Chapter 10, Section 3

Indian Removal

Indian Removal Act

• Indian Removal Act– Passed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830– Authorized the removal of Native Americans

who lived east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West

• Displacement of thousands of Native Americans from the ancestral homelands they had occupied for thousands of years before European settlement

– Opened land for settlement of white farmers

Indian Removal Act

• Indian Territory– Established by Congress– Present day Oklahoma

• Supporters of the plan (like John C. Calhoun) argued that the removal of Native Americans would protect them from conflicts with American settlers

• Bureau of Indian Affairs– Created to manage Native American removal

Indian Removal Act

• Choctaw were first Native Americans sent to Indian Territory– Mississippi state legislature abolished the Choctaw

government– Choctaw leaders were forced to sign the Treaty of

Dancing Rabbit Creek• Gave more than 7.5 million acres of land to Mississippi

• Choctaw moved to Indian Territory during a disastrous winter trip– Federal government did not provide Choctaw with

enough supplies and food as they had promised– Forced to move on foot, 25% of the Choctaw died of

exposure, disease, and starvation

Indian Removal Act

• Choctaw’s plight motivated other tribes to resist removal– Creek resistance led to their capture by

federal troop• Forced to Indian Territory in chains

– Chickasaw• Tried to negotiate better supplies for their trip

– Many Chickasaw still perished on the journey

Cherokee Resistance

• Cherokee held the belief that they could prevent conflicts and avoid removal by using moderate assimilation – Invited missionaries to set up schools where

Cherokee children learned to read and write in English

– Developed their own government modeled after the US Constitution

– Created by Sequoya, used 86 characters to create their own writing system

– Began publishing a newspaper in both English and Cherokee

Cherokee Resistance• Assimilation attempts did not protect them

from removal– After gold was discovered on their land in

Georgia, their treaty rights were ignored– Georgia leaders prepared for their removal – Refusal to move led to attacks from the

Georgia militia– Cherokee sued the state

• Worcester v Georgia– Supreme Court Justice John Marshall ruled that the

Cherokee Nation was a distinct community in which the laws of Georgia had no force

Cherokee Resistance

• Georgia ignored the Supreme Court ruling and President Andrew Jackson took no action to enforce it– “John Marshall made his decision; now let him

enforce it”• By not enforcing the court’s decision, President

Andrew Jackson violated his oath of office to uphold the laws of the land

Cherokee Resistance

• Spring 1838– Cherokee Removal– Some escaped to North Carolina– After removal, the state of Georgia took their

businesses, farms, and property

• Trail of Tears– Forced Cherokee march to Indian Territory– 18,000 (25%) of the Cherokees perished from

disease, hunger, and exposure

Other Native Americans Resist• Other Native American Nations decided to

fight against removal– Black Hawk

• Leader of Fox and Sauk Native Americans• Led his people in a struggle to protect their lands in

Illinois• Due to lack of food, they were forced to leave by

1850

– Seminole• Osceola

– Seminole leader who called upon his people to resist with force

– Second Seminole War– Osceola captured and died in prison

• Seminoles eventually forced to move or were killed