d. Analyze the events that led to the removal of Creeks and Cherokees; include the roles of Alexander McGillivray, William McIntosh, Sequoyah, John Ross, Dahlonega Gold Rush, Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew Jackson, John Marshall, and the Trail of Tears.
• Indian Lands of Ga (Map)
(Indian Land Sessions by Date)
• Much of Ga was still Indian Land in the early 1800’s
• The Cherokee owned much of the land in North Ga
• The Creek Indians Controlled Most of the Land in West and South Ga including the area in which we live today
• The Seminole Indians were actually a branch of the Creeks that controlled extreme Southwest Ga and North Florida
• 2 other tribes lived in land that Ga gave away in the Yazoo Land Fraud
• Cherokee Indians
• Most civilized of the 5 tribes
• Adopted many white ways such as farming, land ownership, entrepreneur spirit, and governmental system
• Sequoyah, who was called George Guess or Gist by whites, developed a written language of symbols known as a syllabary
• Had a newspaper- the Cherokee Phoenix
• Formed a capital known as New Echota
• John Ross was a mixed heritage chief of the Cherokee Tribe
• Creek Indians
• The Creek Indians also tried to be like the whites that were moving into their land
• They farmed, Fished , and Hunted as a way to survive just like the white neighbors
• Unfortunately, many of the new settlers believed that Indians had no rights to the land and wanted it for themselves.
• The practice of ceding (giving up) their land started by Tomochichi continued as the Creek lost their land little by little
• Land Fever and Georgia Settlers
• As Settlers moved in and demanded more land from the Creeks, some of the Creeks saw a way to make Money while others decided to fight for their land
• Alexander McGillivray led the Creeks against the Settlers. He met with with President George Washington and they signed the Treaty of New York (1790) which said that the “Creek would give up all land east of the Oconee River IF settlers promised not to cross the River into Creek Lands”
• Neither side upheld the Treaty
• Treaty Broken
• During the Peace from1797-1812, the Yazoo Land Fraud occurred. One concession for Ga giving up her western land was that the Federal Gov’t Promised to remove ALL Indians from the Land of Ga
• As settlers ignored the Treaty of New York and moved across the Oconee into Creek Lands, the Creek became upset and wanted to fight
• Settlers screamed for the Gov’t to uphold its promise and send soldiers to take care of the Indians
• Creek War
• Creeks divided into two different groups
• White sticks – wanted peace and were friendly to the settlers and American Colonists
• Red Sticks – wanted war and became friends with the British who were still angry about losing the American Revolution
• The Red Sticks helped the British try to retake the colonies in the War of 1812.
• Many settlers were upset and renewed their cry for the gov’t to remove the Creeks
• The Creeks began to attack the Settlements
• General Andrew Jackson led the US Army in defeating the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend In 1814
• The Red Sticks gave up all claim to land in Ga
• White Stick Creeks were led by many different chiefs
• One Lower Chief was William McIntosh
• McIntosh was 1st Cousins with the Ga Governor George Troup
• Together they arranged for McIntosh to sign away all remaining Creek Territory in Ga for a price of $200,000
• Other Creek Leaders Protested the the deal but the Gov said “too bad” and kept the deal
• Other Creeks got together and killed McIntosh for what he had done
• Creek Removal
• 1828 - General Jackson was elected as President
• He had been a friend to most Indians (esp Cherokee) even though he fought against the Red Sticks
• 1830 – Congress passed a bill to Remove all Indians from East of the Mississippi into its Western Land
• 1832 – Creeks signed the Treaty of Washington in which they gave up claim to final 5 million acres of land and the Gov’t promised to set aside 2 million acres on which Creeks could live and farm. The Gov’t would protect the Creeks from white settlers
• Treaty was broken immediately as whites attacked and burned their homes.
• Indians fought back but were killed or captured and removed to the West
• Cherokee Conformity
• The Cherokee tried in almost every way to conform to the White Settlers Standards
• They
– Set up a 3 branch government
– Published newspapers
– Helped the Army fight against other Indians
– Learned to read and write (90% of the Cherokee could read and write which was higher than the literacy rates of white settlers)
– Farmed
– Converted to Christianity and even brought in missionaries
• Cherokee Removal Begins
• Settlers began to be jealous of Cherokee prosperity and began to despise the success of their leader John Ross who owned a large house, slaves, much land, gristmills and blacksmith shops
• Combine this with the discovery of Gold in 1829 on their land near present day Dahlonega, and the Settlers REALLY wanted the land
• Settlers began to scream for the Gov’t to keep their promise to remove all Indians from Ga
• Worcester v. Georgia
• The Ga Legislature passed a law in 1830 making it illegal for whites to live on Cherokee land unless they swore an oath of allegiance to the Ga Gov.
• Two missionaries, Worcester and Butler, already living on the Cherokee land with Cherokee approval, refused to take the oath
• They were arrested and they appealed their case to the supreme court of the U.S.A
• Court Ruling
• Chief Justice John Marshall agreed with the missionaries and declared the “state of Ga had no legal rights on land belonging to the Cherokee Nation
• This was a huge victory for the Cherokee because the U.S. Gov’t recognized their rights to land ownership
• This also meant that the land was protected from settlers who wanted to move there
• The Cherokee were happy they could keep their land and make their own decisions
• Court Reality
• There was a political battle going on between the Supreme Court backed by John Marshall and the Executive Branch backed by President Andrew Jackson.
• Both believed their branch to be the Strongest and wanted to prove the point
• Jackson knew the Ga settlers wanted the Cherokee land and he wanted to keep his voters happy. Marshall went against Jackson’s wishes in the court ruling
• Jackson said in referring to Marshall “ Well, he made the ruling, now let’s see if he can enforce it.”
• Jackson refused to send in troops to protect the Cherokee from settlers or from the State of GA. The Supreme Court has NO LEGAL power to send in troops.
• Cherokee Removal
• When the president did not react to the taking of Cherokee land, the State of GA divided it into lots of 40 and 160 acres and auctioned it off to white settlers
• It did NOT matter that the Cherokee STILL lived on the land
• Cherokee were driven from their homes, beaten, whipped and sometimes killed for their land
• Chief John Ross made several trips to Washington D.C. but nothing changed
• December 1835 - Cherokee 500 out of 17,000 Cherokee were forced to meet and sign over all land. Those not in attendance were assumed to be in agreement to give up land
• Only a small few actually participated in the signing
• Trail of Tears
• After signing away the land, the Cherokee were rounded up and forced to leave for “Indian Territory” (present day Oklahoma)
• Some were sent by boat and some were forced to march on a journey that lasted 6 months and covered 700-800 miles
• Horrible rotten food as well as cold weather led to the death of 1/3 to ½ of the Indians
• 4000 Cherokee died in prison awaiting the removal orders
• The Cherokee called the removal “the trail where we cried” now called the “Trail of Tears”
• Summary
• As settlers need for land increased, they infringed upon the Indian’s right to land
• The gov’t supported the settlers ignorance of treaties and laws to protect the Indians
• The removal ended all Indian uprisings East of the Mississippi
***Problems experienced during this period set the stage for States Rights verses Federal Rights arguments to come later
• Indian Lands of Ga (Map)
(Indian Land Sessions by Date)
• Much of Ga was still Indian Land in the early 1800’s
• The Cherokee owned much of the land in North Ga
• The Creek Indians Controlled Most of the Land in West and South Ga including the area in which we live today
• The Seminole Indians were actually a branch of the Creeks that controlled extreme Southwest Ga and North Florida
• 2 other tribes lived in land that Ga gave away in the Yazoo Land Fraud
• Cherokee Indians
• Most civilized of the 5 tribes
• Adopted many white ways such as farming, land ownership, entrepreneur spirit, and governmental system
• Sequoyah, who was called George Guess or Gist by whites, developed a written language of symbols known as a syllabary
• Had a newspaper- the Cherokee Phoenix
• Formed a capital known as New Echota
• John Ross was a mixed heritage chief of the Cherokee Tribe
• Creek Indians
• The Creek Indians also tried to be like the whites that were moving into their land
• They farmed, Fished , and Hunted as a way to survive just like the white neighbors
• Unfortunately, many of the new settlers believed that Indians had no rights to the land and wanted it for themselves.
• The practice of ceding (giving up) their land started by Tomochichi continued as the Creek lost their land little by little
• Land Fever and Georgia Settlers
• As Settlers moved in and demanded more land from the Creeks, some of the Creeks saw a way to make Money while others decided to fight for their land
• Alexander McGillivray led the Creeks against the Settlers. He met with with President George Washington and they signed the Treaty of New York (1790) which said that the “Creek would give up all land east of the Oconee River IF settlers promised not to cross the River into Creek Lands”
• Neither side upheld the Treaty
• Treaty Broken
• During the Peace from1797-1812, the Yazoo Land Fraud occurred. One concession for Ga giving up her western land was that the Federal Gov’t Promised to remove ALL Indians from the Land of Ga
• As settlers ignored the Treaty of New York and moved across the Oconee into Creek Lands, the Creek became upset and wanted to fight
• Settlers screamed for the Gov’t to uphold its promise and send soldiers to take care of the Indians
• Creek War
• Creeks divided into two different groups
• White sticks – wanted peace and were friendly to the settlers and American Colonists
• Red Sticks – wanted war and became friends with the British who were still angry about losing the American Revolution
• The Red Sticks helped the British try to retake the colonies in the War of 1812.
• Many settlers were upset and renewed their cry for the gov’t to remove the Creeks
• The Creeks began to attack the Settlements
• General Andrew Jackson led the US Army in defeating the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend In 1814
• The Red Sticks gave up all claim to land in Ga
• White Stick Creeks were led by many different chiefs
• One Lower Chief was William McIntosh
• McIntosh was 1st Cousins with the Ga Governor George Troup
• Together they arranged for McIntosh to sign away all remaining Creek Territory in Ga for a price of $200,000
• Other Creek Leaders Protested the the deal but the Gov said “too bad” and kept the deal
• Other Creeks got together and killed McIntosh for what he had done
• Creek Removal
• 1828 - General Jackson was elected as President
• He had been a friend to most Indians (esp Cherokee) even though he fought against the Red Sticks
• 1830 – Congress passed a bill to Remove all Indians from East of the Mississippi into its Western Land
• 1832 – Creeks signed the Treaty of Washington in which they gave up claim to final 5 million acres of land and the Gov’t promised to set aside 2 million acres on which Creeks could live and farm. The Gov’t would protect the Creeks from white settlers
• Treaty was broken immediately as whites attacked and burned their homes.
• Indians fought back but were killed or captured and removed to the West
• Cherokee Conformity
• The Cherokee tried in almost every way to conform to the White Settlers Standards
• They
– Set up a 3 branch government
– Published newspapers
– Helped the Army fight against other Indians
– Learned to read and write (90% of the Cherokee could read and write which was higher than the literacy rates of white settlers)
– Farmed
– Converted to Christianity and even brought in missionaries
• Cherokee Removal Begins
• Settlers began to be jealous of Cherokee prosperity and began to despise the success of their leader John Ross who owned a large house, slaves, much land, gristmills and blacksmith shops
• Combine this with the discovery of Gold in 1829 on their land near present day Dahlonega, and the Settlers REALLY wanted the land
• Settlers began to scream for the Gov’t to keep their promise to remove all Indians from Ga
• Worcester v. Georgia
• The Ga Legislature passed a law in 1830 making it illegal for whites to live on Cherokee land unless they swore an oath of allegiance to the Ga Gov.
• Two missionaries, Worcester and Butler, already living on the Cherokee land with Cherokee approval, refused to take the oath
• They were arrested and they appealed their case to the supreme court of the U.S.A
• Court Ruling
• Chief Justice John Marshall agreed with the missionaries and declared the “state of Ga had no legal rights on land belonging to the Cherokee Nation
• This was a huge victory for the Cherokee because the U.S. Gov’t recognized their rights to land ownership
• This also meant that the land was protected from settlers who wanted to move there
• The Cherokee were happy they could keep their land and make their own decisions
• Court Reality
• There was a political battle going on between the Supreme Court backed by John Marshall and the Executive Branch backed by President Andrew Jackson.
• Both believed their branch to be the Strongest and wanted to prove the point
• Jackson knew the Ga settlers wanted the Cherokee land and he wanted to keep his voters happy. Marshall went against Jackson’s wishes in the court ruling
• Jackson said in referring to Marshall “ Well, he made the ruling, now let’s see if he can enforce it.”
• Jackson refused to send in troops to protect the Cherokee from settlers or from the State of GA. The Supreme Court has NO LEGAL power to send in troops.
• Cherokee Removal
• When the president did not react to the taking of Cherokee land, the State of GA divided it into lots of 40 and 160 acres and auctioned it off to white settlers
• It did NOT matter that the Cherokee STILL lived on the land
• Cherokee were driven from their homes, beaten, whipped and sometimes killed for their land
• Chief John Ross made several trips to Washington D.C. but nothing changed
• December 1835 - Cherokee 500 out of 17,000 Cherokee were forced to meet and sign over all land. Those not in attendance were assumed to be in agreement to give up land
• Only a small few actually participated in the signing
• Trail of Tears
• After signing away the land, the Cherokee were rounded up and forced to leave for “Indian Territory” (present day Oklahoma)
• Some were sent by boat and some were forced to march on a journey that lasted 6 months and covered 700-800 miles
• Horrible rotten food as well as cold weather led to the death of 1/3 to ½ of the Indians
• 4000 Cherokee died in prison awaiting the removal orders
• The Cherokee called the removal “the trail where we cried” now called the “Trail of Tears”
• Summary
• As settlers need for land increased, they infringed upon the Indian’s right to land
• The gov’t supported the settlers ignorance of treaties and laws to protect the Indians
• The removal ended all Indian uprisings East of the Mississippi
***Problems experienced during this period set the stage for States Rights verses Federal Rights arguments to come later
