The Jackson Era Part 2

The Jackson Era

Conflicts Over Land

Forced Removal

WHY WERE NATIVE AMERICANS FORCED TO ABANDON THEIR LAND AND
MOVE WEST?
• As the nation expanded west, many Native Americans still remained in the

East.

• The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw peoples lived in Georgia, Alabama,

Mississippi, and Florida.

• These groups had created successful farming communities that were much like other

American communities.

• Though many recognized the success of these tribes, they did not respect their

rights.

• Many wanted their lands, and wanted the federal, or national, government to

relocate, or move to another place, these tribes to lands west of the Mississippi
River.

• Andrew Jackson supported this idea, and had once fought the Creek and

Seminole in Georgia and Florida to give settlers more land.

Multiple Choice

What had the tribes living in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida create?

• Farming Communities

• Private Businesses

• College/Schools

• Industry

Tribal Map

Multiple Choice

In which area of the country has the most tribes?

• North

• South

• East

• West

Forced Removal

• When Jackson became President in 1829, he stated that he wanted to move

all Native Americans to the Great Plains.
• Many at the time viewed this area to be a great wasteland where Native

Americans would never want to live.

• Many also believed that if the tribes were moved there, conflict with them

would be ended.

Multiple Choice

Where did President Jackson want to move all Native Americans?

• Canada

• Mexico

• Great Plains

• Grand Canyon

Forced Removal
• The Cherokee Versus Georgia

• In 1830 President Jackson pushed the Indian Removal Act through Congress.

• The law allowed the federal government to pay Native Americans to move west.

• Jackson sent official to make treaties with the Native Americans in the Southeast.

• In 1834, Congress established the Indian Territory.

• Most of this region was located in what is now Oklahoma, which would be the new home for

the tribes from the Southeast.

• Most eastern Native Americans felt forced to sell their lands and move west.

• The Cherokee refused to do so.

• In treaties of the 1790s, the federal government had recognized the Cherokee as a separate

nation, however, the state of Georgia, where many Cherokee lived, refused to accept their
status.

Multiple Choice

In which state did most of Indian Territory make up?

• Iowa

• Oklahoma

• Kansas

• Utah

Forced Removal

• The Cherokee Versus Georgia cont.

• In 1830 Georgia made Cherokee land part of the state.

• It also began to enforce state laws in the Cherokee Nation.

• As pressure mounted, the Cherokee appealed to the Americans:

“We are aware that some persons suppose it will be for our advantage to remove
beyond the Mississippi…Our people universally think otherwise…We wish to remain
on the land of our fathers.”

• Still, Georgia pressured the Cherokee.

• In response, the Cherokee turned to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), Chief Justice John Marshall ruled Georgia had no right to

interfere with the Cherokee.
•President Jackson declared that he would ignore the ruling.
• Jackson said, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

Multiple Choice

Who ruled that the state of Georgia had no right to interfere with the Cherokee?

• Andrew Jackson

• John Adams

• John Marshall

• Howard Taft

Forced Removal

• The Trail of Tears

• By 1835, the Cherokee were divided about what to do.

• That year the federal government convinced/tricked a small number of the Cherokee,

500 members, to sign the Treaty of New Enchota.
• Under this, the group agreed to give up all Cherokee lands by 1838.

• Cherokee Chief John Ross sent a protest to the U.S. Senate.

• He explained that the few Cherokee who signed the treaty did not speak for all

17,000 members.
• Many white Americans, including senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, also opposed the

treaty.
•Their pleas did not change the minds of President Jackson or the white settlers.

• In 1836 the Senate approved the treaty by a single vote.

Multiple Choice

What is the name of the treaty that the federal government used to trick a small number of the Cherokee into signing?

• Treaty of Greenville

• Treaty of Fort Laramie

• Treaty of Fallen Timbers

• Treaty of New Enchota

Forced Removal

• The Trail of Tears cont.

• When the treaty’s 1838 deadline arrived, only about 2,000 Cherokee had moved

west.

• Jackson’s successor, President Marin Van Buren, ordered the army to move the rest

of them.

• In May 1838, General Winfield Scott arrived at the Cherokee Nation with 7, 000

troops to remove the rest by force.

• Knowing that resistance and escape would lead to death, the Cherokee leaders, who

were filled with sadness and anger, gave in.

• Between June and December 1838, soldiers rounded up Cherokee in North

Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.

• Under guard, the Cherokee began their march to Indian Territory in the West.

Multiple Choice

Who is the successor to Andrew Jackson?

• William Harrison

• Martin Van Buren

• John Quincy Adams

• Andrew Garfield

Forced Removal

• The Trail of Tears cont.

• The forced relocation of some 15,000 Cherokee was a terrible ordeal.

• Most people were not prepared for the journey.

• Trouble started even before they set out as the Cherokee crowded in camps and awaited the

command to begin their march.
•Illness broke out, and as many as 2,000 Cherokee died.

• Once on the trail, the Cherokee suffered from hunger and from exposure to the

weather.

• These conditions led to the death of another 2,000 people.

• When the relocation was over, about one quarter of the Cherokee population

had perished.

• The Cherokee came to call their forced journey west the Trail Where They Cried,

while historians referred to it as The Trail of Tears.

Multiple Choice

What is the name of the forced journey of the Cherokee people to Indian Territory?

• Trail of Bad Omens

• Trail of Tears

• Trail of the Cherokee

• Trail of Sadness

Cherokee Removal Map

Multiple Choice

Why was the chosen route so bad to the Cherokee?

• Longer Route

• Rocky Region

• Humidity

• Cold Temperature

Resistance and Removal

WHY DID SOME NATIVE AMERICANS RESIST RESETTLEMENTS?
• Many Native American people did not want to give up their lands.

• However, the Seminole in Florida, were the only group to successfully resist

removal.

• They faced pressure in the early 1830s to sign treaties giving up the land, but the

Seminole leader Osceola and his followers refused to leave.
• They decided to fight instead.

• Osceola was born a Creek, but lived among the Seminole of Florida.

• Osceola vowed:

•I will make the white man red with blood, and then blacken him in the sun and rain.”

Multiple Choice

What is the name of the Seminole leader that refused to leave Florida?

• Osceola

• Geronimo

• Sitting Bull

• Standing Bear

Resistance and Removal
• The Seminole Wars

• In 1835 the U.S. Army arrived in Florida to force the removal of the Seminole.

• Instead, in December 1835, a group of Seminole attacked troops led by Major Francis

Dade as they marched across central Florida.
• Known as the Dade Massacre, only a few soldiers survived, prompting a call for additional

troops to fight.

• Between 1835 and 1842, about 3,000 Seminole and African Americans, known

as the Black Seminoles, fought some 30,000 U.S. soldiers.

• The Black Seminoles were escaped slaves from Georgia and South Carolina who lived

among the Seminole people, or built their own settlements.
• Like the Seminole, they did not want to move.

•They feared that the Americans soldiers would force them back into slavery.

Multiple Choice

What is the name of the attack the Seminole did in December 1835 in Florida?

• Osceola's Uprising

• Dade Massacre

• St. Augustine Slaughter

• Miami Massacre

Resistance and Removal
• The Seminole Wars cont.

• Together, the Seminole and Black Seminoles attacked white settlements along

the Florida coast.

• They made surprise attacks and then retreated back into the forests and swamps.

• The war cost the U.S. government over $20 million and more than 1,500

soldiers.

• Many Seminole also died, or were captured and forced to move west.

• In 1842, with most of the surviving Seminole now in Indian Territory, the fighting stopped.

• War broke out again in 1855 over what little land in Florida the Seminole had

left.

• In 1858, the few remaining Seminole had escaped into the Everglades, where their

descendants still live today.

Multiple Choice

Where did the remaining Seminole's escape to?

• Gulf of Mexico

• St. Augustine

• Everglades

• Southern Tip

Resistance and Removal

• Life in the West

• By 1842, only a few scattered groups of Native Americans remained east of the

Mississippi River.

• Most of them now lived in the West.

• They had given up more than 100 million acres of land, which they received about $68

million and 32 million acres west of the Mississippi.
•There they lived, organized by tribes on reservations, which the white settlers would eventually
encroach upon too.

• The U.S. Army built forts in he area and promised to protect the tribes in Indian

Territory.

• This though, did not always happen.

• The tribes developed their own constitutions and governments, and built their

own farms and schools.

• However, the disputes over the removal that arose with each group during the 1830s

continued to divide the groups for years to come.

Multiple Select

What TWO things did each of the tribes develop?

• Constitutions

• Businesses

• Court System

• Governments