Indian Removal

Jackson's Presidency_ The Age of Jackson Part III - Spoils System, Indian Removal & More.mp4

American Indians.mp4

Trail of Tears.mp4

Between 1830 and 1850, the government of the United States forced many Native American tribes to leave their lands in the East and move to land west of the Mississippi River. Their journeys have become known as the Trail of Tears.The map below shows the routes by which different tribes were removed, or forced to leave.

Where does the name "Trail of Tears" come from?

The name comes from a Choctaw leader who was quoted in a newspaper in the 1830s. He described the journey of the Choctaw from their home in the South to Indian Territory as a "trail of tears and death."

Now, people usually use the name "Trail of Tears" to describe the journey of Cherokee people. But it also describes the experience of the many different Native American groups who were forced to leave their lands and travel west in the early 1800s.

There were conflicts between white settlers and Native Americans long before the U.S. government forced Native Americans to move west. White settlers wanted more land and would often take it from Native Americans, sometimes with the help of the government. This sometimes led to war between the government and different tribes. Soon after the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. government came up with a new policy, or plan, to get Native American land without going to war. Government leaders thought that if Native Americans became more like white Americans, Native Americans would eventually want to sell their land.

United States Indian policy around 1790

- treat Native American tribes like separate, independent nations with their own rights and laws
- support the creation of missions, places where Native Americans are taught Christianity, to read and write English, and American culture
- pay people to teach Native Americans how to farm like white Americans

Who developed the Indian policy?

Henry Knox, the Secretary of War to President George Washington, was one of the most important leaders in developing the policy. He believed that most of the conflicts between the U.S. government and Native Americans were caused by white Americans taking Native American lands.

Knox believed that Native Americans would eventually have to give up most of their lands, no matter what. But he did not want to start new, expensive, and deadly wars to take Native American land. Knox saw his new "civilizing" plan as the solution to help the United States and Native peoples. How do you think Native Americans felt about giving up their land and way of life?

Five large Native American nations in the South adopted many of the new practices that the Indian policy encouraged. These nations became known as the "Five Civilized Tribes." They were the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Muscogee (also known as the Creek), and Chickasaw. The Cherokee Nation changed in many ways after the new U.S. Indian policy began. The table below shows some Cherokee practices in 1790 and in 1830.

When was the Cherokee language first written?

Before 1821, the Cherokee language had no alphabet. It was only spoken, not written. In 1821, a Cherokee silversmith named Sequoyah finished a system of letters that represented the syllables of the Cherokee language, called a syllabary. Soon, people throughout the Cherokee Nation were learning to read and write Cherokee.

Slavery in the Cherokee Nation

Slavery of Africans and their descendants became increasingly important to the Cherokee Nation's economy between the 1790s and 1830s. Like white planters, Cherokee people bought enslaved people and used their labor to grow cotton and other crops.

The rest of the United States was also changing between 1790 and 1830. These changes increased many white Americans' desire to take Native American land for themselves, including Native American land in the southern United States. (All should be highlighted)

Wanting gold and a "big plantation" in the Cherokee Nation

Many white Americans in the South saw the Cherokee Nation's successful plantations and wanted Cherokee land for themselves. A popular song in Georgia in the 1800s described the singer's greatest desire as owning a plantation in the Cherokee Nation:

All I want in this creation,

Is a . . . wife and a big plantation,

A way up north in the Cherokee Nation

Cherokee land became even more desirable when gold was discovered in 1829. Thousands of gold seekers rushed onto Cherokee land to try and take the gold for themselves.

Although they had adopted American practices, the "Five Civilized Tribes" in the South still did not want to give up their land. So, white settlers began to take the tribes' land from them, often with the help of state governments.

Leaders of the Cherokee Nation developed new laws to help them defend their land. In 1827, they wrote a new constitution for the Cherokee Nation based on the U.S. Constitution. Look at statements from the Cherokee constitution.

Statements from the constitution of the Cherokee Nation

Article 1, Section 1: The boundaries of this Nation . . . shall forever and here after remain . . . the same.

Article 1, Section 2: [These] lands . . . are, and shall remain, the common property of the [Cherokee] Nation.

common: shared

Who led the Cherokee under the new constitution?

Cherokee leader John Ross was the first man to be elected to lead the new government. He fought against the Nation's removal and helped lead his people when they were forced to leave. Ross was a leader of his people for the rest of his life.

How was the Cherokee constitution similar to the U.S. Constitution?

Like the United States Constitution, the Cherokee constitution created legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. This organization included a Supreme Court and two legislative houses.

Andrew Jackson became president of the United States in 1829. Jackson created a new Indian policy. He wanted the United States government to force Native Americans to leave their land. In his first speech to Congress, Jackson gave reasons why the Native American tribes in the East had to leave their land. Many of his statements did not accurately describe what was happening to Native American tribes.

Why did Andrew Jackson want to change the United States' Indian Policy?

Andrew Jackson thought that the old, "civilizing" policy of the U.S. government was not tough enough on Native American nations. He thought that the government should stop negotiating with Native American nations who refused to sell their land and take it from them instead.

In the election of 1829, Jackson received support from voters in the South, where the "Five Civilized Tribes" were located. One of the reasons was because Southern voters believed that Jackson would force these tribes to leave.

Jackson developed and supported a new policy for working with Native American nations. This policy became the Indian Removal Act, which Congress passed in 1830. The Indian Removal Act gave the U.S. government a way to move Native American nations off of their land. Read the passage about the Indian Removal Act.

The Indian Removal Act gave the president the power to do the following:

- - - Set aside land west of the Mississippi River for Native American nations to live on.
    - Divide this land into sections and offer each section to a Native American nation as a new place to live.
    - Pay the Native American nations for their houses and the work they had done on their land in the East.
    - Pay for the Native American nations to be "removed" from their land in the East and travel to new land in the West.

Give Native American nations money and new land in exchange for their land in the East

The Indian Removal Act gave the president the power to offer new sections of land in the West to Native American nations. The Act also gave the president permission to pay money for Native American houses, the work they had done on their land, and the journey west. In return, the Native American nations would have to give up their lands in the East.

People throughout the United States debated whether or not Congress should pass the Indian Removal Act.

Who fought against the Indian Removal Act?

Many different people fought against the Indian Removal Act, including Christian missionaries, politicians who opposed Andrew Jackson, and Native American nations.

Many women fought against Indian removal. White American women, particularly in the North, sent petitions urging members of Congress to vote against the Indian Removal Act. This effort was one of the first national political movements in the United States organized by women. Groups of Cherokee women wrote petitions to the Cherokee National Council, the governing body of the Cherokee nation.

Educator and writer Catherine Beecher, led a national women's movement to petition against removal

Jeremiah Evarts, wrote against removal spread throughout the country

Principal Chief John Ross, led many different campaigns to defend the Cherokee from removal

The Indian Removal Act passed in 1830. White settlers and government officials began taking Native Americans' land even before the U.S. government made agreements with Native American nations. Many settlers and government officials harassed, threatened, and attacked Native Americans. The U.S. government forced tribes in the North and South to sign treaties agreeing to leave their land. Some Native American tribes felt like they had no choice but to leave. The timeline below shows some important events from 1830 to 1834.

What happened during the Choctaw Trail of Tears?

The Choctaw were the first of the "Five Civilized Tribes" to face removal. A small group of Choctaw agreed to a removal treaty when the full nation would not. The majority of the Choctaw traveled west in three different journeys led by the U.S. government. Many died of disease, starvation, and exhaustion.

Did any of the tribes go to war with the U.S.?

Yes. The Seminole were the last of the "Five Civilized Tribes" to be removed. A small group of Seminole signed a removal treaty with the U.S. government, but the majority did not agree to it. They refused to leave and fought to defend their homeland. This led to the Second Seminole War, which lasted for seven years.

After the Indian Removal Act passed, the government of Georgia began giving away the Cherokee Nation's land to white settlers. The government of Georgia also created new laws to stop Cherokee people from defending their land from these new settlers.

"A strange family sitting at his dinner table"

Georgia's new laws were meant to harass and intimidate the Cherokee people and to steal Cherokee land and homes. The government wanted to make sure the Cherokee felt like they had no option but to leave, whether they wanted to or not.

For example, Principal Chief John Ross returned to his home in 1835 after many months away. One historian writes that when Ross arrived, he saw "a strange Georgia family sitting at his dinner table." While he was away, his wife and children had been forced out of their home, and it had been given to a white family.

The Cherokee Nation, led by Chief John Ross, went to the Supreme Court to argue that Georgia's new laws were unconstitutional. John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, wrote the decision. President Jackson refused to enforce the decision. Read the adapted version of the decision.

Adapted decision of Chief Justice John Marshall, Worcester v. Georgia, 1832

From the beginning of our government, Congress has passed laws with the Indians that treat them as nations and respect their rights. . . . These laws state that Indian nations control their own territory . . . and the United States government is supposed to protect their independence.

So, the laws of Georgia do not apply to the Cherokee Nation. The people of Georgia cannot enter the Cherokee land unless they have permission. According to the Constitution and our laws, only the United States government can make agreements with the Cherokee.

In Worcester v. Georgia, the Supreme Court decided that Georgia's laws did not apply to the Cherokee Nation. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the Cherokee were a separate nation and controlled their own land. Because the Cherokee were a separate nation, only the United States government could make agreements with them. But, President Jackson refused to follow the ruling of the Supreme Court. He did not stop people in Georgia from illegally taking Cherokee land.

How did the President respond to Worcester v. Georgia?

President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the decision. He did not stop the state of Georgia from illegally harassing the Cherokee or from taking the Cherokee Nation's land and property.

Is Worcester v. Georgia still important today?

Yes! This decision is still one of the most important court decisions ever made about Native American nations. Although Cherokee leaders did not succeed in stopping removal, their work fighting against it still affects how Native American nations and the U.S. government interact.

President Jackson did not stop Georgia from taking Cherokee land. By 1835, most of the Cherokee were homeless. A small group of Cherokee made a deal with the United States government called the Treaty of New Echota. They agreed to sell the Cherokee Nation's land in exchange for money and land in the West. They did not have the permission of the Cherokee Nation government to make this deal. The passages below show what two Cherokee leaders thought about the treaty.

Adapted letter from Chief John Ross to Congress, 1836

[The treaty] has taken away our freedom and our ability to legally defend ourselves. Our property can be stolen from us before our eyes, violence can be committed against us, and we can be killed. . . . Our people did not agree to [this treaty].

Adapted letter from Elias Boudinot to John Ross, 1837

[The treaty] is the only practical solution. . . . If we stay in Georgia, you would tie our people down in the chains of slavery.

The murder of Elias Boudinot

Elias Boudinot was the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper in the Cherokee Nation. He believed that the Cherokee Nation's best option was to sell its land and move west. He eventually signed the Treaty of New Echota, though he did not have permission to do so.

Although Elias Boudinot believed he was helping his people, many Cherokee thought that he was a traitor who had betrayed them. Boudinot was killed by a group of Cherokee men in 1839, along with two other leaders who made the treaty.

The U.S. government accepted the Treaty of New Echota, even though it had been made illegally by only a small group of the Cherokee. The treaty gave the Cherokee two years to leave their land. When the two years had passed, the remaining Cherokee were rounded up and imprisoned under terrible, deadly conditions.

In the adapted passage below, a Cherokee woman describes how her family was forced from its home. Read the passage. Then complete the sentence below.

The [U.S.] soldiers came and took us from our home. They . . . drove us out of doors and did not permit us to take anything with us . . . and they shut the doors after they turned us out.

John Ross and other Cherokee leaders saw that Cherokee people were suffering and dying while imprisoned by the U.S. government. They led the remaining Cherokee people to the Indian Territory set aside by the U.S. government.

Historians believe that more than 4,000 Cherokee men, women, and children died along the journey west. In the passage below, a Cherokee woman describes her experience of the Trail of Tears when she was a very young child. Read the passage.

Rebecca Neugin describing the Trail of Tears, 1932

Eight of my brothers and sisters and two or three widow women and children rode [on horses] with us. . . . My father and mother walked all the way also. . . . There was much sickness among the emigrants and a great many little children died.

emigrants: people who leave their country for another

id Cherokee people all travel together on the Trail of Tears?

No. Cherokee people traveled west in smaller groups and at different times. Some of these journeys were safer and more successful, and fewer Cherokee people died. Others were much more difficult and dangerous.

Did enslaved people also travel on the Trail of Tears?

Yes. Most Cherokee who owned enslaved people took the enslaved people with them as they traveled west. One enslaved woman, Eliza Whitmore, described the experience as full of ''suffering and horror.''

After they arrived in Indian Territory, Cherokee people worked to rebuild their lives on their new land. But the Cherokee and other Native American groups that were removed faced many challenges when they arrived.

Did other Native American nations face challenges after their forced removal?

Yes. Only about ten percent of all the Native Americans who were forcibly removed from the East were Cherokee. The other Native American nations throughout the North and South also experienced challenges and injustice after being forcibly removed.

Some nations were forced to give up large sections of their land but were able to keep small reservations within their homelands. Nations that were removed and those that stayed had to develop new ways of surviving and rebuilding their culture and communities.

Today, most of the tribes that were removed to Indian Territory are now located in the state of Oklahoma. More than 38 Native American nations are based there, including the modern Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole Nations.

In 1985, the Cherokee Nation elected its first woman to lead the Nation, Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller. Her great-grandfather survived the Trail of Tears. Read what she said about remembering the Trail of Tears.

Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, 1993

We had already settled this land for many years before the whites even arrived. Although it is so crucial for us to focus on the good things—our [determination], our language and culture, the [rebirth] of tribal communities—it is also important that we never forget what happened to our people on the Trail of Tears.

crucial: essential

Wilma Mankiller says that it is important for the Cherokee people to remember their strength and determination, their culture, and their community. Mankiller also says that at the same time it is important for people to remember the suffering and injustice of the Trail of Tears.

Learning to speak Cherokee

One important way that Cherokee people today are connecting to their history and culture is by learning the Cherokee language. This includes learning the writing system that Sequoyah created in 1821, before the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Page updated

Report abuse