Trail of Tears - Native American History - HISTORY.com Google The “Indian Problem” White Americans, particularly those who lived on the western frontier, often feared and resented the Native Americans they encountered: To them, American Indians seemed to be an unfamiliar, alien people who occupied land that white settlers wanted (and believed they deserved). Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington , believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was simply to “civilize” the Native Americans. The goal of this civilization campaign was to make Native Americans as much like white Americans as possible by encouraging them convert to Christianity, learn to speak and read English, and adopt European-style economic practices such as the individual ownership of land and other property (including, in some instances in the South, African slaves). In the southeastern United States, many Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokee people embraced these customs and became known as the “Five Civilized Tribes.” Did You Know? Indian removal took place in the Northern states as well.

In Illinois and Wisconsin, for example, the bloody Black Hawk War in 1832 opened to white settlement millions of acres of land that had belonged to the Sauk, Fox and other native nations. But their land, located in parts of Georgia , Alabama , North Carolina , Florida and Tennessee , was valuable, and it grew to be more coveted as white settlers flooded the region. Many of these whites yearned to make their fortunes by growing cotton, and they did not care how “civilized” their native neighbors were: They wanted that land and they would do almost anything to get it. They stole livestock; burned and looted houses and towns;, and squatted on land that did not belong to them. State governments joined in this effort to drive Native Americans out of the South. Several states passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their territory. In a few cases, such as Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations “in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force.” Even so, the maltreatment continued.

As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “[fall]…still born.” Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory. Indian Removal Andrew Jackson had long been an advocate of what he called “Indian removal.” As an Army general, he had spent years leading brutal campaigns against the Creeks in Georgia and Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida–campaigns that resulted in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of acres of land from Indian nations to white farmers. As president, he continued this crusade. In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the federal government the power to exchange Native-held land in the cotton kingdom east of the Mississippi for land to the west, in the “Indian colonization zone” that the United States had acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase. (This “Indian territory” was located in present-day Oklahoma .) The law required the government to negotiate removal treaties fairly, voluntarily and peacefully: It did not permit the president or anyone else to coerce Native nations into giving up their land.

However, President Jackson and his government frequently ignored the letter of the law and forced Native Americans to vacate lands they had lived on for generations. In the winter of 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw became the first nation to be expelled from its land altogether. They made the journey to Indian territory on foot (some “bound in chains and marched double file,” one historian writes) and without any food, supplies or other help from the government. Thousands of people died along the way. It was, one Choctaw leader told an Alabama newspaper, a “trail of tears and death.” The Trail of Tears The Indian-removal process continued. In 1836, the federal government drove the Creeks from their land for the last time: 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for Oklahoma did not survive the trip. The Cherokee people were divided: What was the best way to handle the government’s determination to get its hands on their territory? Some wanted to stay and fight. Others thought it was more pragmatic to agree to leave in exchange for money and other concessions.

In 1835, a few self-appointed representatives of the Cherokee nation negotiated the Treaty of New Echota, which traded all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi for $5 million, relocation assistance and compensation for lost property. To the federal government, the treaty was a done deal, but many of the Cherokee felt betrayed: After all, the negotiators did not represent the tribal government or anyone else. “The instrument in question is not the act of our nation,” wrote the nation’s principal chief, John Ross, in a letter to the U.S. Senate protesting the treaty. “We are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people.” Nearly 16,000 Cherokees signed Ross’s petition, but Congress approved the treaty anyway. By 1838, only about 2,000 Cherokees had left their Georgia homeland for Indian territory. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process. Scott and his troops forced the Cherokee into stockades at bayonet point while whites looted their homes and belongings. Then, they marched the Indians more than 1,200 miles to Indian territory.

Whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way, and historians estimate that more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the journey. By 1840, tens of thousands of Native Americans had been driven off of their land in the southeastern states and forced to move across the Mississippi to Indian territory. The federal government promised that their new land would remain unmolested forever, but as the line of white settlement pushed westward, “Indian country” shrank and shrank. In 1907, Oklahoma became a state and Indian territory was gone for good. Tags Milestones: 1830–1860 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1830–1860 Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830 The U.S. Government used treaties as one means to displace Indians from their tribal lands, a mechanism that was strengthened with the Removal Act of 1830. In cases where this failed, the government sometimes violated both treaties and Supreme Court rulings to facilitate the spread of European Americans westward across the continent.

Andrew Jackson As the 19th century began, land-hungry Americans poured into the backcountry of the coastal South and began moving toward and into what would later become the states of Alabama and Mississippi. Since Indian tribes living there appeared to be the main obstacle to westward expansion, white settlers petitioned the federal government to remove them. Although Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe argued that the Indian tribes in the Southeast should exchange their land for lands west of the Mississippi River, they did not take steps to make this happen. Indeed, the first major transfer of land occurred only as the result of war. In 1814, Major General Andrew Jackson led an expedition against the Creek Indians climaxing in the Battle of Horse Shoe Bend (in present day Alabama near the Georgia border), where Jackson’s force soundly defeated the Creeks and destroyed their military power. He then forced upon the Indians a treaty whereby they surrendered to the United States over twenty-million acres of their traditional land—about one-half of present day Alabama and one-fifth of Georgia. Over the next decade, Jackson led the way in the Indian removal campaign, helping to negotiate nine of the eleven major treaties to remove Indians.

Depiction of William Weatherford surrendering to Andrew Jackson after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend Under this kind of pressure, Native American tribes—specifically the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw—realized that they could not defeat the Americans in war. The appetite of the settlers for land would not abate, so the Indians adopted a strategy of appeasement. They hoped that if they gave up a good deal of their land, they could keep at least some a part of it. The Seminole tribe in Florida resisted, in the Second Seminole War (1835–1842) and the Third Seminole War (1855–1858), however, neither appeasement nor resistance worked.

From a legal standpoint, the United States Constitution empowered Congress to “regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.” In early treaties negotiated between the federal government and the Indian tribes, the latter typically acknowledged themselves “to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoever.” When Andrew Jackson became president (1829–1837), he decided to build a systematic approach to Indian removal on the basis of these legal precedents. To achieve his purpose, Jackson encouraged Congress to adopt the Removal Act of 1830. The Act established a process whereby the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Indian tribes that agreed to give up their homelands. As incentives, the law allowed the Indians financial and material assistance to travel to their new locations and start new lives and guaranteed that the Indians would live on their new property under the protection of the United States Government forever. With the Act in place, Jackson and his followers were free to persuade, bribe, and threaten tribes into signing removal treaties and leaving the Southeast. In general terms, Jackson’s government succeeded.

By the end of his presidency, he had signed into law almost seventy removal treaties, the result of which was to move nearly 50,000 eastern Indians to Indian Territory—defined as the region belonging to the United States west of the Mississippi River but excluding the states of Missouri and Iowa as well as the Territory of Arkansas—and open millions of acres of rich land east of the Mississippi to white settlers. Despite the vastness of the Indian Territory, the government intended that the Indians’ destination would be a more confined area—what later became eastern Oklahoma. The Trail of Tears (Robert Lindneux, 1942) The Cherokee Nation resisted, however, challenging in court the Georgia laws that restricted their freedoms on tribal lands. In his 1831 ruling on Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that “the Indian territory is admitted to compose a part of the United States,” and affirmed that the tribes were “domestic dependent nations” and “their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian.” However, the following year the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that Indian tribes were indeed sovereign and immune from Georgia laws. President Jackson nonetheless refused to heed the Court’s decision.

He obtained the signature of a Cherokee chief agreeing to relocation in the Treaty of New Echota, which Congress ratified against the protests of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay in 1835. The Cherokee signing party represented only a faction of the Cherokee, and the majority followed Principal Chief John Ross in a desperate attempt to hold onto their land. This attempt faltered in 1838, when, under the guns of federal troops and Georgia state militia, the Cherokee tribe were forced to the dry plains across the Mississippi. The best evidence indicates that between three and four thousand out of the fifteen to sixteen thousand Cherokees died en route from the brutal conditions of the “Trail of Tears.” With the exception of a small number of Seminoles still resisting removal in Florida, by the 1840s, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, no Indian tribes resided in the American South. Through a combination of coerced treaties and the contravention of treaties and judicial determination, the United States Government succeeded in paving the way for the westward expansion and the incorporation of new territories as part of the United States.

Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents in American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress) Primary Documents in American History Indian Removal Act Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-3156 The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears." A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation This collection contains congressional publications from 1774 to 1875, including debates, bills, laws, and journals. February 22, 1830 - Senator Hugh White, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, reported A Bill to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or Territories, and for their removal West of the river Mississippi (S.

102). February 22, 1830 - The Committee on Indian Affairs issued a report (S.doc.61). April 23, 1830 - Debated in the Senate. April 24, 1830 - The Senate voted 28 to 19 to pass the Indian Removal Act (S. 102). May 17, 1830 - Debated in the House of Representatives. May 18, 1830 - Debated in the House of Representatives ( additional speeches from May 18 were published separately in the back of the volume). May 24, 1830 - Debated in the House of Representatives. May 26, 1830 - The House of Representatives voted 102 to 97 to pass the Indian Removal Act (S. 102). May 26, 1830 - The Senate concurred in the House amendments. May 28, 1830 - The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson.

December 6, 1830 - President Andrew Jackson outlined his Indian removal policy in his Second Annual Message to Congress. Jackson's comments on Indian removal begin with the words, "It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages." Additional copies of Andrew Jackson's Second Annual Message to Congress can be found in the House Journa l and the Senate Journal . The United States Congressional Serial Set contains the House and Senate documents and reports. Items related to the Indian Removal Act include: Andrew Jackson Papers The Andrew Jackson Papers contain more than 26,000 items dating from 1767 to 1874. Included are memoranda, journals, speeches, military records, land deeds, and miscellaneous printed matter, as well as correspondence reflecting Jackson’s personal life and career as a politician, military officer, president, slave holder and property owner.

A selection of references to the Indian Removal Act includes: Alfred Balch to Andrew Jackson, January 8, 1830 , "I flatter myself that Mr Bell will do justice to the interesting subject committed to his charge as Chairman of the committee of Indian Affairs— The removal of the Indians would be an act of seeming violence—But it will prove in the end an act of enlarged philanthropy. These untutored sons of the Forest, cannot exist in a state of Independence, in the vicinity of the white man. If they will persist in remaining where they are, they may begin to dig their graves and prepare to die." Andrew Jackson to John Pitchlynn, August 5, 1830 , " I beg of you to say to them, that their interest happiness peace & prosperity depends upon their removal beyond the jurisdiction of the laws of the State of Mississippi. These things have been [often times] explained to them fully and I forbear to repeat them; but request that you make known to them that Congress to enable them to remove & comfortably to arrange themselves at their new homes has made liberal appropriations.

It was a measure I had much at heart & sought to effect because I was satisfied that the Indians could not possibly live under the laws of the States. If now they shall refuse to accept the liberal terms offered, they only must be liable for whatever evils & dificulties may arise. I feel conscious of having done my duty to my red children and if any failure of my good intention arises, it will be attributable to their want of duty to themselves, not to me." Andrew Jackson to Chickasaw Chiefs, August 23, 1830 , "Brothers! If you are disposed to remove say so, and state the terms you may consider just and equitable." NATIVE HISTORY ASSOCIATION - The Indian Removal Act of 1830 Tweet The Indian Removal Act of 1830 "Removal" of the Native people east of the Mississippi to lands in the west as a policy of the United States originated with Thomas Jefferson, who was elected President in 1801.

Jefferson made a deal with the state of Georgia in 1802, promising to secure the title to all Cherokee land within the state in exchange for Georgia giving up it's claim on territory that later became the states of Mississippi and Alabama. In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase transferred title of a vast area west of the Mississippi River from France to the United States, giving Jefferson the means to not only honor the deal with Georgia, but also to solve the "Indian problem" in the eastern U.S. His plan was to acculturate the Indians, manipulate them into incurring trade debts, and then pressure them into paying off those debts by exchanging their land for parcels of the newly acquired U.S. land in the west. Indian nations that refused to be assimilated would be removed by force. Many Indian nations did make land cessions in following years. By 1819 Cherokee territory had been reduced to the point that they felt they could cede no more. The Cherokee National Council passed a law that required Council approval of any future land transfers, and the penalty for violating the law was death.

In 1828, pressure for Indian removal to the west greatly increased after the Cherokee adopted a constitution and a republican form of government modeled on that of the United States and began publishing a bi-lingual newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. This enraged many citizens of Georgia, and when the discovery of gold on Cherokee territory began to be public knowledge, Georgia's desire for the land reached a fever pitch. In November 1828 Andrew Jackson, who was known to favor Indian removal, was elected President. Barely a month after his election, the Georgia state legislature passed a law annexing Cherokee land in the state, extending Georgia state law over the Cherokee, declaring all Cherokee laws null and void after June 1830, and banning all Cherokees (and Creeks) as witnesses against any white man in court. This was the first of a series of oppressive laws aimed at forcing the Cherokee out of Georgia. The Cherokee refused to recognize Georgia's authority on Cherokee land, and the state began to actively harass Cherokee citizens.

In his State of the Union address in December, 1829 , Andrew Jackson proposed that the president of the United States be authorized to exchange land in the west for Indian land in the east and to assist the Indians with their "removal". This exchange would require ratified treaties and would be "voluntary" for the Indians, but for the tribes who refused Jackson made it clear that their existence as nations would not be tolerated and they would be subject to the laws of the states. In February 1830 Jackson's proposal was introduced in Congress as legislation commonly referred to as the Indian Removal Act . The bill was very controversial and the debate in Congress was fierce, with opposition in the Senate lead by Theodore Frelinghuysen, who gave a 6-hour speech against the bill at one point. Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and David Crockett , among many other legislators, also opposed it. Senators and Congressmen on both sides of the issue introduced many memorials from their constituents supporting or opposing the bill. On April 26, 1830, the Indian Removal Act passed the Senate on a vote of 28 to 19.

A month later, the Jacksonians finally won the fight when the act passed the House by an even narrower 6-vote margin, 103 to 97, on May 26. Jackson wasted no time in signing the bill into law on May 28, 1830. The Trail of Tears Copyright © 2013 Bernice Davidson. Used by permission. Trail of Tears In Lawrenceburg, TN by Bernice Davidson The Choctaw signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in September of 1830 and were the first to be "voluntarily" removed to Indian Territory. 5,000 Choctaws remained in Mississippi, eventually establishing a reservation in 1944 and gaining federal recognition as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in 1945. Many Muscogee (Creek) had already emigrated west under earlier treaties. In 1832 leaders of the Muscogee remaining in Alabama signed a removal treaty, but the majority resisted leaving their ancestral homeland and in 1836 the U.S. army began the forced removal of the remaining Muscogee people.

Some managed to avoid removal and stayed behind and eventually gained federal recognition as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. The Seminole in Florida signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, agreeing to move west if suitable land was found. A delegation of chiefs toured the proposed area and supposedly signed a treaty at Fort Gibson in Arkansas Territory in 1833, agreeing that the land was acceptable, but when they returned home they renounced the treaty, with some saying they never signed it and others saying they were forced to sign. The majority of Seminoles refused to move, and tensions eventually erupted into the Second Seminole War in 1835. This war lasted 7 years and resulted in the forced removal of just over 3,000 Seminoles. A small number of Seminoles managed to hide out in the swamps of south Florida. Despite a Third Seminole War in the 1850's, they never signed a peace treaty and their descendants are still there. The Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians are both federally recognized Indian tribes.

The Chickasaw in Mississippi signed a removal treaty in the summer of 1830 , but suitable land in the west could not be found. In 1832 they agreed to accept financial compensation for their land. In 1837 they bought part of the Choctaw's land in Indian Territory and removed to the west. The Cherokee resisted removal by legal means, petitioning the United States Supreme Court for relief from Georgia's anti-Cherokee laws, arguing that the laws were unconstitutional and violated treaties with the Cherokee. They eventually won their case in 1832 with the Court ruling in Worcester vs. Georgia that the Cherokee nation "is a distinct community occupying its own territory in which the laws of Georgia can have no force". This was a hollow victory however, because President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the decision, leaving the Cherokee at the mercy of Georgia's predations. Faced with what they perceived to be a hopeless cause, a minority group of Cherokee leaders signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, agreeing to move to Indian Territory.

Although the majority of the Cherokee and their elected government disavowed this treaty, the United States used it as the basis for forcing the Cherokee to remove to the west in 1838. A small group of Cherokee avoided the removal and eventually organized as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. Although the Indian Removal Act was aimed mainly at the Indian nations in the South, it was also used to negotiate removal treaties with the Shawnee, Sauk and Fox, Potawatomie, Ottawa, Omaha, Miami and other smaller tribes. Tragic Connections Some historians see a direct link between Andrew Jackson's refusal to enforce the Supreme Court decision in Worcester vs. Georgia and the outbreak of the Civil War, 23 years after the Cherokee were forcibly removed. A case can be made that letting Georgia in effect nullify federal law strengthed the South's position on state's rights. The case for this link to the Civil War has been made at least as far back as Horace Greeley's American Conflict: A History of The Great Rebellion, published in 1864.

If you accept that connection, it may not be too much of a stretch to say that the Indian Removal Act played a role in sending the entire United States down a Trail of Tears. Interpretive Sign at the Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee The Cherokee passed through Murfreesboro on the Trail of Tears in 1838, following what's now Old Nashville Pike, which lies beyond the rail fence. The Stones River National Cemetery is visible in the background. 2,971 men are known to have died in the Battle of Stones River during the Civil War in 1862-63. The Removal Act and the Trail of Tears - Thanks to Mrs Bartlett's 5th grade class in Burlington, VT for suggesting the link Middle Tennessee Historic Sites Associated With The Indian Removal Act: 1823 Nashville Toll Bridge Site - Nashville's first bridge, opened in 1823, was used by the Cherokee during the Trail of Tears in 1838. A remnant of the bridge structure is still visible in downtown Nashville.

David Crockett State Park - In Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, is named for the Tennessee frontiersman who opposed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and fought and died at the Alamo in Texas in 1836. The park features the "Trail of Tears Interpretive Retracement Trail" where visitors can hike intact sections of the original road used by a detachment of Cherokees who passed through the park on the Trail of Tears in 1838. Chickasaw Treaty Council Of 1830 - The first treaty council held under the Indian Removal Act took place in Franklin, Tennessee during the month of August in 1830. The Franklin Masonic Hall, where the Chickasaw delegation met President Andrew Jackson, still stands and is a National Historic Landmark. Old Jefferson - A hikable section of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail crosses the Old Jefferson Site, located on Corps of Engineers property in Rutherford County, near Smyrna, Tennessee. Port Royal State Park - Once used as an encampment site by the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, this Tennessee state park is an official site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

Features "The Trail of Tears" hiking trail, an original, preserved section of the Trail of Tears certified by the National Park Service. Pulaski / Giles County Trail of Tears Memorial - Located in Pulaski, Tennessee, commemorates the history of the Trail of Tears in the area. Stones River National Battlefield - The Cherokee passed through what is now Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, during their forced emigration to Indian Territory during the Trail of Tears in 1838. The route through the battlefield is part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Digital History Indian Removal Timeline late 1780's U.S. officials urge the Cherokees to abandon hunting and their traditional ways of life and to instead learn how to live, worship, and farm like Christian Americans. Many Cherokees embrace this "civilization program." Nov. 28, 1785 Hopewell Treaty with the Cherokee Georgia officials initiate agreements with the Cherokee Indians that began the ultimate disposession of the Iindian's claims to the land. The treaty was named beacuse of the site - Hopewell, Georgia. The treaty established boundaries for Cherokee hunting grounds, erected limitations on culturally significant land.

If any citizen of the United States, or other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands westward or southward of the said boundary which are hereby allotted to the Indians for their hunting grounds, or having already settled and will not remove from the same within six months after the ratification of this treaty, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him or not as they please... Article V In the treaty's conclusion, â€œthe hatchet,â€� is said to be â€œforever buriedâ€� and peace and friendship re-established. Read this Treaty 1791 Holston Treaty with the Cherokee This treaty further designates boundaries and began the progressive erosion of Cherokee land rights on non-hunting grounds. This treaty is remarkable for its aggressive language, the Cherokees â€œagreedâ€� to â€œrelinquish and cedeâ€� all lands residing outside the established demarcation line and permitted citizens of the United States access to a road running through Cherokee lands, as well as navigation of the Tennessee River. ARTICLE VI.

It is agreed on the part of the Cherokees, that the United States shall have the sole and exclusive right of regulating their trade. ARTICLE VII. 1800 As the 19th century began, land-hungry Americans poured into the backcountry of the coastal South and began moving toward and into what would later become the states of Alabama and Mississippi. Indian tribes living there are the main obstacle to westward expansion. 1802 Compact of 1802 Federal government agrees to extinguish the Indian land title and remove the Cherokees from the state. In return, Georgia gives up claims on western lands. 1803 The purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 gave U.S. president Thomas Jefferson an opportunity to implement an idea he had contemplated for many yearsâ€”the relocation of the eastern tribes beyond the Mississippi River. There, Jefferson suggested, Native Americans could acculturate at their own pace, retain their autonomy, and live free from the trespasses of American settlers. Although most Cherokees rejected Jefferson's entreaties, small groups moved west to the Arkansas River area in 1810 and 1817-19.

between 1805-1833 The state of Georgia holds a total of eight lotteries to distribute land seized from the Cherokees and Creeks. 1814 Major General Andrew Jackson led an expedition against the Creek Indians climaxing in the Battle of Horse Shoe Bend (in present day Alabama near the Georgia border), where Jacksonâ€™s force soundly defeated the Creeks and destroyed their military power. He then forced upon the Indians a treaty whereby they surrendered to the United States over twenty-million acres of their traditional landâ€”about one-half of present day Alabama and one-fifth of Georgia. Read more about the Creek indians: 1817 Treaty of Cherokee Agency This treaty marked the beginnings of a new campaign designed to divide the Cherokee nation with an ever-present eye on the ultimate goal of mass removal. Although extensive land seizure was included as part of the treaty, the nature of the governmentâ€™s grand strategy could be seen by 1817. 1817- 1827 The Cherokees effectively resisted ceding their full territory by creating a new form of tribal government based on the United States government.

Rather than being governed by a traditional tribal council, the Cherokees wrote a constitution and created a two-house legislature. In addition to this government, Cherokees learned to speak English and created a written language and adopted Christianity, becoming one of the "civilized" tribes that adopted features of white culture in place of their own. Mar. 3, 1819 An Act Making Provision for the Civilization of the Indian Tribes Adjoining the Frontier Settlements Congress passes an Act Regarding the Civilization of the Indian Tribes intended to prevent any further decline in the Indian population. However, the provisions outlined in this Act had the opposite effect. The President was given authority and funds to take any actions that he saw fit to make the Indians more civilized. the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby authorized, in every case where he shall judge improvement in the habits and condition of such Indians practicable, and that the means of instruction can be introduced with their own consent, to employ capable persons of good moral character, to instruct them in the mode of agriculture suited to their situation; and for teaching their children in reading, writing, and arithmetic and performing such other duties as may be enjoined...

Congress authorizes an annual sum of $10,000.00 as a "civilization fund" to teach agriculture, reading, writing, and arithmetic to American Indian people, in hopes that they will adopt the ways of white society. May 6, 1822 An Act to Abolish the United States Trading Establishment with the Indian Tribes This act, passed by Congress, allowed all excess materials collected through the termination of trade with the Indians to be at the President's disposal. He was given the authority to sell them as he saw fit, and to use the profits to carry out this act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States shall be, and hereby is, authorized and required to cause the business of the United Statesâ€™ trading-houses among the Indian tribes to be closed, and the accounts of the superintendent of Indian trade, and of the factors and sub-factors, to be settled... Feb. 28, 1823 Supreme Court Case: Johnson v. McIntosh The Supreme Court held that private citizens could not purchase lands directly from Native Americans.

The Court determined that the United States government had acquired fee title to the land based on the longstanding practices of European colonization, and therefore Native Americans could sell their land only to the U.S. government. For more information: 1828 Treaty of Washington This treaty addressed members of the Cherokee nation west of the Mississippi, guaranteeing them seven million acres of land and a â€œperpetual outletâ€� west as far â€œas the sovereignty of the United States,â€� extends. Such agreements set the stage for the justification of mass removal. ...it is further agreed, on the part of the United States, that to each Head of a Cherokee family now residing within the chartered limits of Georgia, or of either of the States, East of the Mississippi, who may desire to remove West, shall be given, on enrolling himself for emigration, a good Rifle, a Blanket, and Kettle, and five pounds of Tobacco: (and to each member of his family one Blanket,) also, a just compensation for the property he may abandon, to be assessed by persons to be appointed by the President of the United States.

The cost of the emigration of all such shall also be borne by the United States, and good and suitable ways opened, and provisions procured for their comfort, accommodation, and support, by the way, and provisions for twelve months after their arrival... Dec. 20, 1828 The state of Georgia, fearful that the United States would not affect (as a matter of Federal policy) the removal of the Cherokee Nation tribal band from their historic lands in Georgia; enacted a series of laws which stripped the Cherokee of their rights under the laws of the state, with the intention to force the Cherokee to leave the state. The Georgia legislature annulled the Cherokee constitution and ordered seizure of their lands. January, 1829 John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation tribal band, led a delegation to Washington in to resolve disputes over the non-payment of annuities to the Cherokee, and to seek Federal sustainment of the boundary between the territory of the state of Georgia and the Cherokee Nation's historic tribal lands within that state. Rather than lead the delegation into futile negotiations with President Jackson, Ross wrote an immediate memorial to Congress, completely forgoing the customary correspondence and petitions with the President. April, 1829 John H.

Eaton, secretary of war, informed John Ross that President Jackson would support the right of Georgia to extend her laws over the Cherokee Nation late 1829 North Georgia is flooded by thousands of prospectors lusting for gold. Niles' Register reported in the spring of 1830 that there were four thousand miners working along Yahoola Creek alone. A writer in the Cherokee newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, said, Our neighbors who regard no law, or pay no respect to the laws of humanity, are now reaping a plentiful harvest by the law of Georgia, which declares that no Indian shall be a party in any court created by the laws or constitution of that state. These neighbors come over the line, and take the cattle belonging to the Cherokees. The Cherokees go in pursuit of their property, but all that they can effect is, to see their cattle snugly kept in the lots of these robbers. We are an abused people. If we can receive no redress, we can feel deeply the injustice done to our rights. Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate, Wednesday, May 27, 1829 Jan.

1, 1830 With a force of some 30 Cherokee and the permission of federal government, Major Ridge evicts whites who have illegally settled Cherokee land along the Georgia-Alabama border about 30 miles southwest of present-day Rome, Georgia. The act infuriates Georgia politicians. May 28, 1830 Indian Removal Act Authorized the federal government to negotiate treaties with eastern tribes exchanging their lands for land in the West. All costs of migration and financial aid to assist resettlement are provided by the government. Mar. 18, 1831 Supreme Court Case: Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia Chief Justice John Marshall declared that â€œthe Indian territory is admitted to compose a part of the United States,â€� and affirmed that the tribes were â€œdomestic dependent nationsâ€� and â€œtheir relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian.â€� Marshall denies Indians the right to court protection because they are not subject to the laws of the Constitution.

He says that each Indian tribe is "a distinct political entity...capable of managing its own affairs." 1831-1832 Choctaw Removal Alexis De Tocqueville was visiting Memphis when the Choctaw arrived on their way west. He wrote: " The wounded, the sick, newborn babies, and the old men on the point of death...I saw them embark to cross the great river and the sight will never fade from my memory. Neither sob nor complaint rose from that silent assembly. Their afflictions were of long standing, and they felt them to be irremediable." Read more about the Choctaw removal: 1832 Supreme Court Case: Worcester v. Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the federal government, not the states, has jurisdiction over Indian territories. The case concerned a missionary living among the Cherokees, Samuel A. Worcester, who was jailed for refusing to comply with a Georgia law requiring all whites residing on Indian land to swear an oath of allegiance to the state. In ruling against Georgia's actions, Chief Justice John Marshall writes that Indian tribes must be treated "as nations" by the national government and that state laws "can have no force" on their territories.

Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was entitled to federal protection over those of the state laws of Georgia. The Court ruled â€œthe Indian nation was a â€œdistinct community in which the laws of Georgia can have no forceâ€� and into which Georgians could not enter without the permission of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties. Defying the court, Georgia kept Worcester in jail, and President Andrew Jackson, when asked to correct the situation, says, "The Chief Justice has made his ruling; now let him enforce it." An outraged President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the ruling. Instead, Jackson used the funding from his newly created Indian Removal Act of 1830 to forcibly remove the recalcitrant tribes. 1832 The Choctaw complete their forced removal to the West under army guard. 1834 Congress restructures the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Department of Indian Affairs, expanding the agency's responsibilities to include both regulating trade with the tribes, as before, and administering the Indian lands of the West. 1832- 1833 The Seminoles signed treaties but refused to let them be carried out.

They fled to the swamps of Florida where, aided by run-away slaves, they carried out a guerilla warfare against the U.S. government until the 1840's. After the death of resistance leader Osceola, who was captured under a flag of truce and died in jail in 1838, most of his followers then surrendered & moved west. A remnant remained in Florida. 1835-1836 The Treaty of New Echota was made by a small contingent of Cherokees led by Major Ridge against the wishes of the majority of the tribe and its leader, Chief John Ross. They give up their lands in Georgia for territory in present-day Oklahoma. Read more about Major Ridge: Cherokee Removal | New Georgia Encyclopedia Cherokee Trail of Tears U.S. troops, prompted by the state of Georgia, expelled the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast and removed them to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The removal of the Cherokees was a product of the demand for arable land during the rampant growth of cotton agriculture in the Southeast, the discovery of gold on Cherokee land, and the racial prejudice that many white southerners harbored toward American Indians.

Origins of Removal Policy By the nineteenth century the Cherokees had lived in the interior Southeast, including north Georgia, for hundreds of years. Settlers of European ancestry began moving into Cherokee territory in the early eighteenth century; from that point forward, the colonial governments in the area began demanding that the Cherokees cede their territory. By the end of the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the Cherokees had surrendered more than half of their original territory to state and federal governments. In the late 1780s U.S. officials began to urge the Cherokees to abandon hunting and their traditional ways of life and to instead learn how to live, worship, and farm like Christian American yeomen. Many Cherokees embraced this "civilization program." The Cherokees established a court system, formally abandoned the law of blood revenge, and adopted a republican government. A Cherokee man named Sequoyah created the Cherokee syllabary, which enabled the Cherokees to read, write, record their laws, and publish newspapers in their own language.

Despite Sequoyah these efforts, white people in Georgia and other southern states that abutted the Cherokee Nation refused to accept the Cherokee people as social equals and urged their political representatives to seize the Cherokees' land. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 gave U.S. president Thomas Jefferson an opportunity to implement an idea he had contemplated for many years—the relocation of the eastern tribes beyond the Mississippi River. There, Jefferson suggested, Native Americans could acculturate at their own pace, retain their autonomy, and live free from the trespasses of American settlers. Although most Cherokees rejected Jefferson's entreaties, small groups moved west to the Arkansas River area in 1810 and 1817-19. After the War of 1812 (1812-15), prominent southerners like General Andrew Jackson called for the United States to end what he called the "absurdity" of negotiating with the Indian tribes as sovereign nations. From that point forward, Georgia politicians, including George Troup , George R.

Gilmer , and Wilson Lumpkin , increasingly raised the pressure on the federal government to fulfill the Compact of 1802, in which the federal government had agreed to extinguish the Indian land title and remove the Cherokees from the state. Cherokee Resistance The Cherokee government maintained that they constituted a sovereign nation independent of the American state and federal governments. As evidence, Cherokee leaders pointed to the Treaty of Hopewell (1785), which established borders between the United States and the Cherokee Nation, offered the Cherokees the right to send a "deputy" to Congress, and made American settlers in Cherokee territory subject to Cherokee law. The Cherokee government John Ross , especially its principal chief, John Ross , took steps to protect its national territory. Ross joined Charles Hicks and Major Ridge in the "Cherokee Triumvirate" and received recognition for his efforts in negotiating the Treaty of 1819. He then continued his work by making legal moves for the Cherokees as president of the constitutional convention . In 1825 New Echota, the Cherokee capital, was established near present-day Calhoun , Georgia.

The Cherokee National Council advised the United States that it would refuse future cession requests and enacted a law prohibiting the sale of national land upon penalty of death. In 1827 the Cherokees adopted a written constitution, an act that further antagonized removal proponents in Georgia. Between 1827 and 1831 Georgia Land Lottery the Georgia legislature extended the state's jurisdiction over Cherokee territory, passed laws purporting to abolish the Cherokees' laws and government, and set in motion a process to seize the Cherokees' lands, divide it into parcels, and offer the parcels in a lottery to white Georgians. In 1828 Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States, and he immediately declared the removal of eastern tribes a national objective. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to negotiate removal treaties. With Congress and the president pursuing a removal policy, the Cherokee Nation, led by John Ross, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on its behalf and protect it from Georgia's trespasses. In Cherokee Nation v.

Georgia (1831), John Marshall, chief justice of the court, wrote that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation" under the protection and tutelage of the United States. The court, however, did not redress the Cherokees' grievances. A year later, in Worcester v. Georgia , the Supreme Court declared that Georgia had violated the Cherokee Nation's sovereign status and wrongfully intruded into its special treaty relationship with the United States. President Jackson, however, refused to enforce the decision and continued to pressure the Cherokees to leave the Southeast. The Trail of Tears The Cherokee Nation subsequently divided between those who wanted to continue to resist the removal pressure and a "Treaty Party" that wanted to surrender and depart for the West. In 1835 the latter group, led by Major Ridge, John Ridge , and Elias Boudinot , signed the Treaty of New Echota at the Cherokee capital without the authority of Principal Chief Ross or the Cherokee government. The treaty required the Cherokee Nation to exchange its national lands for a parcel in the "Indian Territory" and to relocate there within two years. This parcel, set aside by Congress in 1834, was located in what is now Oklahoma.

The federal government promised to remit $5 million to the Cherokee Nation, compensate individuals for their buildings and fixtures, and pay for the costs of relocation and acclimation. The United States also promised to honor the title of the Cherokee Nation's new land, respect its political autonomy, and protect its tribe from future trespasses. Even though it was completed without the sanction of the Cherokee national government, the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty by a margin of one vote. After Major Ridge Major Ridge signed away Cherokee land, Chief Ross gathered 16,000 Cherokee signatures against the treaty, proving that the majority of the tribe was not in agreement. The Cherokee government protested the legality of the treaty until 1838, when U.S. president Martin Van Buren ordered the U.S. Army into the Cherokee Nation. The soldiers rounded up as many Cherokees as they could into temporary stockades and subsequently marched the captives, led by John Ross, to the Indian Territory. Scholars estimate that 4,000-5,000 Cherokees, including Ross's wife, Quatie, died on this "trail where they cried," commonly known as the Trail of Tears.

Once in the Indian Territory, a group of men who had opposed removal attacked and killed the two Ridges and Boudinot for violating the law that prohibited the sale of Cherokee lands. The Cherokees revived their national institutions in the Indian Territory and continued as an independent, self-sufficient nation. You Might Also Like Native Americans - Westward Expansion Westward Expansion The California Gold Rush Native Americans Native Americans lived in the lands of America before settlers came to live. Then settlers came in and settled. Their policies toward Native Americans was aggressive because they thought Native Americans would revolt. President Andrew Jackson signed a law called the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. The act authorized the Native Americans to leave this land for the Americans could settle there. The Indian Removal Act affects us today because it created a racial situation with Native Americans treated as second class citizens or worse. The civil rights of Native Americans were so trampled on that they still have not not recovered. Button Text Cherokee Sequoya Cherokee Sequoyah was a Cherokee silversmith. In 1821 he completed Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible.

After seeing its worth, the people of the Cherokee Nation rapidly began to use his syllabary and officially adopted it in 1825. Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was a relocation and movement of Native American nations form southeastern parts if the United States following the Indian Act Removal of 1830. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, among others on the United States. Hide Hunter Reservation Life After being forced off their native lands, many Native Americans found life to be most difficult. Faced with disease, alcoholism, and despair on the reservations, federal officials changed direction with the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. Each Native American family was offered 160 acres of tribal land to outright. Battle at Wounded Knee The Battle of Wounded Knee on December 29, 1980 was the last important fight between Native Americans and United States troops. It is often called a massacre. The five contemporary Native American groups were the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole.

This is a map of the Removal of Native Americans in the years 1820-1840. Get your feathers right now! Just call 1-800-FEATHER and get your feather of one of a kind! Don't miss out!!! This is a Native American artistic piece of art. This is another pice of Native American art. This is a drawing of Native Americans. Create a free website Indian removal Indian removal Resource Bank Contents Early in the 19th century, while the rapidly-growing United States expanded into the lower South, white settlers faced what they considered an obstacle. This area was home to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw and Seminole nations. These Indian nations, in the view of the settlers and many other white Americans, were standing in the way of progress. Eager for land to raise cotton, the settlers pressured the federal government to acquire Indian territory. Andrew Jackson, from Tennessee, was a forceful proponent of Indian removal. In 1814 he commanded the U.S. military forces that defeated a faction of the Creek nation. In their defeat, the Creeks lost 22 million acres of land in southern Georgia and central Alabama.

The U.S. acquired more land in 1818 when, spurred in part by the motivation to punish the Seminoles for their practice of harboring fugitive slaves, Jackson's troops invaded Spanish Florida. From 1814 to 1824, Jackson was instrumental in negotiating nine out of eleven treaties which divested the southern tribes of their eastern lands in exchange for lands in the west. The tribes agreed to the treaties for strategic reasons. They wanted to appease the government in the hopes of retaining some of their land, and they wanted to protect themselves from white harassment. As a result of the treaties, the United States gained control over three-quarters of Alabama and Florida, as well as parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and North Carolina. This was a period of voluntary Indian migration, however, and only a small number of Creeks, Cherokee and Choctaws actually moved to the new lands. In 1823 the Supreme Court handed down a decision which stated that Indians could occupy lands within the United States, but could not hold title to those lands.

This was because their "right of occupancy" was subordinate to the United States' "right of discovery." In response to the great threat this posed, the Creeks, Cherokee, and Chicasaw instituted policies of restricting land sales to the government. They wanted to protect what remained of their land before it was too late. Although the five Indian nations had made earlier attempts at resistance, many of their strategies were non-violent. One method was to adopt Anglo-American practices such as large-scale farming, Western education, and slave-holding. This earned the nations the designation of the "Five Civilized Tribes." They adopted this policy of assimilation in an attempt to coexist with settlers and ward off hostility. But it only made whites jealous and resentful. Other attempts involved ceding portions of their land to the United States with a view to retaining control over at least part of their territory, or of the new territory they received in exchange. Some Indian nations simply refused to leave their land -- the Creeks and the Seminoles even waged war to protect their territory. The First Seminole War lasted from 1817 to 1818.

The Seminoles were aided by fugitive slaves who had found protection among them and had been living with them for years. The presence of the fugitives enraged white planters and fueled their desire to defeat the Seminoles. The Cherokee used legal means in their attempt to safeguard their rights. They sought protection from land-hungry white settlers, who continually harassed them by stealing their livestock, burning their towns, and sqatting on their land. In 1827 the Cherokee adopted a written constitution declaring themselves to be a sovereign nation. They based this on United States policy; in former treaties, Indian nations had been declared sovereign so they would be legally capable of ceding their lands. Now the Cherokee hoped to use this status to their advantage. The state of Georgia, however, did not recognize their sovereign status, but saw them as tenants living on state land. The Cherokee took their case to the Supreme Court, which ruled against them. The Cherokee went to the Supreme Court again in 1831. This time they based their appeal on an 1830 Georgia law which prohibited whites from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state.

The state legislature had written this law to justify removing white missionaries who were helping the Indians resist removal. The court this time decided in favor of the Cherokee. It stated that the Cherokee had the right to self-government, and declared Georgia's extension of state law over them to be unconstitutional. The state of Georgia refused to abide by the Court decision, however, and President Jackson refused to enforce the law. In 1830, just a year after taking office, Jackson pushed a new piece of legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of Congress. It gave the president power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, the Indians were to give up their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to the west. Those wishing to remain in the east would become citizens of their home state. This act affected not only the southeastern nations, but many others further north. The removal was supposed to be voluntary and peaceful, and it was that way for the tribes that agreed to the conditions. But the southeastern nations resisted, and Jackson forced them to leave. Jackson's attitude toward Native Americans was paternalistic and patronizing -- he described them as children in need of guidance.

and believed the removal policy was beneficial to the Indians. Most white Americans thought that the United States would never extend beyond the Mississippi. Removal would save Indian people from the depredations of whites, and would resettle them in an area where they could govern themselves in peace. But some Americans saw this as an excuse for a brutal and inhumane course of action, and protested loudly against removal. Their protests did not save the southeastern nations from removal, however. The Choctaws were the first to sign a removal treaty, which they did in September of 1830. Some chose to stay in Mississippi under the terms of the Removal Act.. But though the War Department made some attempts to protect those who stayed, it was no match for the land-hungry whites who squatted on Choctaw territory or cheated them out of their holdings. Soon most of the remaining Choctaws, weary of mistreatment, sold their land and moved west. For the next 28 years, the United States government struggled to force relocation of the southeastern nations. A small group of Seminoles was coerced into signing a removal treaty in 1833, but the majority of the tribe declared the treaty illegitimate and refused to leave.

The resulting struggle was the Second Seminole War, which lasted from 1835 to 1842. As in the first war, fugitive slaves fought beside the Seminoles who had taken them in. Thousands of lives were lost in the war, which cost the Jackson administration approximately 40 to 60 million dollars -- ten times the amount it had allotted for Indian removal. In the end, most of the Seminoles moved to the new territory. The few who remained had to defend themselves in the Third Seminole War (1855-58), when the U.S. military attempted to drive them out. Finally, the United States paid the remaining Seminoles to move west. The Creeks also refused to emigrate. They signed a treaty in March, 1832, which opened a large portion of their Alabama land to white settlement, but guaranteed them protected ownership of the remaining portion, which was divided among the leading families. The government did not protect them from speculators, however, who quickly cheated them out of their lands. By 1835 the destitute Creeks began stealing livestock and crops from white settlers.

Some eventually committed arson and murder in retaliation for their brutal treatment. In 1836 the Secretary of War ordered the removal of the Creeks as a military necessity. By 1837, approximately 15,000 Creeks had migrated west. They had never signed a removal treaty. The Chickasaws had seen removal as inevitable, and had not resisted. They signed a treaty in 1832 which stated that the federal government would provide them with suitable western land and would protect them until they moved. But once again, the onslaught of white settlers proved too much for the War Department, and it backed down on its promise. The Chickasaws were forced to pay the Choctaws for the right to live on part of their western allotment. They migrated there in the winter of 1837-38. The Cherokee, on the other hand, were tricked with an illegitimate treaty. In 1833, a small faction agreed to sign a removal agreement: the Treaty of New Echota.

The leaders of this group were not the recognized leaders of the Cherokee nation, and over 15,000 Cherokees -- led by Chief John Ross -- signed a petition in protest. The Supreme Court ignored their demands and ratified the treaty in 1836. The Cherokee were given two years to migrate voluntarily, at the end of which time they would be forcibly removed. By 1838 only 2,000 had migrated; 16,000 remained on their land. The U.S. government sent in 7,000 troops, who forced the Cherokees into stockades at bayonet point. They were not allowed time to gather their belongings, and as they left, whites looted their homes. Then began the march known as the Trail of Tears, in which 4,000 Cherokee people died of cold, hunger, and disease on their way to the western lands. By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 Native American people from their land east of the Mississippi, and had secured treaties which led to the removal of a slightly larger number.

Most members of the five southeastern nations had been relocated west, opening 25 million acres of land to white settlement and to slavery.

Question: In 1830 which US president signed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the forced removal of Native Americans from land?
Answer: (Andrew) Jackson