Aim #26: To what extent was Jackson responsible for the Trail of Tears?

Do now! Read “The Cherokee Nation’s Appeal to the American people” and the excerpt from Andrew Jackson regarding Indian removal

Background:

As the population grew in the 1700s,, the colonists pushed farther west into the territories occupied by the American Indians.

Inevitably, this movement led to clashes over land.

How did the Proclamation of 1763 attempt to solve this problem? Was it successful?

CHEROKEE INDIAN REMOVAL TIMELINEYEAR EVENT1796 Washington initiated “civilization” program among

Cherokees1820s Cherokees are considered one of the “civilized tribes”;

started their own newspaper, many converted to Christianity; adopting a Constitution and farming.

1828 Jackson elected President and declares his support for removal

1830 Passage of Indian Removal Act; Cherokee challenged federal government’s ability to make them move and Supreme Court takes their side! Jackson refuses to follow decision

1835 Treaty of New Echota signed; provided for removal of Cherokees to land west of Mississippi

1838-1839 Under President Van Buren, 7,000 troops forced Cherokees off their land, 4,000 died; came to be known as the “Trail of Tears”

Questions:1. Describe what objects you see in the cartoon.2. What is the cartoonist’s point of view? How can you tell?

a. Policy was to move Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River

b. Claimed it was opportunity to provide for the needs of the white farmers and businessmen.

c. He also claimed that removal was also in the best interest of the Indians. Why?

(I) Why did Jackson support a policy of Indian removal?

(II) How did some tribes try to avoid removal?

a. Adopted farming life style

b. Began to receive formal education

c. Had own written language

d. Established their own newspaper (Cherokee Phoenix)  based on their own system of writing created by Sequoyah (pictured below)

a. federal agents misled tribal leaders into signing removal treaties with the government.

b. It authorized relocation of Indians to the west

c. Some tribes resisted violently, others like the Cherokee used legal means.

(III) Indian Removal Act of 1830

(IV) CHEROKEE INDIAN CASES

a.Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1830)1.Supreme Court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to hear the caseb. Worcester v Georgia (1832)1.Court ruled that Georgia could not remove Cherokee from their lands.2. Jackson: “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

V. Trail of Tearsa.Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren, sent the military to enforce Cherokee removalb. Trail of Tears1. 4,000 Cherokees die in camps along trail to Oklahoma

ARTIST’S RENDERING OF THE “TRAIL OF TEARS”

“I fought through the Civil War and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.”

Georgia Soldier involved in removal process