NATIVE AMERICANS1815-1848

Philly Krebs and Nicholas Scanlan

BEFORE 1815 Jefferson starts the policy of “Assimilation”, yet

doesn’t believe that both Native Americans and the US can live peacefully in the same world

Assimilation-Policy of integrating a smaller culture into the dominant one

Tribes of the Ohio Valley unite under leadership of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh, try to stand up to white settlers but are defeated

Creek Indians try to resist and their warriors are defeated by Andrew Jackson’s militia at Horseshoe Bend

THE “FIVE CIVILIZED NATIONS” Southern Native American tribes in

modern day Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida

Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole

Population totaled about 60,000 Referred to as “Civilized” because they

adopted many aspects of the white, U.S. society

MAP OF THE SOUTHERN TRIBES

THE CHEROKEE Cherokee are largest of the five Of all Tribes Cherokee adopt U.S. society the most Shift from traditional matriarchal, combined hunting

and farming to a highly Agrarian Americanized society

Even adopt slavery and white racism, even pass multiple laws against blacks, about 8% owned slaves

Sequoyah invents the written Cherokee language Cherokee have high levels of education and

economic success Cherokee create highly US modeled Constitution

HOWE ON THE CHEROKEE“The half century following 1785 might be called

the golden age of the Cherokee nation. As defined by 1819, the Nation occupied…gathering. Trade with whites flourished and permanent towns grew up. Decades of evolution in the direction of more centralized and formalized political institutions reached their climax with the adoption of a written constitution for the nation in 1827. In these and other ways, the Cherokees showed an ability to synthesize elements borrowed from Western Civilization with their native culture.” (Howe, 343).

ANDREW JACKSON Pro Indian removal This belief helped him get elected

Southern states like Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi wanted him to move quickly

During time in office tried to get the Five Nations into new areas west of Mississippi like the Oklahoma Territory

BEFORE JACKSONS INAUGURATION Georgia made Cherokee inside Georgia

state borders under state laws Mississippi and Alabama put Native

Americans under state law who lived within state borders

Broke many treaties and against parts of the constitution

Constitution said federal government had jurisdiction over Indian affairs

FIVE NATIONS MAKE A LAST STAND Many of the nations tried to assimilate

into modern culture Some ceded land in hopes of retaining

a portion or getting new territory In the end most end up moving west of

the Mississippi River

CHEROKEE Took a diplomatic stand Declared themselves a sovereign

nation In former treaties Indians had been

called sovereign nations to be able to legally give the government land

The Cherokee were able to get the case to the Supreme Court but it went against them

SEMINOLE WARS 1st, 2nd, and 3rd

2nd was the biggest and lasted from 1835-1842

Jackson spent 40-60 million dollars on the war

Seminoles used runaway slaves to help fight

At the end most of Seminoles were moved to lands beyond the Mississippi

TRAIL OF TEARS 15,000- 16,000 Cherokee forced by the

US government, while under military supervision, to walk to present day Oklahoma and give up land East of the Mississippi River

4,000 Cherokee died Andrew Jackson made the order but

Van Buren was president when the forced march occurred

WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT “Starting in May 1838, the majority of the tribe were

rounded up by the U.S. Army and sent to detention camps to await Removal; others fled to neighboring states. Widespread bloodshed at this point was averted by the moderation and good sense of Chief Ross and General Winfield Scott.10 But incompetence, indifference, and policy disagreements among civilian authorities had frustrated the efforts of General John Ellis Wool to prepare properly for the massive evacuation. Conditions in the unsanitary detention camps and the harsh weather along the notorious “Trail of Tears” westward in the fall and winter of 1838–39 led to a tragically high death rate”(Howe 416).

BIBLIOGRAPHY Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d.

Web. 10 Nov. 2010