The Native American Experience

Some info from http://www.pppst.com/nativeamericans.html

Native American

Population Density in

1500

Columbus?

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Early American Views of Native American Land Rights

• From the beginning of European settlement on the East Coast of what would become the United States, American colonists looked for justification to displace Native American populations.

• This piece written by John Cotton, a Puritan leader, who helped establish the groundwork for colonization and property rights as the measure for “possession” of the land. – The placing of a people in this or that country is from the

appointment of the Lord. . . – Quest. Wherein doth this work of God stand in appointing a place

for a people? – Answ. First, when God espies or discovers a land for a people, as

in Ezek. 20:6: "He brought them into a land that He had espied for them." And, that is, when either He gives them to discover it themselves, or hears of it discovered by others, and fitting them. “

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• This is an excerpt of a letter written in Boston four years after its founding, with future Connecticut governor John Winthrop explaining the difficulties of establishing a self-sustaining, self-governing settlement.

• Most notably, Winthrop described the colonists' mounting conflict with the Indians and the death of many Native Americans from smallpox as a sign of providence and good fortune.

– “Our Churches are governed by Pastors, Teachers ruling Elders and Deacons, yet the power lies in the whole Congregation and not in the Presbytery [not in a larger council of churches] further than for order and precedence. For the natives, they are near all dead of the smallpox, so the Lord hath cleared our title to what we possess.”

Indian Removal Act, 1830• President Andrew Jackson

pushes Congress to force Indians to move west of the Mississippi River

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

• US govt creates Bureau of Indian Affairs

Cherokee Indians

• Lived peacefully (however, beware of noble savage stereotype) in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and Tennessee

• Adopted some culture of whites - wrote and spoke English

• Had own written language and newspaper

• Based their government on the U.S. Constitution

Cherokee Sue For Land

• Cherokee sued the government of Georgia for taking their land

• Worcester vs. Georgia - Supreme Court rules Georgia’s actions are illegal and that the Cherokee can stay

President Andrew Jackson

“Chief Justice John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.”

1) What is the job of the Supreme Court?

2) What is the job of the President?

3) What should happen if a government official refuses to do his job?

Trail of Tears• Georgia govt. smashes in

Cherokee printing press • US troops move 18,000

Cherokee at gunpoint 800 miles from 1838-1839

• 25% of Cherokee died - most elderly and children

Now let me introduce you to my favorite place in the world…

The A-Frame

How do I know Native

Americans lived here?

Ultimate Results?

From this…

TO THIS…

Who are the “savages?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hJFi7SRH7Q