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