audacious practices of unprincipled men, who have managed their stratagems with so much dexterity as to impose on the Government of the United States, in the face of our earnest, solemn, and reiterated protestations. The instrument in question is not the act of our Nation; we are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people.”

Trail of Tears 1838 - 39• Georgia militia brutally rounds up 17,000• Destination: Oklahoma• 800 miles – 6 months: boat, railroad, foot• 25% (¼) Cherokee die along the way• New land far inferior (remember the story I told

you at the beginning of the year??)• Became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a

direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny").

1. Why was William McIntosh murdered by his own people?A. He signed a treaty giving up the last Creek

lands in Georgia to the federal government

B. He was the cousin of Georgia’s Governor George Troup

C. He fell to defeat in a fight with the Georgia militia

D. He became friendly with the Cherokee

2. What was Sequoyah’s (George Gist) major contribution to the Cherokee culture?A. He signed a treaty giving Cherokee lands to the

United States

B. He signed a treaty moving the Cherokee to the Indian Territory

C. He gained fame as a hunter and trapper and treaded the fur for weapons

D. He developed a syllabry so the Cherokee could have a written language

3. When Andrew Jackson said, “John Marshall has rendered his decision, now let him enforce it,” he meant that theA. President would see that troops were sent to enforce the

decision

B. Congress and the president agreed with and supported the decision

C. Supreme Court was the supreme law of the land and could do whatever it wanted

D. Supreme Court could not enforce the decision without the support of the president

4. The intent of the Indian Removal Act was toA. Destroy the native American way of life

B. Remove the native Americans from the eastern United States

C. Help the native Americans buy land east of the Mississippi River

D. Remove the Native Americans to reservation in the eastern part of the United States

5. The removal of the Cherokee from Georgia is remembered as the A. Long Journey Home

B. Overland Trail

C. Trail to Nowhere

D. Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears Assignment remember the story I told you at the beginning of the year??)

• Write a three entry diary about your experiences on the Trail of Tears and how your life was/will be affected by the move from Georgia to Oklahoma.

• Entry One - Before you leave (court case)• Entry Two - On the Trail (struggles during the trip)• Entry Three - When you arrive in Indian Territory (how

life has changed)• Detail earns points - cover emotion, fears, pain,

successes with colorful adjectives and adverbs

• Due next class