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Cherokee Removal
• A little background• 2 approaches to the Native American Issue
--Assimilation OR Removal• In the 1790s the federal government recognized various tribes as
separate nations; founding fathers hoped to assimilate and civilize them
• But since the Louisiana Purchase (1803) the solution to the “Indian problem” was to move them to the “Great American Desert” to make way for white settlement
• Then Andrew Jackson becomes president• He and his Democrats are committed to westward expansion and favor a
policy of “voluntary emigration”• Some 94 removal treaties are signed during Jackson’s administration. • “All preceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have
failed. It seems now to be an established fact they can not live in contact with a civilized community and prosper."
The Cherokee• In accordance with white encouragement (especially missionaries) to
assimilate, the Cherokee in the American Southeast (primarily Georgia)
• Settle into agriculture (many become cotton planters) and own private property (even African slaves)
• Establish schools (with the help of missionaries) and create a Cherokee alphabet
• Establish a written legal code
• Write a constitution which provides for 3 branches of government
• Publish a newspaper
• They are considered one of the Five Civilized Tribes. However. . .
• In 1828 Georgia declares the Cherokee tribal council illegal
• In 1829 gold is found on their land• In 1830 Georgia orders white residents to get a
license from the Governor and take an oath of allegiance to the state if they move into the Cherokee territory
• And then in 1830 Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act
• Over 100,000 Native Americans east of the Mississippi would be relocated to Indian Territory
• And this included more than just the Cherokee
Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
• Missionaries violate the 1830 licensing law and move into Cherokee land
• They are found guilty of violating the law and sentenced to four years hard labor on a chain gang (they served 16 months)
• Plus, Georgia felt they were encouraging the Cherokee resistance movement
• Appealing to the Supreme Court that the law was unconstitutional, the Marshall Court ruled
• The Cherokee are an independent nation within Georgia who possess distinct sovereign powers and the state had no authority to trespass on them
• Indian nations were “distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights” - Chief Justice John Marshall
• Jackson’s response
• “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”
• The Cherokee, and all other eastern tribes, would be removed from the East.
Cherokee claims• This is their ancestral land
• The federal government has recognized the Cherokee as a sovereign nation entitled to this land in many previous treaties
• The Cherokee Nation had adopted and/or developed "white ways" - assimilated
• alphabet, written language, a newspaper, a constitution, laws
• The U.S. government is violating its own founding principles of justice, rights, and truth
• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee using language supporting their legal claims to the land they occupied
• They real leaders of the tribe DID NOT sign the Treaty of New Echota
Federal Government's Claims
• Native Americans had savage habits and needed more guidance to become civilized
• Native Americans were occupants on U.S. soil
• Removal was a win-win-win:
• Native Americans- they would get their own land out West and would no longer have to worry about white encroachment or state authority; it's a good deal - $ and land
• States - they would no longer be at odds with the federal government over how to deal with Native Americans; they could hand that land over to white settlement
• Federal government - solves the "Indian problem" in the East once and for all; they won't have to argue with states any more over authority issues
• Removal is in the Treaty of New Echota
Trail of Tears• In 1835 a group of self-appointed Cherokee representatives sign the
Treaty of New Echota
• The tribe traded all land for $5 million, relocation costs, and compensation for lost property
• Chief John Ross and 16,000 Cherokee petition Congress
• By 1838 only 2,000 Cherokee have voluntarily moved
• 7000 U.S. soldiers are sent to assist the Cherokee in their relocation
• A forced march (1,200 miles) of 15,000 in the winter of 1838-39
• Over 4,000 die on the journey
• By 1907, their Indian Territory became a state - Oklahoma