Indian Removal Act

1. Indian Removal Act Text based on text from Our Nation textbook, published in 2003 from Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

2. Some Native American communities were doing well in the early 1800s. These groups were located in the Southeast and included the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole. They had signed treaties with the federal government that gave them control of their lands and protections from new settlers. Picture available at www.black-bear-haversack.com

3. Their communities were thriving! They started schools and local governments. One achievement of this time was the development, by the Cherokee, of the first written Native American alphabet. A Cherokee silversmith named Sequoyah worked for 12 years to create the alphabet. Graphic from: www.native-languages.org His newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, is still printed today.

4. As time went on, conflict over land rights led to almost constant problems with the settlers. Then in 1830, a young Cherokee boy found gold on Cherokee lands within the state of Georgia. Picture from: www.ancienthistoricalsociety.org

5. President Jackson had fought wars with Native Americans. He was convinced that they were a threat to the growth of the United States. He came up with an idea to end this problem…

6. He decided he wanted to move all Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi. He thought this would end the trouble. Jackson urged Congress to act.

7. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This law allowed the President to remove Native Americans from their homelands and relocate them to the Indian Territory (which is now Oklahoma). www.irwinator.com

8. They were forced to sign agreements with the government. They left their land in the East and moved across the Mississippi River. Picture available at: www.cabrillo.edu

9. In 1831, the government began forcing Native Americans to leave their homes. In Alabama, some who refused were forced into slavery.

10. Everyone wanted the Cherokee’s land in Georgia. White settlers held a lottery to see who would get Cherokee farms. But the Cherokee boldly refused to leave. Led by their Chief, John Ross, the Cherokee went to the Supreme Court. In 1832, the Court ruled that Georgia could not force the Cherokee from their land.

11. The President refused to obey the Court’s decision. He ordered the Cherokee removed along with the others.

12. In 1838, U.S. soldiers rounded up the Cherokee, burned their homes, and forced them to begin the 800-mile march to Indian Territory.

13. In their own language, the Cherokee called this forced march “the place where they cried.” Later it became known as the Trail of Tears. “Trail of Tears” by Max Standley, 2003. Michelson Galleries.

14. Picture available at: www.nativeamericans.com The march took over a year. About 4,000 out of 15,000 Cherokee people died along the way, including Quatie, Chief John Ross’s wife.

15. Quatie had given her only blanket to a sick child. Picture availabe at: www.cherokee-indian-art.com

16. A man named John Burnett was an interpreter on the trail. He later wrote about he march west to the Indian Territory. “In May 1838, I saw helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes. I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the west. When the bugle sounded and the wagons started rolling many of the children rose to their feet and waved their little hands good-by to their mountain homes, knowing they were leaving them forever. Many of them had been driven from home barefooted.”

17. Native Americans were also removed from Florida. One group, the Seminole, resisted. Their chief, Osceola, organized an army that fought against United States soldiers. Picture availabel at http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us

18. Osceola was captured in 1837 and died in prison. Many Seminole retreated into Florida’s swamps. A few remained in Florida while others left.

19. By 1837, the U.S. had removed 46,000 Native Americans from their land.